DeKalb High lands badminton finals starting this season until 2025

DeKalb High School will host the IHSA Girls Badminton State finals, the IHSA announced Monday.

DeKalb will serve as the host from 2023 until at least 2025. Athletic director Peter Goff said badminton coach Zach Effler has wanted to host the tournament for a while, and his hard work, and the work of the school’s facility committee, made the bid possible.”

“This has been a dream of Zach’s,” Goff said. “When I came here four years ago he talked about it, and it was like oh, okay. Then we got into the DVC, and I took over for badminton, and the DVC is a highly touted badminton conference. Naperville North, Neuqua Valley, all of them are really good. They said that we have the facilities to do this, to host this. We knew it was coming up for a bid and Zach worked on it for quite a while and took it to the committee last week.”

IHSA officials toured the facilities a couple weeks ago, and Monday the governing body made the announcement that the bid was DeKalb’s.

Goff said while the event definitely will make use of the school’s fieldhouse, the championship matches will be held in the Dayton Gymnasium.

“The fieldhouse will get a lot of use, but the best thing is we’ll use the Dayton and create an arena-like atmosphere,” Goff said. “Kinda like the U.S. Open. We’ll introduce the athletes and make it a big thing for the student-athletes. Let them have the time of their lives.”

Three other sites submitted bids to host the state tournament. The IHSA did not release the other three bidders names.

DeKalb High School will be the seventh venue to host the state tournament when the 2023 edition unfolds May 12-13, 2023. The inaugural IHSA girls badminton state finals were held at New Trier West in 1977. In 1980, Evanston Township High School hosted for the first time, starting an annual rotation between New Trier and Evanston that would last through 2002. Downers Grove North then hosted for three years, before Eastern Illinois University took over hosting duties in 2006, which they continued until 2019. The 2020 state series was canceled because of the pandemic, and Hinsdale South hosted in 2021 and 2022.

IHSA executive director Craig Anderson implied in a statement the deal has the potential to extend beyond three years.

“We are excited to find a new home for the Girls Badminton State Finals,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “DeKalb facilities are second to none, and we believe they have a vision to take this event to the next level. State badminton has a history of long hosting tenures, and we hope to make DeKalb its home for years to come.”