This fall, there were plans to add two new PSAL sports teams to Curtis High School: boys and girls badminton teams and a ping pong team. However, this plan will not go into effect due to the limited amount of funding given to the school. The athletic director at Curtis High School, Assistant Principal Eric Ritzer, said, “PSAL has always been very good to Curtis High School. But they have been trying to give smaller schools more funding. There is, however,a possibility in the future to have a girls and boys badminton team in Curtis.”

Ms. Urso, the intended coach for the boys badminton team, said, “I am hopeful for the future that we can have this team. There were over 25 people who wanted to play this sport.”

Mr. Cogan, who was planning on coaching table tennis, said, “I was really looking forward to it. I even joined the New Jersey Table Tennis Association over the summer.”

Tottenville High School is the only school on Staten Island to have girls and boys badminton teams. There are 30 badminton teams citywide, 12 girls teams and 18 boys teams. Curtis was in the process of becoming the second high school on Staten Island to offer badminton to its students.

MSIT and Tottenville both have table tennis teams, so Curtis High School would have been the third high school to create a team for this winter sport for boys and girls. There are 12 schools citywide that offer table tennis as a PSAL sport; they each have a boys team and girls team.

One of the students interested in playing on the boys badminton team was Brandon Dolinger. He said, “I’m a little disappointed that the badminton couldn’t get enough funding. I hope in the future we can have a team because it’ll be something new for Curtis.”