![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Copy-of-CropOlympics.jpg\")
Minneapolis native Paula Lynn Obanana, right, and her women’s doubles partner Eva Lee won gold at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. Photo courtesy of Roy Paras at EPX Elite Performance<\/p><\/div>\n
The Olympic Games only last for two weeks, but for Team USA\u2019s Paula Lynn Obanana, getting there is a daily feat<\/span><\/h5>\nWords by Melissa Studach<\/em><\/p>\nStanding at 5-foot-3, <\/span>Paula Lynn Obanana<\/span><\/a> just reaches eye-level with the top of a badminton net. At the moment, though, she is significantly lower than that. She\u2019s stretching in front of the mesh on the endless courts of the Los Angeles Badminton Club with her doubles partner Eva Lee. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe duo visits the facility every morning to practice rotations and strategy on the court. \u201cI\u2019m more of a power player, and Eva is more like a step-up player,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a unique partnership, but it works well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nObanana wasn\u2019t always a power player. Sure, she was hungry\u2014just not necessarily for the game itself. \u201cAs funny as it may sound, it started with a sandwich,\u201d Obanana says. \u00a0She began playing in the Philippines, her native country. While waiting for her parents to pick her up after school, 10-year-old Obanana was offered a sandwich from the school\u2019s athletic program if she\u2019d give badminton a try. It didn\u2019t take long for the coach to notice her potential. <\/span><\/p>\nToday, Obanana gets much more than free sandwiches for playing the sport. As a women\u2019s doubles player on the U.S. Olympic Badminton Team, she\u2019s playing for gold. <\/span><\/p>\nChange in Play<\/h6>\n
Obanana isn\u2019t new to national attention. Just six months after she started playing the game, she qualified for the Philippine Junior Nationals Badminton Team. At her first tournament, she beat the four-time Nationals Champion. By age 13, she made the\u00a0national team. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a badminton player in the Philippines, it\u2019s like you\u2019re an NBA or baseball player [in the U.S.],\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re on TV, in magazines. It\u2019s huge.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nBut the attention she garnered competing internationally with the Philippine Olympic Badminton Team was impermanent. When her mother was offered a nursing job in the U.S., Obanana, then 20, decided to migrate with her parents. The family settled in Minneapolis, where a term like shuttlecock, the projectile hit back and forth in a badminton game, only resulted in confused stares.<\/span><\/p>\nObanana\u2019s American badminton career seemed hopeless. She picked up jobs at Abercrombie & Fitch, cooked meals at a local Presbyterian home and worked the night shift back-stacking at Target. \u201cIt was really normal. Work and then home,\u201d Obanana says. \u201cIt was challenging for me because of the world I had in the Philippines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nWhen you\u2019re really an athlete, you know the spirit and feeling to be an athlete. I didn\u2019t know at that time if I could still make it, but I never give up.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n– Paula Lynn Obanana<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nNormal didn\u2019t last long, though, thanks to a call from California. <\/span><\/p>\nA friend of Obanana\u2019s who\u2019d recently moved to San Francisco for college told her that badminton was prevalent in the city and encouraged her to look into it. <\/span><\/p>\nObanana, who had been living badminton-free in Minneapolis for two years, was intrigued by the proposition. \u201cI was trying to figure out if I still wanted to play,\u201d says Obanana, who had already undergone two knee surgeries. \u201cBut when you\u2019re <\/span>an athlete<\/span><\/a>, you know the spirit of an athlete. I didn\u2019t know if I could still make it, but I never give up.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nUpon <\/span>making the move to San Francisco<\/span><\/a>, Obanana was hired as a coach for the U.S. Junior Nationals Badminton Team. It was at a tournament in 2010 where she first saw her future teammate, Eva Lee, competing. What began as a friendly singles match-up turned into a doubles competition against the boys. \u201cAnd then we beat the boys,\u201d Obanana says nonchalantly. A partnership was born. <\/span><\/p>\nGetting to the Games<\/h6>\n
The strength the partners have goes far beyond what can be gained on a court. Aside from <\/span>a few coaching gigs<\/span><\/a> here and there, Lee and Obanana don\u2019t have time to work outside their daily training schedule. The occasional sponsorships helped, but Obanana has had to rely on her parents\u2019 support to continue playing badminton full-time. When the Brazil-based Olympics started looking like a possibility, the partners created a Go Fund Me page to make getting there more affordable. <\/span><\/p>\nWith money as tight as it is, Obanana and Lee have to compete without a coach\u2014an uncommon move in the women\u2019s doubles competition. \u201cWhen I look back, it\u2019s amazing. We actually did it us two,\u201d she says. \u201cOthers have all the resources to motivate them, but we were struggling in every aspect. Yet we were the ones who kept winning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe more struggles that we encounter, the more we\u2019re winning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n-Paula Lynn Obanana<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd win they did. In their first year as partners, Obanana and Lee took home gold in the Brazil International Badminton Cup and silver in the Boston Open Badminton Championships. In 2011, they medaled in seven international tournaments. They were a shoo-in for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London until an administrative error put a halt on their dreams. <\/span><\/p>\nTheir badminton association forgot to enter the women\u2019s double team into an Olympic-qualifying tournament. Even though the pair was ranked number one in the world, it was Canada that went to the Olympics. Twenty-seven-year-old Obanana was devastated. \u201cThat was heartbreaking, especially for me,\u201d she says. \u201cMy partner had gone to the 2008 Olympics, but it was supposed to be my first. We got stronger, mentally tougher. And through all of that, we can apply it in the next stage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThat stage was in Rio. Obanana and Lee qualified for the 2016 Olympics. Although they lost in the preliminary round to <\/span>South Korea, Denmark and China<\/span><\/a>\u2014definitely not the results they wanted or were expecting\u2014they brought the same passion to the court as they did when they beat the boys during the first match they played together. The same hunger that got Obanana into the game. The same drive she brings to practice every day. <\/span><\/p>\nMatch Point<\/h6>\n
Standing at 5-foot-3, <\/span>Paula Lynn Obanana<\/span><\/a> just reaches eye-level with the top of a badminton net. At the moment, though, she is significantly lower than that. She\u2019s stretching in front of the mesh on the endless courts of the Los Angeles Badminton Club with her doubles partner Eva Lee. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The duo visits the facility every morning to practice rotations and strategy on the court. \u201cI\u2019m more of a power player, and Eva is more like a step-up player,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a unique partnership, but it works well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Obanana wasn\u2019t always a power player. Sure, she was hungry\u2014just not necessarily for the game itself. \u201cAs funny as it may sound, it started with a sandwich,\u201d Obanana says. \u00a0She began playing in the Philippines, her native country. While waiting for her parents to pick her up after school, 10-year-old Obanana was offered a sandwich from the school\u2019s athletic program if she\u2019d give badminton a try. It didn\u2019t take long for the coach to notice her potential. <\/span><\/p>\n Today, Obanana gets much more than free sandwiches for playing the sport. As a women\u2019s doubles player on the U.S. Olympic Badminton Team, she\u2019s playing for gold. <\/span><\/p>\n Obanana isn\u2019t new to national attention. Just six months after she started playing the game, she qualified for the Philippine Junior Nationals Badminton Team. At her first tournament, she beat the four-time Nationals Champion. By age 13, she made the\u00a0national team. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a badminton player in the Philippines, it\u2019s like you\u2019re an NBA or baseball player [in the U.S.],\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019re on TV, in magazines. It\u2019s huge.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n But the attention she garnered competing internationally with the Philippine Olympic Badminton Team was impermanent. When her mother was offered a nursing job in the U.S., Obanana, then 20, decided to migrate with her parents. The family settled in Minneapolis, where a term like shuttlecock, the projectile hit back and forth in a badminton game, only resulted in confused stares.<\/span><\/p>\n Obanana\u2019s American badminton career seemed hopeless. She picked up jobs at Abercrombie & Fitch, cooked meals at a local Presbyterian home and worked the night shift back-stacking at Target. \u201cIt was really normal. Work and then home,\u201d Obanana says. \u201cIt was challenging for me because of the world I had in the Philippines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When you\u2019re really an athlete, you know the spirit and feeling to be an athlete. I didn\u2019t know at that time if I could still make it, but I never give up.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n – Paula Lynn Obanana<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Normal didn\u2019t last long, though, thanks to a call from California. <\/span><\/p>\n A friend of Obanana\u2019s who\u2019d recently moved to San Francisco for college told her that badminton was prevalent in the city and encouraged her to look into it. <\/span><\/p>\n Obanana, who had been living badminton-free in Minneapolis for two years, was intrigued by the proposition. \u201cI was trying to figure out if I still wanted to play,\u201d says Obanana, who had already undergone two knee surgeries. \u201cBut when you\u2019re <\/span>an athlete<\/span><\/a>, you know the spirit of an athlete. I didn\u2019t know if I could still make it, but I never give up.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Upon <\/span>making the move to San Francisco<\/span><\/a>, Obanana was hired as a coach for the U.S. Junior Nationals Badminton Team. It was at a tournament in 2010 where she first saw her future teammate, Eva Lee, competing. What began as a friendly singles match-up turned into a doubles competition against the boys. \u201cAnd then we beat the boys,\u201d Obanana says nonchalantly. A partnership was born. <\/span><\/p>\n The strength the partners have goes far beyond what can be gained on a court. Aside from <\/span>a few coaching gigs<\/span><\/a> here and there, Lee and Obanana don\u2019t have time to work outside their daily training schedule. The occasional sponsorships helped, but Obanana has had to rely on her parents\u2019 support to continue playing badminton full-time. When the Brazil-based Olympics started looking like a possibility, the partners created a Go Fund Me page to make getting there more affordable. <\/span><\/p>\n With money as tight as it is, Obanana and Lee have to compete without a coach\u2014an uncommon move in the women\u2019s doubles competition. \u201cWhen I look back, it\u2019s amazing. We actually did it us two,\u201d she says. \u201cOthers have all the resources to motivate them, but we were struggling in every aspect. Yet we were the ones who kept winning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The more struggles that we encounter, the more we\u2019re winning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n -Paula Lynn Obanana<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And win they did. In their first year as partners, Obanana and Lee took home gold in the Brazil International Badminton Cup and silver in the Boston Open Badminton Championships. In 2011, they medaled in seven international tournaments. They were a shoo-in for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London until an administrative error put a halt on their dreams. <\/span><\/p>\n Their badminton association forgot to enter the women\u2019s double team into an Olympic-qualifying tournament. Even though the pair was ranked number one in the world, it was Canada that went to the Olympics. Twenty-seven-year-old Obanana was devastated. \u201cThat was heartbreaking, especially for me,\u201d she says. \u201cMy partner had gone to the 2008 Olympics, but it was supposed to be my first. We got stronger, mentally tougher. And through all of that, we can apply it in the next stage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That stage was in Rio. Obanana and Lee qualified for the 2016 Olympics. Although they lost in the preliminary round to <\/span>South Korea, Denmark and China<\/span><\/a>\u2014definitely not the results they wanted or were expecting\u2014they brought the same passion to the court as they did when they beat the boys during the first match they played together. The same hunger that got Obanana into the game. The same drive she brings to practice every day. <\/span><\/p>\nChange in Play<\/h6>\n
Getting to the Games<\/h6>\n
Match Point<\/h6>\n