With only five community college teams in Northern California, badminton might not be the most popular of competitive sports.

But for 14 Fresno City College students, it’s their chance to represent their school.

According to head coach Carol Kadingo, Fresno City College has fielded a women’s badminton team since 2000. The squad started one year earlier as a club team.

“It’s not a high-profile sport,” Kadingo said. “There’s not a huge fan base like there is for basketball or football.”

Assistant coach Benny Azali said that the team has 14 players this semester, whereas in the past it only could draw about six or eight.

During the spring season, the team practices every day to prep for matches on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Jacqueline Jarvis, the team’s star player, said she’d love to see more people come out to the team’s matches.

“It’s unfortunate that we don’t get as many spectators as the other sports because we have players that practice just as hard as every other team,” Jarvis said. “People don’t get to see the talent that we have.”

Most of the fans who do come to the games are friends and family, coach Kadingo said, so the team would love to get bigger turnouts.

“Most people don’t think of badminton as a competitive sport, yet it’s an Olympic sport,” Kadingo said.

With a 2-3 record so far in 2010, the team’s biggest opponent is San Francisco City College. The San Francisco team includes many players from China who have been playing the sport since the age of 4, whereas many Fresno City College badminton players have only had experience since high school.

All of the current team members have been recruited from various local high schools, many of which have successful badminton programs.

The badminton team, like almost every other team at the college, has also faced budget cuts. This season, team members are paying for almost all of their own equipment including jerseys and racquets, which were previously made available to the team by the school.

Jarvis said new fans would enjoy the experience of seeing something different by attending a badminton match.

“So if you haven’t been to a game, you should go,” Jarvis said.