We are very excited to introduce all of our students to our new High Performance Coach!

Jimmy is originally from Indonesia, where badminton is the national sport. As an 11 year old, he left his family to go train full time in badminton while going to school.  At age 16, he lived with the Indonesian National Team and medaled at several Jr. international tournaments in Asia including winning gold at the Asian Junior Continental Championships in boys singles. He placed 2nd in men’s doubles and 3rd in men’s singles at the Indonesian National Team Trials.

He has represented Indonesia, Switzerland, and the United States in international competitions including winning two international titles, one in men’s singles and one in men’s doubles. He also represented the United States in the Sudirman Cup (the World Mixed Team Championships) with his men’s doubles partner Halim Haryanto (former World Champion in Men’s Doubles, also from Indonesia) (see photo below). Between 2001 and 2003 he won a string of national tournaments across the country, including the Boston Open where he beat two National Champions and the 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist on his way to earning the title. Jimmy was formerly the #1 ranked men’s singles player in the United States.

Jimmy comes to the SPBA after coaching over 8 years at two of the most prestigious clubs in the country in Northern California. In California he coached all levels of players, from beginners playing badminton for the first time, to players on the international tour. He has a passion for teaching and learning his craft, and as he puts it, “I expect my students to be a student of the sport and keep learning and I expect the same of myself”  Badminton is quite simply in his blood. And the results of his students speak for themselves.

Photo Credit: Badmintonphoto
USA #1 Jimmy Pohan and World Champion Halim Haryanto
representing the United States at the 2013  Sudirman Cup

Here are a few highlights:

• Gold Medal at the Junior Pan American Championships (That is the championship of North and South America) in Under 11 Boys Doubles (2013)

• Gold and Silver Medal at the Junior Pan American Championships (That is the championship of North and South America) in Under 11 Mixed Doubles (2013)

• Bronze Medal at the United States Junior Nationals in Under 17 Girls Singles and Doubles (2019)

• Silver Medal at the United States Junior International Trials (JIT) in U19 Mixed Doubles (2019)

• Qualified a student for the World Junior Championships in U19 Mixed Doubles (2019)

• Triple Crown Winner (Gold Medal in all 3 events ) at the SPBA Midwest Open Regionals (U17 Boys Singles, Boys Doubles, and Mixed Doubles) (2019)

• Coaches an international player who is currently top 200 in the world in women’s singles (2021)

Jimmy will be joining us for the start of the Summer session, on June 13th and he is very excited to coach all of you! 

Jimmy Pohan, Former #1 Ranked
Men’s Singles Player in USA

Need a badminton racket?  Need badminton shoes?  Need a badminton bag?
Need shuttles & rackets for your team?  Need to get your racket restrung?

SPBA is an Authorized Dealer for:

** Always buy from an authorized dealer (not a random Amazon seller) to make sure you are not getting fake imitation products and so you have a dealer warranty!

We sell rackets, bags, shoes, shuttles, grips, water, gatorade, towels, and accessories!

High School Players: Don’t buy a racket online just because you like how it looks! Come try it and find the racket that feels the best for you! We have demo rackets available for our rackets so you can test them out during Open Gym times, court reservations and classes for $7! $5 can be discounted towards a racket purchase from our shop and $2 is for a new grip for sanitary reasons while you try the racket. Your racket rental credits can be used anytime within 2021 on a racket purchase from our proshop.

High School Coaches: We would love to be your equipment vendor! We have a wide variety of products in stock and we can also special order you shuttles and rackets from our vendors for you! We will work with you to recommend quality products that are within your school budgets. We have a large stock of Mavis 300 nylon shuttles and the state shuttle Wilson Pro 80s available for purchase. Yonex has some special promotions

going on right now! Let us know how we can help you!

Racket restringing is also available for $25-$30 including string and labor. 

We are open during all court rental/open gym times: 
Monday-Friday: 5:30-9:30 p.m.
Saturdays: 9-11 am and 6-8 pm
Sundays: 9-11 am and 5:30-9:30 p.m.

The Spring Session of badminton lessons at the SPBA started the week of 2/15. It’s not too late to sign up! Spaces are still available! We hope you consider joining us today! We can pro-rate classes as long as we have space available in the requested classes.

This is a little longer session than normal at the SPBA (15 weeks) due to a shorter winter session at the SPBA. This is because the Illinois High School Association’s moved badminton’s spring season up by a month because it is considered a low risk sport. At the SPBA we do our best to align our sessions with the start date of the IHSA badminton season.

At the SPBA we continue to follow and
exceed all COVID guidelines and we believe these extra measures are working. We are happy to report that since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had no known spread of COVID-19 in our facility.

Illinois continues to loosen Covid-19 restrictions on businesses and we are now in Phase 4 !

The following are the new updates for safety regulations at our club:

1. Open Gym continues with limits on capacity. The cost is $5 for members and $10 for non-members. See the full schedule here. 
2. We will still offer one rental court during open gym hours for those not wanting to share court space. These prices will resume to normal prices of $20/hour for members, $25/hour for non-members. Court rentals will still be booked through the Kourts app or here. 
3. Doubles is permitted for both open gym and court reservations. 
4. Our classes will continue to be only 2 players per court, however students no longer have to have the same hitting partner the entire lesson. Masks for classes are optional when on court, and required at all times off court.
5. For the safety of our staff and guests, masks are required off court at all times. All participants must wear a face covering that fully covers their nose and mouth and fits snugly against the sides of the face with no gaps, when unable to maintain at least 6 feet social distance from another individual. The club has decided that this equates to masks required for doubles, optional for singles play. This is because, in doubles, you and your partner easily move back and forth and often would be within 6-feet of each other. The level of exertion in doubles is often less than singles so that should hopefully help with breathing and fogging of glasses.

We will be closed on New Years Eve.

On New Year’s Day we will be open for advanced reservations from 4-6 pm. Please book through the Kourts App or the link below.

Don’t forget to sign up for your new membership! If you’d like to get a 2021 membership, please email badminton@shannonpohl.com your first name, last name, phone number, email and mailing address for each person you are getting a membership for. Then send payment via Zelle to badminton@shannonpohl.com with your name in the memo. More details and pricing on membership here. 

We will be offering a 4 day camp open to all genders, ages and levels. The camp will include 3 hours of training a day from Sunday, 12/27-Wednesday 12/30. This camp will be “individual training” style, meaning only 2 players allowed per court per Tier 3 Mitigation requirements as well as all our other previously detailed safety protocols. During tier 3 Mitigation we will only have one hitting partner per day.

We have limited spaces available, first come first served.

12/27-12/30:

Elite Camp: 9am-12 pm daily
Intermediate/Advanced Camp: 1pm-4 pm daily
Beginner Camp: 4:15pm-7:15pm daily

Price for SPBA Members: $195
Price for Non-SPBA Members: $215

Sign up and full details available here!

Join us for badminton private lessons and classes today for all ages and levels! Currently only 2 players are allowed on a court at a time (singles style) during all programming for extreme social distancing. That’s your own area of 22 feet by 20 feet! Join us today! The winter session runs November 30th-February 14th, the day before high school tryouts. This is the last session of badminton before the start of the high school season on February 15th! Starting late? No worries, we can pro-rate if there is availability!

• Beginner Class ages 6-10 (offered 1-3 days a week)
• Beginner Class ages 11+ (offered 1-5 days a week)
• Advanced Beginner Class (offered 1-4 days a week)
• Intermediate/Advanced Class (offered 1-2 days a week)
• Elite Junior Team (3-4 day a week tournament training)
• Elite Senior Team (3-4 day a week tournament training)
• Private Lessons with Shannon, Andres, or Clay
• Semi Private Lessons with Shannon, Andres, or Clay
• Adult Class (Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30 p.m.)

Winter Session Schedule and Pricing

*** UPDATE: We have made a few amendments to our exit strategy from the gym. Players who don’t drive can continue to be picked up in the back of the gym. For players who drive themselves or parents who wait in their cars, players are now allowed to exit through the front. To avoid players having to share a tight hallway we will continue to use our one-way hallway into the gym and we have created a one-way hallway out of the gym through the pro shop. 

The fall session starts August 12th and online registration is now available! Sign up today for group or private lessons! 

Interested in a private lesson at a time not listed? Reach out to us and we will see if we can accommodate it!

Would you like to take a lesson with your learning pod? We can arrange group classes and private lessons with your friends from your pod! Email us at badminton@shannonpohl.com to set up times!

SPBA Safety Guidelines for Classes: Fall Session

SPBA Member and Guest Safety Procedures: Fall Session

Click on the image below to read our new regulations during Phase 4 of Restore Illinois!