The El Camino College Women’s Badminton Team was eliminated at the start of the 2025–2026 school year, removing a vital intercollegiate athletic opportunity for female student‑athletes. Although the District has reinstated women’s tennis for 2027, women’s badminton remains discontinued, leaving female athletes without equitable access to competitive opportunities. We are calling on ECC leadership to immediately reinstate women’s intercollegiate badminton and restore equal opportunity in athletics.

To: President Brenda Thames and Members of the El Camino Community College District Board of Trustees 

From: Supporters of Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics at El Camino College

We, the undersigned, respectfully call upon El Camino College to immediately reinstate women’s intercollegiate badminton as a varsity athletic program.

Women’s badminton previously provided meaningful intercollegiate opportunities for female student‑athletes, including conference competition, interconference play, conference championships, and state championship pathways. The elimination of this program resulted in the loss of legitimate competitive opportunities for women at El Camino College.

While the District has reinstated women’s intercollegiate tennis for the 2027 season, women’s badminton remains discontinued. As a result, female student‑athletes continue to be denied equitable access to intercollegiate athletic participation.

We respectfully believe that full compliance with Title IX requires more than partial restoration of women’s athletic opportunities. Restoring women’s badminton is a necessary step toward ensuring equal opportunity in intercollegiate athletics at El Camino College.

As the founder of the ECC Badminton Club, established in November 2024 and now 70 members strong for Spring 2026, I have witnessed firsthand the tremendous interest and passion for this sport among our students. Many of our female members joined with the dream of competing in official CCCAA state matches. With the termination of the Women’s Badminton Team at the start of the 2025–2026 school year, those opportunities disappeared.

Badminton is one of the most inclusive, culturally significant, and cost‑effective sports offered at the community college level. Courts already exist, equipment needs are minimal, and student interest is high. Reinstating the program would restore competitive pathways, support gender equity, and honor ECC’s long history in the South Coast Conference and CCCAA.

Therefore, we urge the District to take immediate action to:

• Reinstate women’s intercollegiate badminton

• Restore appropriate coaching and staffing support

• Provide equitable roster opportunities for female student‑athletes

• Allocate necessary operational and competitive scheduling resources

We support the full restoration of women’s athletic opportunities at El Camino College and request that this petition be entered into the official record of the District.