About Our Club

Founded in 2005, Bellevue Badminton Club has been the place to play in Seattle, WA! We have expanded from our first facility of 5 courts to 3 clubs with 36 courts total!

About Us

Our Mission:

The mission of the Bellevue Badminton Club is to provide learning opportunities through the sport of badminton for our membership to learn and practice being their best selves. 

Years in Business

Courts Available

Classes Offered

Club Locations

Our Story

The Bellevue Badminton Club was started as a family business, and although we have grown to be one of the biggest badminton clubs in the country, every time you come to the club there is a friendly face to greet you and welcome you into our community. To trace the origin of the club, we must first go all the way back to 1946, after WWII. 

Godfrey Stensland was an outstanding multi-sport athlete in Football, Basketball, and Track; however, his son, Gary Stensland, was a smaller athlete and struggled at those sports where it can help to be larger in stature. Once the war ended and materials for making badminton equipment were available, Godfrey Stensland introduced his son, Gary, to badminton. Gary fell in love with the game from a young age and played the sport for his entire life. Gary Stensland helped found the Highline Badminton Club in Burien, and passed on the sport of badminton to his son, Geoff Stensland, teaching him and driving him to tournaments. 

There wasn’t a large junior program locally in the 60’s and 70’s and sometimes it was tough to find a court with no dedicated badminton facility. For the next few decades into the early 2000’s, badminton players would meet in small pockets in the Greater Seattle Area. A prominent location in the 90’s was in Elliott Bay where a group of what would be the Bellevue Badminton Club’s first members would gather once a week. After that facility closed down in 2001, those players would try to find community centers, churches, and schools that would let them set up a court for a couple hours to play. Since the early 90’s, Geoff Stenslad had began forming a plan to open a badminton club, and in 2005 the opportunity presented itself.

 

With the help of a long time friend and badminton player, Chris Gulin, and the support from a small group of founding members, they renovated a warehouse space in Bellevue and built the first five courts of the Bellevue Badminton Club. Geoff didn’t have the best circumstances growing up, and wanted the club to give kids a safe place to play and learn a sport they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. As the community and our membership grew we put all of our resources back into the club and expanded to Mukilteo in 2016, and Renton in 2019. We’ve been fortunate to have a world class coaching staff for many years, with several high profile coaches, and most of all a strong Junior Program. 

 

Some of Bellevue Badminton Club’s highlights include:

– Established in 2005

– 37 Courts in the Greater Seattle Area

– World Class Coaching staff with Olympians and National Champions on staff

– Hosted Jr National Championships 2016

– Hosted Adult National Championships 2018

– Thousands of juniors taught through our program

– Junior Team members have represented the US in the Jr Pan American Games and Jr World Championships

 

The Bellevue Badminton Club is a leader in the badminton community both locally and nationally, and with our fantastic members, juniors, and staff, the future continues to look bright. It is our commitment to make sure each and every time you come in to play you will have a great experience. If you’re a current member with us, thank you for being a part of our community; and if you haven’t visited one of our locations yet we hope you’ll stop by with your friends to play, and we’ll see you on the courts.

Geoff Stensland

President, Bellevue Badminton Club