Meet St. Paul Highland Park's Sunshine Vang, the Metro Badminton Player of the Year

Sunshine Vang of St. Paul Highland Park mastered two of the games she plays: the one in her head and the one on the badminton court.

She did it so well that she's the 2023 Star Tribune Metro Badminton Player of the Year.

Vang, a senior, won the badminton singles state championship, defeating St. Paul Harding's Kanlaya Thao 21-15, 21-23, 21-13 in the final in late May.

Vang went 11-8 her sophomore season, according to figures compiled by badminton historian Kevin Anderson. She adjusted her mental approach and soared to 22-3 as a junior and 31-2 and state champion as a senior. Her total of 64 victories ranks No. 1 in school history.

"It was my mind-set," she said. "I play for fun now. Some girls, their mind-set is different. They have to be perfect, and they feel pressure to do better. Ever since my sophomore year, I got that out of my head.

"I never used to smile during games, but now I laugh during games."

This season she embraced a new strategy in her matches.

"I changed a lot," she said. "As a junior I was just trying to get the birdie over the net. This year I was more hitting the corners, hitting all four corners, and making my opponents run and get tired before I get tired."

Vang doesn't stand tall physically — "I round up to 5 feet," she said while acknowledging 4-9 might be more accurate — but she's a tower as a team captain, coach Brianna Pischke said.

"She came into this season ready to lead by example," Pischke said. "But once we started match play, Sunny became a motivator and someone her teammates could go to for advice on the game. She was truly an incredible player and teammate."