We are the Ching family and we started Sunset Badminton to promote and supply the sport of competitive badminton in the Phoenix West Valley. Badminton in Arizona can be a bit of a struggle bus. The Arizona Badminton Center is the only dedicated badminton center in all of Arizona and while it’s a great facility run by people as passionate about badminton as we are, it only has four courts and is located in one part of a very large metropolitan area. Compare that to California, Nevada, or even New Mexico where there are multiple places to play with significantly larger facilities, more tournaments, and easier access.

Having lived in the West Valley for over a decade, we saw a severe lack of badminton promotion and services in this part of town. Combine that with our daughter Katelyn approaching high school age and with a growing desire to play on a high school badminton team like her parents did; we saw this as an exceptional opportunity. Badminton at the high school level here in Arizona is wildly popular with many (73!) schools having a girl’s team and each team having on average 10-15 players with some schools having upwards of 20-25! Not only could we provide needed services (supplies and restringing) and promote the sport but also provide an opportunity for our kids to learn a trade (racket stringing), earn a little money from stringing, and foster speaking skills engaging with customers and players in the local badminton community.

One important thing to note here is that we didn’t start this business solely to make money; that may-or-may-not be a happy byproduct. Both Julie and Brandon are professionally employed and do not need to run a business to make income. Rather, our focus here is community and providing a service doing something we both love and are passionate about.