To spare his mother an extra car ride, MVHS ‘15 alum Justin Ma started attending badminton classes at Bintang — the same gym as his older brother, Jack Ma — when he was 10. Phu Khuu, the owner of Bintang at the time, recognized Ma’s talent and invited Ma to train under him. Throughout his 16-year journey from a child to now professional badminton athlete, Ma has always trained under Bintang and is currently under the guidance of Coach Holvy De Pauw.
Ma holds the record as the first and only Matador to win a gold medal in the Central Coast State Championships across all three disciplines during his four years on the MVHS Badminton Team: Boys Doubles in 2013, Boys Singles in 2014 and Mixed Doubles in 2015. Despite his stellar junior career, in his freshman year at UC Berkeley, Ma found it challenging to train on his own without a coach. He sustained pes anserine bursitis — the inflammation of tendons around the knee — and a potential MCL sprain. Combined with the consideration of badminton not being a recruitable sport sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Ma decided that it was in his best interest to take a break from training and competitions to focus on his studies.
“There isn’t much support for badminton in college,” Ma said. “When you go to college and discover all this freedom to explore all the stuff you want to do and you realize that there are not as many opportunities with badminton, it makes it easier to just say ‘study hard.’ I don’t think it was a very hard decision to stop badminton, but I think the circumstances around badminton not being a collegiate sport are not the most helpful to keep you saying that you want to continue playing in college.”
After receiving a degree in computer science from UC Berkeley in 2019, Ma traveled to Southeast Asia for summer vacation where he encountered a welcoming community of badminton players who reignited his love for the sport.
“I found that I made a lot of friends really easily just by going to a local club and playing badminton,” Ma said. “Then afterward, from connecting with players across the world that I never played before, I realized that I missed training.”
From his experience practicing with Ma since Ma returned to training under Coach Holvy in 2019, MVHS ‘22 alum Kevin Cuan says that Ma carries a lighthearted attitude off the courts that makes him approachable. Additionally, Cuan recalls seeing firsthand Ma’s commitment to badminton, especially considering he had the chance to permanently step away from competitions.
“He’s not lazy — he’s worked hard to say that,” Cuan said. “On top of that, he took a break and then came back and is still trying to play at a high level, which is something not a lot of people do because typically, after they take their first break, they lose the motivation to play at a high level. He has enough confidence and competence that you just have to respect him.”
Ma entered his first competition at the professional level in 2021 once quarantine restrictions were lifted. Despite being a top-level athlete in the nation, Ma says he faced obstacles in trying to advance beyond the nation, explaining that it requires a different mindset and strategy compared to junior or even adult national tournaments. Ma emphasizes that since professional tournaments are more popular in the Eastern world, factors such as the venue’s location and size can bring up issues that aren’t as commonly seen in U.S.-based tournaments.
“Just remember that no one’s really at their 100%,” Ma said. “A lot of people have the same travel problems as you, so you just go and try to play your best. It’s like in training — if you have a stomach ache or you did not sleep well the night before you come, you still [try to] play your best. It’s possible to fly to Germany for a tournament and you only slept two hours the night before, but you still have to play or naturally find ways to get used to it while you’re at home training.”
In addition to being a professional badminton player, Ma also works as a full-time software engineer and creates content for badminton on two social media platforms. As a result, this triple commitment raises issues from both a physical and financial standpoint, causing Ma to give up certain elements of a typical life to accommodate his busy schedule.
“It’s not a cheap sport,” Ma said. “It doesn’t pay for a lot and I definitely have to sacrifice a lot of social stuff. If my friends go out to eat or plan something on the weekends, oftentimes I just can’t show up because I need to train, rest afterward, not stay up and do things to specifically focus on my recovery.”
However, Ma’s Personal Trainer Jeffrey Sun, who runs his own business Jeff Sun Fitness, notes that from his first interactions with Ma, Sun says he was immediately struck by Ma’s work ethic. He says that Ma has never missed a training session, despite Ma’s heavy workload. He highlights Ma’s “diligence and application of critical thinking skills” as two qualities that set him apart from Sun’s other athlete clients, explaining that these qualities allow Ma to push past his upper limits as an athlete.
Unlike Sun’s first impression, MVHS ‘23 alum Lance Fuchia, who also trained with Ma under Coach Holvy, recalls feeling intimidated by the sudden presence of a multiple-time national champion. However, he was also excited at the opportunity to learn from and train with someone so accomplished in the badminton world. After training with Ma for four years, Fuchia also praises Ma’s sense of self-discipline and integrity on the court.
“I know that physically he’s not super gifted, but what sets him apart is his mentality and work ethic,” Fuchia said. “He trains the most: he’s at the gym first, leaves last and always puts time into training — always giving 110%. Even when the coach wasn’t watching or when the coach was gone, instead of taking the opportunity to slack off like everyone else, he was the only one who actually went harder and maintained his quality of training. It shows that he was doing it for himself and not for anyone else.”
The Badminton World Federation, which oversees the international ranking of athletes in badminton, aggregates the total points from the 10 highest-scoring tournaments played within a 52-week period for each athlete or pair. In the international circuit, Ma prefers to play two tournaments, with a typical tournament spanning six days, in nearby locations then returning home to train for four to six weeks before repeating the process. Over the past year, however, he has been aiming to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics and scheduled over 20 tournaments in 2023 as a result. Unfortunately, following the World Championships and before competing in the Guatemala International Challenge, Ma experienced severe knee pain and was told to extend recovery time when he got medical imaging done. After competing in the Panamerican Games, Ma ultimately chose to take a break. Given his extensive background in sports, Ma is not a stranger to injuries and knows that he can only do as much as his situation allows.
“It’s frustrating,” Ma said. “You’re devoting so much time, but everything almost always ends up out of your control. I try to take everything a day at a time. So I just work on what I can focus on. If I hurt my arm, I know the only thing I can do today is to do the rehab exercises for my arm, but I can still train my lower body, so I’ll go to the gym and I’ll run. Right now I’m focused on my rehab again, this time for a really long time, but I’m taking it day by day and hopefully, I can get back on the court soon.”
Despite being injured, Ma continues to create content for viewers around the world through his YouTube channel and Instagram account, both of which he started in 2019. Ma’s YouTube channel and Instagram account, both under the handle @badmintonjustin, currently feature 5.46K subscribers and 5.3K followers, respectively. He hopes to inspire more American and international fans to participate in badminton by recording his training sessions and his professional matches to provide examples of strategies and techniques he uses in the game for viewers to take away.
“I want to help people in places who don’t have the opportunity to get coaching or have some training and just give them our resources online so that they can learn more,” Ma said.
Beyond inspiring people to try out badminton, Ma hopes for everyone to be ambitious and pursue what they can while they have the chance. To MVHS students who aspire to become professional athletes, Ma leaves behind advice based on his own experiences.
“If you are passionate about something, chase your dreams,” Ma said. “We all have a specific amount of time if you want to play professionally; we’re all limited by injuries, age and everything. So while you are still young, if you have the passion for it, you should go for it.”
