On Sunday afternoon, the courts at All Sportz Melville belong to women and girls with rackets. Birdie Battle 2, the second edition of the Muslim Sports League's women-only badminton tournament, runs from 1 to 6 p.m. on November 15 at 100 Ruland Road in Melville, with singles and doubles brackets, raffles, local vendors and a crowd that the organizers want to span three generations.

Who is behind it

The Muslim Sports League is a New York women's sports and wellness group that organizes volleyball, basketball and badminton, fields a travel team and runs wellness and give-back programs, according to its own profile. Birdie Battle is its annual badminton event, and the league says every ticket goes toward more programs for women and girls and more space for Muslim women in sports.

The tournament is a women-only event on the court. The league's event page invites players to bring their mothers, aunts and grandmothers to watch, and there is no age limit for spectators or for raffle entries.

How the tournament works

  • Divisions: singles and doubles. Players register for one or both through the league's ticket page.
  • Age: tournament players must be 13 or older. Spectators can be any age.
  • Start time: games begin at 1 p.m. The league allows a five-minute grace period for each scheduled game; after that, the player or team forfeits, so arrive early to warm up.
  • Off the court: raffles and a marketplace of local vendors run through the afternoon.

An indoor sport for the winter months

Badminton is played indoors with a racket and a shuttlecock, so a tournament in a Melville gym in mid-November runs whatever the weather does outside. The league's age floor of 13 means a teenager and her mother can sign up for the same bracket, and the event page is written with exactly that pairing in mind.

A second year

The 2 in the event's name marks it as the league's second Birdie Battle. The league posts results, photos and its other seasons, including volleyball and basketball, on its Instagram account, which is also where it announces new programs.

If you are going

More to do this weekend is in our Long Island weekend guide.

Sources