Vacaville High's Chloe Valledor finds her rhythm in badminton

When Chloe Valledor picked up badminton as a freshman at Vacaville High School, she wasn't expecting much.

Before long, she was hooked.

"The summer after my freshman year, I decided ‘I kind of enjoy the sport. I'm going to play at the local open gym,'" Chloe said. "I made friends who were at a higher skill level than me. They taught me the introduction to everything, and I just kept playing."

The former gymnast, however, wasn't exactly a natural when she first picked up a racket.

"I was not good," Chloe said with a laugh. "It was the hand-eye coordination of hitting the bird. I would also say the form because despite doing gymnastics, I hadn't done anything else."

Despite the learning curve, Chloe quickly realized she had a passion for the sport, which pushed her to train regularly over the summer. Less than a year later, she qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section singles tournament as a sophomore.

Although she went 0-2 at the tournament, simply reaching that stage motivated her to work harder. A slick comment from a parent only added fuel to the fire.

"We were watching the finals and I was trying to motivate my daughter. I go, ‘Hey Chloe, let's get here next year,' and then some voice next to us said, ‘Good luck. My daughter's only a sophomore,'" said Mark Valledor, Vacaville badminton coach and Chloe's father. "That woke up my crazy wrestling dad background. I didn't want to push Chloe if she didn't want to get pushed, but after her sophomore year, she wanted to."

After her sophomore season, Chloe joined a badminton club in Union City, making the roughly hour-long trip from Vacaville three times a week to hone her craft.

"At first it was pretty scary because that area takes badminton very seriously, so everyone there was pretty good," Chloe said. "It was intimidating, but the coaches were nice and, obviously through the classes, I learned more and caught up with the skill level."

That improvement was evident during her junior season, when she finished second at the SJS singles tournament behind Jordan Ellis of Lincoln. Chloe lost to Ellis in the semifinals before battling through the consolation bracket to earn a rematch in the championship match.

"We played her in the semis and we lost, so we played all the way back to the finals, then we lost to her again," Mark said. "I was like ‘we got to the finals, that's fine. Let's beat her next year.'"

Chloe did just that.

As a senior in her third straight SJS tournament appearance on May 15, Chloe got a taste of revenge, sweeping the reigning champion 21-16, 24-22. She followed that up with a 21-19, 21-14 win over Emily Li of Davis to punch her ticket to the final match.

"I knew I'd make it to sections, but I really didn't know if I could win it," Chloe said. "I just wanted to win it because it was my last year, why not go all out?"

In the championship match, Chloe rebounded from a first-set loss to defeat Sunshyn Ancheta of Edison 17-21, 21-13, 23-21 and become Vacaville's first badminton singles champion since 1994.

"She's a competitor. Normally when your opponent hits a really good shot, they think it's over, but Chloe has that hustle, that quickness to recover," Mark said. "I keep telling Chloe, no one can rally with you. People get so irritated because they think a point is over and Chloe just continues to hit them.

"With the finals girl (Ancheta), there was one moment where you could tell that Chloe broke her because hit after hit, Chloe was able to respond."

Not only did Chloe capture the elusive SJS crown, but she claimed bragging rights over her older brother, Logan. Logan was a standout wrestler for the Bulldogs, who placed at state, but never captured a section title.

"Going into the tournament, I was like, ‘if I win this title, ‘I'll get bragging rights, I'll have a title for me," Chloe said. "It was just a satisfying end to everything."

Chloe, who graduated from Vacaville High on Saturday, is headed to the University of Washington to study informatics. Although the Huskies don't have a professional badminton program, she won't be leaving her racket behind.

"Obviously I hoped I'd enjoy the sport, but I didn't know I'd take it this seriously," she said. "After my sophomore year, it gave me a level of confidence that went into my personality. I'll probably play it when I can because I definitely want to stay active."

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 8:09 PM.