Racket Boys

Racket Boys is a 2021 South Korean television drama. The series, directed by Cho Young-kwang and written by Jung Bo-hun, stars Kim Sang-kyung, Oh Na-ra, Tang Jun-sang, Son Sang-yeon, Choi Hyun-wook, Kim Kang-hoon, Lee Jae-in, and Lee Ji-won. The series follows the growth of sixteen-year-old boys and girls, and the challenges faced by the badminton club at their school. It premiered on SBS TV on May 31, 2021 and aired every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST). The series is available worldwide on Netflix for streaming.

Synopsis
A city kid is brought to the countryside by his father's new coaching gig — reviving a ragtag middle school badminton team on the brink of extinction. A story of a boys' badminton team at a middle school in Haenam as they grow, both as people and as players.

Yoon Hyun Jong was once a very good badminton player, but now he struggles to make ends meet for his family. Therefore, he jumps at a chance to coach a middle school team, only to find it on the verge of disbandment with only three players: Bang Yoon Dam, Na Woo Chan, and Lee Yong Tae. The three boys struggle along, improving as Yoon Hae Kang, Yoon Hyun Jong's son, joins the team along with Jung In Sol. Now having enough players to enter competitions, they try to soar to new heights.

Meanwhile, Ra Young Ja, former top badminton player and Yoon Hyun Jong's wife, is the coach of the girls’ badminton team at a girl's middle school in Haenam. On her team are Han Se Yoon, the #1 ranked junior female player in Korea and Lee Han Sol, Se Yoon's best friend, allowing them to be one of the best teams among their peers.

Main

 * Kim Sang-kyung as Yoon Hyun Jong: Father of Hae-kang, and a badminton coach who moves to the countryside to earn more money.
 * Oh Na-ra as Ra Yeong-ja: Mother of Yoon Hae-kang and Yoon Hae-in, a living legend in the badminton world, and a junior high school coach. She is also known as "Ranos" for her go-by-the-book attitude.
 * Tang Jun-sang as Yoon Hae-kang: An ex-badminton prodigy and baseball enthusiast, who starts playing badminton again after moving to the countryside.
 * Son Sang-yeon as Bang Yoon-dam: The captain of the badminton club and their ace player. He wants to have 100,000 followers on Instagram. He is quite handsome.
 * Choi Hyun-wook as Na Woo-chan: A mediator who mediates conflicts between congregations with a caring personality and excellent empathy.
 * Kim Kang-hoon as Lee Yong-tae: The youngest member of the badminton club, and a big fan of badminton player Lee Yong-dae.
 * Lee Jae-in as Han Se-yoon: A badminton player who dreams of becoming the youngest member of the national team.
 * Lee Ji-won as Lee Han-sol: A student and a talented badminton player. She has a crush on Bang Yoon-Dam.

Supporting

 * Ahn Se-bin as Yoon Hae-in: Yoon Hae-kang's little sister, who is cute and feisty like her mother. She is also independent and outgoing, and, in addition, has asthma
 * Jung Min-seong as Kim Tae-ho: Husband of a city couple, timid and caring.
 * Park Hyo-joo as Shin Phil-ja: Wife of a city couple. Kim Tae-ho and Shin Phil-ja are a typical urban couple who have been married for 10 years. They move to Haenam so they could leave the busy city life.
 * Shin Jung-geun as Coach Bae: A PET at Haenam Seo Middle School, and a badminton coach also known as "White Wolf".
 * Kim Min-gi as Jeong In-sol: Classmate of Hae-kang, Yoon-dam and Woo-chan. He is the class president and gets excellent grades, but yearns to play badminton with his new friends.
 * Woo Hyun as Hong Yi-jang: The head of the village and the youth president.
 * Baek Ji-won as Shin Song-hee: A lady who claims to be a guardian of the territorial village.
 * Shin Cheol-jin as Grandfather
 * Cha Mi-kyung as Grandma Oh-mae
 * Kim Ki-cheon as principal of Haenam Seo Middle School
 * Song Seung-hwan as Lee Seung-heon: A player in the National Spring Badminton League.
 * Ahn Sang-woo as Mr. No: A badminton store owner.
 * Ahn Nae-sang as Fang: A national team coach.
 * Yoon Hyun-soo as Park Chan: A badminton player that has a crush on Se-yoon.
 * Hong Seo-joon as Chairman Jung: In-sol's father.
 * Song Seung-hwan as Lee Seung-heon: A middle school badminton player.

Special appearances

 * Kim Min-seok as Hun-hoon
 * Takes Grandma Oh-mae from the subway station to Father's Table restaurant in spite of his busy schedule (ep.2).


 * Park Ho-san as Park Sun-bae
 * Yoon Hyeon-jong's friend (ep.1).


 * Jonathan Thona as Jonathan
 * An exchange student and GFriend's fan (ep.1).


 * Jo Jae-ryong as a restaurant owner (ep. 2)
 * Park Ok-hool as Bang Yoon-dam's mother
 * Kim Tae-hyang as Bang Yong-shik
 * Bang Yoon-dam's father, who is very supportive of his son. It is evident that Yoon-dam is his favorite child as he makes his children eat Yoon-Dam's favorite food every single day.


 * Choi Dae-hoon as a reporter for a badminton magazine
 * Yoon Bong-gil as a baseball coach
 * Im Chul-hyung as Woo-chan's father
 * A military man and a father with an iron fist. Initially, he disapproves of his son's passion for badminton.


 * Jo Ryeon as Woo-chan's mother
 * Kim Sung-cheol as General Secretary Park
 * Ko Soo-bin as Ivana Putri
 * An Indonesia's badminton player (ep. 5).


 * Park Hae-soo as Lee Jae-joon
 * He has been exercising with Yoon Hyeon-jong since childhood (ep. 6).


 * Lee Jun-hyeok as Banjang Yu (ep. 6)
 * Kwon Dong-ho as college coach for Hyeon-jong and Jae-joon (ep. 6)
 * Ki Eun-se as Lee Yu-ri
 * A former badminton national team player, and coach of Seoul Jeil Girls' Middle School badminton team, in rivalry with Haenam Jeil Girls' Middle School coach Ra Young-ja (Ep.7, 8).


 * Jo Deok-hoe as a disciple of director Bae
 * Jo Jae-yoon as a comic performer in 'The End of the Earth Avengers' (Ep.7, 8, 14)
 * Seo Do-jin as a comic performer in 'The End of the Earth Avengers' (Ep.7, 8)
 * Lee Si-eon as a Busan citizen (Ep.9)
 * Heo Sung-tae as Coach Cheon (Ep.10)
 * Jung Hee-tae as Hong Jeong-hyeon
 * The younger brother of Hong Yi-jang.


 * Lee Yong-dae as himself (Ep.15)
 * Kang Seung-yoon as Kang Tae-seon
 * A former badminton youth national team player. He used to be a badminton player at Haenam Seo Middle School (Ep.12-16).


 * Kim Jung-young as Seon-yeong
 * Coach Bae's wife.


 * Lee Seok-hyung as Lee Kyung-min
 * A former national badminton player and a senior of Kang Tae-seon.


 * Seo Dong-won as Dong-hwi (Ep.15)
 * Kwon Yu-ri as Im Seo-hyun (Ep.16)
 * A national badminton player, the person Han Se-yoon considered as a role model.


 * Lee Kyu-hyung as Park Jung-hwan (Ep.16)
 * Kim Seul-gi as Jang PD (Ep.16)
 * Jo Jung-shik as an SBC news anchor (Ep.16)
 * Kim Ji-young as Ah-young (Ep.16)

Casting
Tang Jun-sang was invited to star in the sports drama on November 30, 2020. The cast of the series, Tang Jun-sang, Kim Kang-hoon, Oh Na-ra and Kim Sang-kyung, was confirmed on January 26, 2021. Lee Jae-in joined the cast on February 25, 2021, while Park Hyo-joo joined in March 2021. On March 25, the production company Pan Entertainment announced that with six boys and girls; Jun-sang Tang, Sang-yeon Sang, Choi Hyun-wook, Kang-hoon Kim, Jae-in Lee, and Ji-won Lee, the lineup of players was completed. Kim Sang-kyung and Baek Ji-won appeared together in the 2019 office themed drama, Miss Lee.

Preparation
Tang Jun-sang mentioned in an interview that all the cast members who play badminton all trained extensively for months prior to filming in order to get the right forms and techniques. Kang Seung-yoon (Kang Tae-seon) also admitted in a behind-the-scenes video uploaded on the SBS Catch Youtube channel that he also took badminton lessons as he plays a top player in the drama. However, there was never a scene where he was seen playing the sport.

Filming
Principal photography began on January 30, 2021. On April 21, 2021 SBS released images of script reading. The filming locations of the series are Gangneung-si, Gangwon Province, Miryang-si and Gyeongnam.

Reception
Kim Hee-kyung writing for Hankyung opined that the drama is fresh in respect that it is 'bringing liveliness and tension at the same time'. Praising the directing technique, Hee-kyung wrote, "He [the director] uses his cartoon imagination to draw white wolves and bears with computer graphics." She felt that the game scenes were portrayed realistically, and to stress on the players and present a dramatic atmosphere, voices and lights were removed.

Controversy
Episode 5 drew outrage from Indonesian netizens due to its negative portrayal of the country and its people as being cheaters and lacking in sportsmanship. Some of the dialogue between the main characters about the country and the wide gap in score between Han Se-yoon from Korea and Ivana Putri from Indonesia (21-7, 21-9) were also considered insulting, leading to some accusing SBS of racism with ratings showing a slow but steady drop as a result. In response to the backlash, SBS released an apology on their official Instagram account over the way the country had been portrayed.