Push Yourself Faster, Higher, Stronger

If you're new to the sport, find Ronney Choong, 59, on the court and just watch him. He started playing when he was about 12 growing up in Malaysia and has won four gold medals in the National Senior Games representing Maryland. All the regulars on the badminton courts know and respect him.

How's it work? You sign up when you arrive for a 20-minute doubles game. Then you play on a rotating basis, competing as much as you can in a night. (Most people play about four games.) You have to bring your own racket.

Who's there? About 40 people show up: regulars, newbies, young and old alike.

Where is it? Bauer Drive Community Center, 14625 Bauer Dr., Rockville; 301-468-4015. Tuesdays 6-9:45 p.m.

How much? For access to the community center, residents must pay $25 a year, good for all Montgomery County Community Center gyms. Nonresidents pay $35.

Catch the Olympic action: Saturday on USA, 2 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sunday on MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m., and on NBC, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Monday on MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tuesday on USA, 2 a.m.-noon, and on MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m.; Wednesday on USA, 2 a.m.-noon; Thursday on MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m.; Aug. 16 on NBC, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and on MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m.; Aug. 17 on MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Badminton has been an Olympic sport since 1992.

Gymnastics

Are adult bodies really meant to tumble? "I know there'll be a day in my life when I can't do a back flip, but I can't imagine that day," says Marina Mazor, 31, a lawyer in Washington. She and about 15 other gymnasts go to Burke on Tuesdays and Thursdays to leap, flip, roll, run and jump with a group called the Dinosoars.

How's it work? How much tumbling you do depends on you. Carlos Vazquez oversees the gymnasts and will spot or advise you, but he will give very little instruction unless you ask. That said, newcomers are welcome to the gym. If you want to start tumbling as an adult, Vazquez says, "it's not impossible to pick up. . . . The people who are more physically conditioned when they get here, they learn faster."

Who's there? Mostly women at various skill levels. Mazor and a few others, such as Miriam Straus, 24, competed in college. Mazor and Straus worked on their floor routines recently, flipping to music as Olympians do. "Just the opportunity to do adult gymnastics is fantastic," Straus says.

The gym also draws people like Caity Allingham, 39, who was a gymnast until she was 13 and then decided to pick it up again when her son, Iain, 8, began tumbling six years ago.

Where is it? Capital Gymnastics National Training Center, 10400 Premier Ct., Burke. 703-425-5707. Open gym: summer hours, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8-10 p.m.; starting Aug. 26, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9-10:30 p.m.

How much?$20 a night.