I’ve always enjoyed Badminton because…..

July 17, 2020January 22, 2023 badmintonandy

The range of physical skills especially speed agility and coordination make it really fun to play

The strategic element to the game and the many ways that you can score points make it mentally engaging. A good set of rallies allows you to reach a flow state and therefore to forget everything else that is going on in life.

It also presents an annoying challenge of maintaining your level of play because it is always a challenge to physically and mentally get in an optimal state. Then you have the dimension of playing against so many different personalities and styles of play which present engaging mental challenges.

The range of physical skills to master provide opportunities for continuous engagement between player and coach. Peter Bush my coach at University used to say: “It’s a simple game played by fools!”. I partly agree and would say it’s a complex game played by crazy people.

It's something that I used to play with my family and friends, and the joy of the first time I ever played it still lives in me today

I love that the sport has so many aspects to it - speed, agility, power, strength, tactics, skill/technique, amazing community.

I love the feeling of flying through the air to hit a shot, the sound of tightly strung string and the tactile sensation when hitting a shuttle - whether hard or soft. Badminton itself, as well as the badminton community have formed such a big part of my life and is still giving me heaps of joy and happiness today.

I have always enjoyed badminton because I haven’t always enjoyed it !

I have been involved with badminton for 40 years now there is always new experience on the horizon. From playing your own first tournament, winning your first match to seeing your kids and pupils win, lose and grow up to young adults.

Badminton can give you so much in terms of life skills and up till this very day in these unprecedented times I am being tested on my own resilience and support others with getting through this period.

Badminton can also take a lot from you. Covid will have put people through some very dark times seeing the rest of the world on court for weeks. Being sidelined through long term injury is testing people to the max.

The balance, however, is heavily weighted towards all the positives around badminton. There have been dark days as a player, coach and father because of badminton but this is nothing compared the joy and bright days I have enjoyed since being involved in badminton.

I always found badminton fun

It's given me a sense of fulfilment based on a moving challenge that I could attain on an individual level while still playing with friends and being part of a team. I’m not sure which was more attractive to me the challenge/fun/friendship, I guess it changed in each situation. However, the challenging part seemed to be uppermost.

I like that the sport requires the perfect mix of technical skills, physicality, and concentration/psychology. All of this requires not only the natural ability but focus and dedication to get to the highest level.

Badminton certainly provides everyone with an opportunity to develop a great set of life skills. On reflection, I’ve found that the lessons and values learned through competition and training have repeatedly helped me to navigate life and all the challenges I’ve faced.

Can't say I have always enjoyed it

In the very beginning when I first got selected into the County team (I was 9 years old and just scraped in the last position.) So, I was super scared to go as I felt as I was the weakest. But after I got over that and started to know people and moved up to number 2 the following year it wasn't so bad.

But I guess getting to know people from all over the country and once we started traveling Internationally, they were then all over the world so that was pretty cool. It was enjoyable as I got to travel to different cities and countries all over the world. All though most of the time it could be just to see another hall/stadium, hotel. But still it was enjoyable to see different places none the less.

After having surgery on my ankle in late 2006 and getting back onto the court after approximately 6 months I realised more so than ever that I really enjoyed testing myself out against different styles and how some styles were linked to a particular Countries.

After coming back after surgery it was nice to eventually be competing against the best in the world which is where I wanted to challenge myself.

I think my passion for sport started very young, I enjoyed the individualism

Growing up with a dad that always had sport on the TV. F1, cricket, football, rugby. I was lucky enough to be taken to a lot of live sport too. I played every sport as a child and went to every sports club. I was generally a very competitive person but when it came to sports that competitiveness intensified.

So when I began playing badminton, I enjoyed it as I could see the more I played, the better I got. Then I started beating people that had been playing for a much longer period than myself. I enjoyed the individualism of it. Not having to rely on anyone else. Therefore I knew I wanted to be a singles player from the beginning. If I have played doubles as a junior it was always more of a secondary or last minute thought.