Hi there, my name is Jago Holmes, I'm a certified personal trainer from the
UK.Why I’m Mad At Badminton
I don’t know about you, but I’m very rarely able to leave the Badminton court feeling really happy with the way I’ve played. I know that to some extent it’s because I am by my very nature a perfectionist in every thing I do, but also just because I can’t just switch my game on and off like that.
Some days I can be absolutely brilliant and other days I can be totally awful and that’s how I played last night… awful.
But the biggest problem for me yesterday was that I just couldn’t get in to the right frame of mind… I wasn’t up for it and to be honest we should have won hands down. The guys we were playing weren’t anywhere near as good.
But that is the problem.
When I’m playing someone that I feel is not as good as me, I completely switch off and I think I just try to coast through. But it doesn’t work, in fact it never works out like that, I just end up looking rubbish.
It’s so frustrating because I can be a good player, but I only tend to play well when I’m faced with a tough game. The tougher the better. In fact if it’s one that we’ve no chance of winning, I’m at my best, go figure??
So I’m not sure how to beat this one, perhaps you’ve got some suggestions that might help me or anyone else.
If you do, please leave a comment in the box below. Your help would be very much appreciated.
Posted: May 10th, 2012 under Badminton Tactics, Playing Badminton.
Tags: Badminton, mind, Playing Badminton, the psychology of badminton
Comments
Comment from: jagoholmes
Time: May 10, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Absolutely right Mel, I totally agree. It looks like I’m going to have to take control of my mind to conquer this one. How do you beat this yourself Mel, does this affect you?
Comment from: Darren
Time: May 10, 2012 at 2:49 pm
When playing people I know I should beat, I watch & let them get 5 points see how they play, then being competitive go all out to beat them. so there’s a challenge
Comment from: Mel
Time: May 10, 2012 at 3:30 pm
The mind is a ‘muscle’ in the sporting context: if we don’t exercise it, it gets flabby.
There are several techniques you can use to combat this, it just depends on which works for you. Also, what works for a while may become ‘stale’ and you need a new strategy.
Why don’t you and your partner decide on a score that you are going to beat them by? Say 21-10. In you minds, you start at 0-10. This forces you to focusas you are already 0-10 down and have to fight hard to claw it back.
Another strategy is to treat it as a training session: decide you are going to practice something with your partner before the match. The fact of trying something new or unusual for you as a pair will also force to to concentrate more.
Strategies like this are also usefull practice for playing against better pairs e.g. practicing the ‘handicapped’ (0-10 down) game will give you experience at coming from behind.
Comment from: Earvin
Time: May 10, 2012 at 6:55 pm
I agree with Mel.
I have the same problem. I tend to underestimate my opponents and then get floored.
Then I just can’t seem to get my rhythm back in the game to win.
To help this my coach lets me play a game and gives me a benchmark that I need to surpass or something. Say I’m playing against someone really good then he tells me to make at least 10 points or if I’m against someone weaker I’m not allowed to make that person surpass 10 points.
If I don’t meet the achievement I get PUNISHED.
His punishments consist of me doing a ‘chicken dance’ in front of everyone in the gym….
Chicken dance is when you crunch down and then take large steps forward from the back of the badminton court to the net and back (while staying crunched down of course), while making chicken noises and flapping your arms like one.
This is really embarrassing and because I don’t like to get laughed at, it works for me.
Other punishments from time to time consist of doing a number of push ups,ab-crunches or anything to built up your body.
The point of it is to make you get the achievement so that you don’t have to do the punishment and if you do get the punishment you have to do an embarrassing EXERCISE.
So either way it’s a win-win.
Comment from: jagoholmes
Time: May 11, 2012 at 11:31 am
Now that’s a very good way to look at it. It’s sure to make you much more focussed, or also the practising certain shots in match play situations, like it thanks Earvin!
Comment from: jagoholmes
Time: May 11, 2012 at 11:32 am
Good plan Darren, it makes it more of a challenge, thanks for your thoughts.
Comment from: jagoholmes
Time: May 11, 2012 at 11:34 am
Yes Mel that is a challenging way to approach it, it sets a little goal in your mind and makes each point more valuable. I’ll give this a go next week, thanks.
Comment from: Mel
Time: May 10, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Sounds like a rhetorical question
Mental fitness needs to be trained, just as much as physical fitness: neglect one or the other, and our game suffers. It’s just easier to see the effect with physical training, and often easier to correct. There are mental techniques to help, same as there are physical training routines, but what we are really talking about is core mental strength.