I played badminton !!!!

Well as everyone knows I don't play as much these days...mostly just coach. I wanted to hit some shuttles as I was getting restless but don't know anyone so I visited a club called Ultimate Impact for queueing, I didn't really want to play games, I just wanted to hit some shuttles but had no choice. The heat and humidity is so baaaad !! I was perspiring before I went on court !! Anyway after the first game I am graded as level "B"...... hey I'm 53,overweight and don't play much these days..... give me a break !! :-)

The organization was excellent, Michelle, Sheila and Leo were the 3 that I met, very friendly and helpful organizers, they make sure that you get a level match, your name is called out over the loudspeakers when it's your turn to play, much more professional than in the UK.

The courts are fine and they have an equipment kiosk where you can buy rackets, shuttles clothing etc, it's run by a friendly and helpful guy, I've had my rackets strung by him and he done a good job and he done it there and then !!

Anyway it was ok as all the people there were very friendly and nice. Over here when it's your turn to play you play 2 games back to back, after the first game I was breathing soooooo hard and perspiring so much you would have thought that I had just been swimming. I played 8 games and only lost 2 so not too bad for a fat old guy !! :-)

I played with some other A/B players, surprisingly most of then did some unusual things when serving.... they would serve a semi high serve and allow their opponent to smash !!!!! I couldn't believe it ... can anyone imagine what I would say if any of you did that..... there's 3 main serves in doubles, low serve (90% of the time) the flick serve (10% of the time) and the occasional drive serve..... but a serve that is aimed for you to smash !!!!....... NO WAY !!
Though in saying that the shuttles were so slow that it was hard to smash through anyone's defence from anywhere near the rearcourt which made for longer rallies.

As the shuttles were very slow this made the games into 3/4 court play which helped me as I am old and slow. It was difficult to play a normal clear from baseline to baseline as the shuttle's were so slow, when I did manage to clear well, it usually went out. At home we can hit a clear that falls vertically very steep on the baseline, that is difficult here probably because of the heat and shuttles they use. Because of that they are not used to hitting a vertically falling shuttle, I tested and proved this as I played a high singles type serve to a few good players and mostly they found it difficult to hit the shuttle well.

I found it difficult to watch the games there as I am usually coaching at home when watching players play, I would see players doing this and that wrong and wanted to say something but couldn't, so for once I had to keep my mouth shut..... I can hear some of you saying.... yippee !

It's a shame as there were some good players there but they were doing some simple things badly. They could all do with some footwork training and positional play, also how and when to rotate to keep the attack. Maybe if I get to know some of them I could help them.

All in all it was a nice friendly place to be and I will go back again, I will have to put my old body through it all again.... wish I was 23 again !!!!!