The other day I was chatting with my friends who don't play badminton. They all think badminton is NOT a real sport. I can understand why they say it because they just don't understand the fun and excitement badminton has. They have seen people play on courts and stuff... but they just don't understand what they're doing. I find it very frustrated to hear this. And I was trying to tell them badminton is even more demanding than tennis. But then they come to the conclusion that tennis is a sport and badminton is not. And that tennis players are more muscular and good looking comparing to badminton. After that it is very disappointing and I have a very bad day... Have this happened to anyone? How do you get people to know what real badminton is?
I always try to get them out on a court. Depending on how annoying they are I try to hit them with a smash to start (on the body, don't want a serious injury but somewhere where they can feel it, maybe back of the head if I really don't like them). Then I make them run all over the court. When the big strong tennis, baseball or soccer player is wheezing after 5 minutes, I ask them if they are starting to get warmed up yet.
If extreme ironing is a sport then badminton should definetly be a sport. Funny that I'm seeing more coverage of Xtreme Ironing in Canada now than coverage of badminton.
Thanks Reynar, Yes, I did that before too, try to get them on the court... So either they don't come at all, or when they come, they say you're so much when you smash.... when you run them around, they say you're not allow to do that... But I told them this is the game... this is BADMINTON! and in the end i'm the bad guy.... I really appreciate beginners who come up to me for some techniques, I think they show the same enthusiasm as much as I do, ie. always want to play badminton, always want to improve...
Hello It's funny to see bulky guys play badminton because the racket and bird is so small but their bodies are so big. They try so hard to hit the bird over the net but just can't seem to find power out of it. Anyone seen this before, a few football players at my school attempts to try out for the team, luckily they are going to make it because there are not enough people in the school that like or respect this sport. They say it's a wussy sport, but what I tell them is that their being beat by wussies what makes them? Haha Wildstyler
If they never even played the sport or picked up the racquet or probably never even seen a pro match, then how are they even drawing conclusions? Tell em that and it'll shut them up.
Well, it's hard to let everyone all agree on something. There's always ppl say this and that about certain sports. Personally, I used to be like that about bowling. However, after I really tried, I know it really require some skill and great technique if u want to join a competition. Having fun with friends for social life is 1 thing, doing well on a consistent base is totally another world. Overall, any sports, if u just want to get a hand on and get some social game, maybe most of them seems very easy. However, if u want to masterize the skill and bring it up to a competition level, well, train hard and really understand it first.
If someone who just talk and talk without really respect and understand anything, it's really annoying. Well, sometimes, I tried to explain badminton to others, if I know they are reasonable ppl and willing to respect ppl when they understand the concept. However, if I know someone always refuse to listen, and never respect others' achievement, I will just leave him/her alone. Why even bother to waste my time to talk to someone refuse to listen and learn at the first. If they talk and talk, give them a smile, and go to join the group where everyone knows about it. So... BC/BF rulez....
Hi, We all know the involvement needed to play badminton, so why care what others say, just simple shrug it off and laugh at them. People in my P.E class thought badminton was just a knock about game, a 'pitter-patter' over the net. I then started playing trick shots, decpetion etc and they had a totaly new perspective on the game, some shook their heads in disbelief. Everyone plays a sport for their own reason, so just ignore them. Matt
IMO As the level increases you have to be fit for each sport in a different way. All sports people are athletes and to improve we all train and practice our chosen sport. Everybody should respect the other persons sport as if it were their own. We are all sportsmen/women. Neil
Yes, those people are not even open minded in the first place. Not even willing to try first, give opinion later. It's like some people with food. Once at my University, an english girl refused to eat chinese food because the cooking contained 'soy sauce' and she couldn't eat spicy food. Despite us chinese and indian friends insisting it wasn't spicy at all, she refused to believe us. After some time, an english person persuade her that it wasn't spicy. After that, chinese food? yum,yum!! Sometimes it will take time. Point is not to get too worked up about it. You did the right thing by trying to get them on court but if a person chooses not to listen, well, they have their choice <shrug shoulders>
a real demanding, fun sport I often run into this kind of situation. I know what it takes to become a good badminton player. But it is difficult for me to convince someone who does not know badminton that badminton is a very demanding sport. I was once quite frustrated about that. Now I don’t. It is normal for someone misjudging something when they have no knowledge or has not had any involvement. I asked a lot of badminton players who had never played golf whether golf is a sport. Most of their answers are quite negative. Quite frankly, how can they judge on something that they had never tried (just like food), even they are my fellow badminton friends. My point is that badminton is not the only sport being misunderstood. The important thing is that you believe in badminton and you know for sure that badminton is a sport. And you enjoy playing badminton. It is good to try to convince someone that badminton is a real sport, but do not expect them to understand it right the way. After all, badminton itself requires players’ time and patience to development their skill. It is not an easy sport. All of you would agree with me that the better skill you are the more enjoyment/understand you have. Badminton takes time. Of cause, I will completely shut my month when I know someone just want to make fun of badminton and have no intention of knowing badminton. I know that I did not lose anything, it is them who miss out. Because badminton, to me, not only is a real demanding sport, but also a real fun sport.
Respect Thanks for all the respones! After reading of these messages, I think we just really have to show respect for every sport, I believe that every sport takes a life time to master and even if you tried your best and train really hard, there are still going to be others that are better than you.... there is a chinese saying, "there is always a higher mountain".... i always keep that in my mind... Showing respect for every sport is very important, especially when you're an athlete, its ok if you don't know much about a sport, but you need to understand every sport takes a life time to master... since many of you reading this are probably badminton enthusiast like me, we can take golf as an example... many people will say you don't need to run or have stamina or anything like that, but there are lots of skills involved... I remember one time I saw Tiger Woods on TV, he was hitting the shot in a sand pit, he has to hit past a pond to get to the green, it was really windy, he hits the ball, and it landed right beside the hole... I don't think I can ever do that in my life, I think he has amazing skills in golf and I respect it very much.... I won't say I'll probably run faster than him because golf is what he plays, not track and field... Anyways, hope you will get my point... Cruxradio, How do you know about the Queen's Tournament? I'm going to be playing in it, are you in it too?
I can understand this feeling. One girl was telling me her story back then. When she first joined her school team, she was practicing with other girls. She was good in drop shots, and sometimes making ppl run like crazy during matches. Once, another girl (a beginner) got frustrated when faced her, and shouted at her "stop cheating !!!". She was so shocked... Well, yeah, maybe she should take a little bit easy on her opponent. However, I also clearly respect to ppl's style of playing. No matter a tricky net player, or a powerful hitter, as long as u win, u r good. Well, there's always ppl mis-judge others base on their own thoughts. To me, unless they willing to accept the "real rule", otherwise, no need to get into a shouting match for something surely won't come out with a result.
It's hard to "take it easy" without either making them feel bad or making the game worthless for you. Some people just avoid smashing with newbs but even then a newb would be facing with clears and drops. They won't have the stamina, footwork, nor aim to be able to counter it, making them sweaty, tired, and discouraged after 10 minutes. If you always hit to them, then it's not too useful for you. Well i guess you can just use clears but that would make it seem more like backyard badminton. If you just do drops... that would make it a very difficult game for oneself because then I would have to do all the running around while maintaining good aim.
for me, no matter who i'm playing... i will try my best, no matter they're newbie or experts.... because if they know i'm not trying my best, i'm not showing respect to them, and there is not point to the game, i really appreciate people who are much better than me winning me 15-0 and trying their best, if they play around and still win, they have no respect and are just being cocky... for newbies, IF they're interested in badminton, if you smash at them, make them run around, and then you can teach them afterwards, if they're not interested... you can't do anything...
Well, I am not sure whether I should really agree on "take it easy on beginners" or not. Of course, I know I play hard, I try my best to competite. However, ppl are different. For example, some of my friends clearly respect my game, and they know badminton is not a backyard sport. Althought they knew and support me, does not mean they have to play and train as hard as I do. Most of them enjoy badminton, more like a social game. Well, I won't finger point them, and say they did not try their best. Come on, ppl like different stuff. We can participate in a lot of sports, but I don't think we can be really serious in everyone of them. Like myself, I participate in basketball, baseball, football, soccer, tennis, however, not doing well. I clearly spent way much more time for badminton than any of the others combined. I enjoy other games as well, but if u put a NBA star playing with me, and play it to the bones, well, he can kill me 200 - 0 in 10 min, but what's the point? I don't think I can be "encourage" this way, and start to shoot hoops as they can do on TV. I might even lost my only interests for playing in the park with my friends, as I am currently doing. I am not saying we should never show a thing or two in when facing beginners. However, I think we need to judge different cases by person, if we know them. If I don't know them, I will start a game with them with easy hit around and clear, if I can clearly see they r willing to improve in skills, I will be more serious, and put in more tough shot for them. If they just more like socialize around, I might show some tricky shot once a while, but mainly let them being able to hit easy shot, and enjoy the night or so. As I metioned in some other threads, I was a lucky guy in this club. There were several nice guys willing to play with me, when I first joined with very rough skills. If they want, they can beat me 15-0 with their eyes closed, but they did not. They were like a half coach for me, increase the game difficulty for me as I improved. Now, I can face some of them more like a real match, and if they want to win, they need to show everything they have. So, encouragement is surely good. Just bully showing off, or kicking out beginners in 2 min blow out for taking over court time are the ones I don't like. Come on, easy fooling around is no fun. But being killed for an unfair match is not, either. Just think what u will feel, if u r the unlucky receiving end. Think about this, say, 10 yrs ago, when we first started......
Well, I see ur point. However, I don't think say, Chen Hong or Gong Zhichao's clear will be anywhere close to the "backyard" level. I am not saying I have that skill, just say, make a comparison with myself and the beginner. Try to set a "range". Sure, try to work him/her out, and let they know if they want to be better, they need to try. But if out the range, say, training someone just know how to hold a racket, I give them my net drops, jump smashes, and they could not even see the bird, what's the point? Will they ever be encourage to try harder???