fella shuttlers, especially the ones who have a busy full time job, i have a question for you. how do you schedule your life? i always wonder how this can be done.

a lot of us lives and breathe badminton, we play badminton a few times a week, we have full time job, and many of us have a family as well. how do you do it?

i for example, have a very busy full time job, often 10+hrs a day, sometimes even more, on top of that, i sneak out of work early to play badminton on tuesday and thursday evenings, and then on sunday, after a sleeping in late, i go to the gym and whack the birdie for another full afternoon. this leaves me with (perhaps) a couple of week nights, and saturday to do other things. not to say the evenings that i spend watching those badminton tapes over and over again. most of the free time i have, i am either too tired from work, or too tired from playing so much badminton.

so? how do you do it? i am too late (and sucks too much) to turn professional, so that's out of the question. :)

When i used to travel 1998-2001, I used to carry my baddy racket along! But then i seldom had teh oppurtunity to play! I could go to the Club Courts but then will en dup doing drills as nobody will be there to play!

I am talking abt trips where i am out of town for atleast 2 months!

When i am in town i used to play baddy from 5-6.15 in Teh morning! I will have to catch a Bus to go to a factory at abt 6.42! Mostly!

when i was posted within the city i was able to sneak out at 7.30 and i will play until 10 in the night!if not i will catch up with baddy at 5 in the Morning!


I guess that was indeed a tough period! but then i am at home for a long time studying! So now it is easy but then i have stopped playing to study!

Irony!

So little time, so much to do!

I play with my club two evenings a week, I have league matches one evening about every other week, plus I play in the mornings before work at least twice a week with my girlfriend... And well, sunday afternoons we usually gather a group of friends to play... I guess I'm lucky to have both a girlfriend and a circle of friends that also want court time!

But seriously, I think playing in the mornings before work is the key. But I guess it helps if you live only a 5 minute walk from the badminton stadium... ;)

awesome! did you deliberately move there? i can totally see a badminton fanatic do that... :)

most of the people here in my home town who works, plays at night because if you work, you're expected to be at the site from morning till evening about 7. after that, they will go to play badminton, some would go on from 8 till 11. and to them, no matter how hard the day has been at work, there is always lots energy left to play badminton. unless ofcourse they work at construction sites carrying heavy loads of stuff. u know, sometimes when I play a good game, I feel rejunivated no matter how weak I felt earlier on that day :) maybe u'd like to give that a try too.

It was actually quite the other way around: I took up badminton after moving here...

Actually, for a sports fanatic (which I'm really not, apart from baddy) the location is great: it's bordering to a huge park/leasure-area in the core of Stockholm, and within a 5 min walk there are two large tennis halls, one large badminton hall, two soccer grounds, one hockey rink, one skating short track, long-distance skiing tracks (in winter obviously), running grounds, one swimming hall, a kayaking club, a golf driving range (indoors!), plus three excellent stables with riding facilities... I guess I should vary my athletic activities more! :)

But seriously, if I were to move, proximity to a badminton hall would have to be considered!

Give up sleeping ;)

I am a hi-tech casualty. So I am collecting my bi-weekly EI checks, while looking for a job. In the meantime I have been playing sometimes twice a day. Here's my typical week.

Monday morning - rest from the weekend.
Monday evening - mixed doubles with my wife, daughter and a friend. Fairly strenous - typically 6 games played.

Tuesday morning - community center play - random games, low speed. More for social interaction.
Tuesday evening - rec center play - random games, quite competitive.

Wednesday morning - community center play - random games, low speed.
Wednesday evening - coaching for high school kids at daughter's high school.

Thursday morning - community center play, low speed.
Thursday evening - rec center play - competitive -depending on who attends.

Friday - hmmm - I don't play Fridays....Oh yeah - job searching...

Saturday noon - training with wife and daughter
Saturday evening - community center play, competitive depending on who shows up.

Sunday noon - training with wife and daughter.
Sunday evening - have recently found a new center to play in the early evening!!

Okay so that is not the norm. While I was working, and most likely when I find work again, the morning sessions are all dropped, and typically only Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings are retained.

BTW, it also helps that my wife is a competitive player as well, and she plays as often as I do when she is not working her shifts.

in australia there is a suburb in sydney called Burwood.

within that housing area, there is a Badminton Road.

not sure if there's a court near-by though.

I guess the dream job would be a manager/owner of a badminton facility. You get paid doing what you love (badminton)!

Hey BadRad, things are picking up in BC for the High Tech sector. CreoSciTex just put in a whole bunch of postings on www.bctechnology.com

I'm in the same boat as you and don't know when I will be able to find work as a Proj. Mgr. but unfortunately I don't get to play badminton during the days as I have to drop my kid off at school and pick her up again (Kindergarten)

i used to do that when i was younger and energetic. i am not "old" now, but still, it gets harder. sigh.

i know exactly what you mean, i work till 6-7 on tuesdays and thursdays, and then head to the gym for two hours of badminton action! i hardly ever feel lack of energy whenever i am in the gym.

the hardest part is of course, to have to sit at work and wait 9+ hours, always wondering why the clock is ticking slower that day... :)

yes. i so much agree with you. i think i will work hard, pile up a bunch of savings, retire early, and play badminton for the rest of my life. :P


Peter, i thought you work as the distributor of Winex as well? how much time commitment do you put in per week?

I'll take a look into Creo. Thx. ;-)

I'm a bit lucky that my kids are older so I only have to drive first thing in the morning, then pick up in the afternoon. That leaves me with noon time free to play over at Cambie center and get back in time for pick up.

BTW, Peter, I noticed on the Cambie Community center flier that there is a coach named Peter. Would that happen to be you?

Kwun,
Yeah, I'm the Winex distributor for Western Canada (have a partner who is helping with that) - this is a side gig (my main career is in the high tech area - over 15 years and still loving it but with the slow down, it's been pretty depressing). Right now, since I'm in between jobs, I'm focusing on the Winex stuff.

BadRad,
I should come up to Cambie once of these days. The Wed coaching session is run by Peter Lau (a good friend). He plays at the club that I play in (Richmond Badminton Club at Anderson school - he's the prez of the club). Peter is a certified Level II Badminton coach.

Also, there is a networking group going around via www.hiretoptalent.com

I have a full-time job computer security manager job, plus other management duties in Purchasing, Budget, and Cost Allocation of tech resources. Just had my applications programming supervisory duties reassigned to some other lucky guy :-) Also I live 40 miles away from work, way out in the country (3/4 miles off of the nearest paved road).
My badminton schedule:

Friday 5pm-7pm or 6pm-9pm de[ending on hours Uni rec center is open. Mostly play with people in their 20's (students).
Saturday 10am-2 or 3pm; or 12pm-4pm depending on rec center. First 2 hrs play with mostly middle aged people(like me), some in 30's, few students. Rest of time, mostly students.
Sunday 1pm-3 or 4pm; same groups as Saturdays.

Early Sat-Sun mornings are for jobs around house (change oil in car, truck,etc). We go to church Sun 11:30-12:30 or 1:00; wear gym clothes to save time changing.

When training for a tournament, wife & I get up at 4:30am on workdays, eat, drive to town (Baton Rouge,LA) for rec center opening at 6:00, do drills until 7:30, I get to work half-hour late at 8:00 (boss lets me take half-hour vacation time).

Wife's court time abt like mine, except she adds Tuesday& Thursday 8:00am-12:00 1 hr drills, 3 hrs play; 1:00-3:00 run on track or use treadmill, stationary bike, work out on weight machines. (Has recently cut back to Tuesdays only since she's recovering from knee operation.)

I'd like to add Tues-Wed-Thurs after work to my schedule for running & weight machines, but can't seem to fit it in right now. Hope to retire soon, have more time to plant fruit trees, play badminton, train better, do more drills.

Basically, we work and play badminton, everything else get fitted in to whatever time remains.

Family story: my mother & i came home one afternoon many years ago, to find the house empty, my grandfather & gradnmother were not there, a broom & dustpan lay in the middle of the living room floor. Mother called all their friends, no one had seen grandparents. She went into their bedroom, saw their fishing rods & tackle boxes were missing, came out and said "Marshall, don't worry they'll be back later on." turns out grandfather was working in his garden and dug up a huge pile of earthworms. He took them inside and showed grandmother, who was sweeping the floor. She dropped the broom, grabbed her fishing gear, he put their boat in the back of his pickup truck, and they left, not to come home until after dark, with a lot of fresh fish.

IMHO, this is the correct attitude to have regarding important things like fishing or badminton.

that is admirable. i think i need more discipline in life.

Where do you play Tuesday and Thursday nights ?

San Jose State University. look at open gym schedule at www.usabnc.org

where do you normally play?

Time management. Setting goals and ensuring you build into your hectic itinerary the time needed for each of your pursuits. Prioritisation of what is important, how much of your time you want it to take, what you want to get from it.

I too have the same difficulties and have just worked out my "plan" for the year - this allows dedicated times for each pursuit I have - work, badminton, socialising, loved ones... Unfortunately I didn't sort it out in time - and something had to give.... Dasly this was badminton and "loved ones"....

Sor out your plan - write it down - before you too find that something has to give and cannot be gotten back.....

My wife Linda and I (Hi, I'm Randy) used to be Sunday night members at the Richmond club long ago when they were still at the RCA Forum over at the airport. That must have been at least 5 or 6 years ago. I remember Peter since we may have been in one of the same level 1 courses with Abdul.

Drop by Cambie when you have some time. Let me know which day, I'll try to arrange so that we can play. :-)

Not discipline. Just knowing what really counts in your life, and letting nothing else get in the way.

Peter
Winex distributor - do you have a website? I'm looking for my ProAce replacements, looking for Ti10, but I'm flexible. Anything in the Winex line that is comparable?
Yes, this is probably the wrong forum, but since it was brought up, I thought I'd take the opportunity here to ask.

unfortunately, the habit of daily grind is sometime hard to break.
Most employers want you 110% or nothing at all, rarely in between.
This year, i plan to play 3 nights/wk + occasional saturday afternoon
what i really want is do drills but most other people just want to play games.

I hope the high tech sector recovers this year and those temporaily unemployed talented high tech workers out there find employment again.

Thanks for the well wishes, cooler.

Things seem to be picking up but it's gonna take a while. The good news is that all the experts agreed that the economy will pick up in the late first quarter/early second quarter.

BadRad,
I will e-mail you directly.

Kwun, i thought u claim that U are always 22! Eventhough we know that u are in ur early 30's! I guess age does catch up with all of us! So all teh Kids outthere, Make best use of ur time right NOW!

At one time it was perhaps the only thing I had in mind. But got really obcessed when met my coach. Never seen anybody play so well - like watching dance show. At that time played probably 6/7 days a week. Practices with coach would be Wed, Sat and Sundays: Wed 7pm to 11pm (if caretaker allowed sometimes until 1 am); Sat and Sun 2:30 to 6:30 pm (from 8 - 11pm would help coach to coach other club players). Mon, Thu and Fri 8 - 11pm play at different clubs. Later other priorities came but always kept in touch with badminton. Tried coaching kids, learned a lot with them and I consider it a very gratifying experience. Actually play once a week if time permits. Have to drive my kids around for their soccer practice and games.

Badrad and Peter Kho - wish both of you all the best in job searching. Economy should improve in the coming months - that's what my bosses say and they should know what they are talking - after all they are experts in the financial sector.

Well, I have to admit, a few years ago I was lucky to get once a week playing. I was on the road nearly three weeks of each month, back every other weekend. I had tried to keep playing at different cities, but except for San Francisco, most of my work locations were eastern US and clubs were either hard to find or far from the hotels (I actually drove 2.5 hours one weekend to play for 2 hours then drive another 2.5 back). San Francisco was nice, there were a lot of places I found to play thanks in part to Stan B's website.

The 110% was definitely the case. We gave up nights and weekends. In the end, because the suits never made up their minds clearly what they wanted in the first place, the effort was all for naught. Oh well, that's how it goes.

i am always 22... :P


who says i am in the 30s????

it is very hard to find people to do drills with. i recently found a group of friends and we got a coach. now we are very diligently doing drills. still at the early stage, but the improvement is definitely there. playing games all the time is rather useless.

however, before this, no one wants to do drills. i don't get it, is playing games that much more fun?

my dad and my uncle were very good a-level players some time ago, and now there training me and my cousin. we just go to the BC and train. and there even better than the BCtrainers!, whats funny is that the trainers look at what my dad and uncle are doing and then they do the same drills in their class!

Nightingale
Did I read your message right? You gave up badminton???? Oh, yeah, AND "LOVED ONES"???
I hope your loved ones get back onto Number 1 on your priority list. Nothing else matters without them in your life.
Badminton - you can always take a break from, it will always be there like a long lost friend. It's like riding a bike, you never forget, but you'll always get cramps!

i'm in school...

i play all the time... except when i have to attend dinner... or have a test within 4 days .... or have exams during that week....

....other wise.... its 2hours on friday

2 hours on saturday.....

and then i sleep.....

i feel drills are most intense part of badminton and that's why i like it the most.
It come closest to be like work; feeling really good when the drill is done.
Playing singles is like playing physical chess for me.
Playing MD is like playing pc game quake3 for me, shooting your enemies down, brainless fun but still fun.

Marshall, that is admirable time managment. You are truly a badminton Fanatic.

Let me know anytime you and your wife drop by HK.

i hope i didn't insulted double players out there.The term 'brainless' is definitely is not appropriately used in my part.

Deal. That is, if you will let us know if you get to Louisiana.

Ahhh,

Pardon my ignorance

Truthfully, I have no clue where Louisiana is except that it is in N. America.
But I am willing to include it in my itinery if badminton exists there. !!

BadRad - sadly you did get it right. Unfortunately the pressures and demandsof my job meant everything else around me suffered.

don't get me wrong, it wasn't something I did willingly - not at all, but as the only breadwinner in the house I needed to ensure I had the security of my job - and unfortunately it cost me more.

I'm hoping, one day, I'll be able to get back the most important thing in my life (my loved one), then badminton... It's all part of my goal setting, but I need to change the working practices gradually, for if I do it radically - in one foul swoop - I run the risk of losing that too...

funny old life - eh......

Nightingale:
Affairs of the heart are always difficult, and definitely more complicated that our little discussion group.
Your course of action sounds fine. Take it one step at a time. You may have lost the rally, but the match is never over, not while there's still breath in you.
Good luck with your quest!