went to the gym tonight.

played 3 games with my heavier racket. so so. lost.

then took a rest, some other pair came in, they wanted to use plastic birds. so we played a game with plastics. i thought, since i am a little bit tired, let's switch to my SR and play. WOW. all my shots are really perfect. smashes are heavy and sharp, defense is much better than usual. we ended winning against a pretty strong pair.

so some other pair swapped in, and we switched back to feather. and my game was dramatically better.

has anyone have that happen to them? all that was needed was a change in racket, and switch to/from plastic bird.

(this tells you how inconsistent i am, but hey... :)

Actually..it was with strings ..not rackets for me!...

I had broken a string but didn't want to restring right away so my coach repaird the racket strining for me...naturally..the tension went down alot!

So i kept on playing and had to hit everything a harder.
The week before a tournmanet i got my racket restrung to around 23 lbs...Wow!..the first time i played with the restrung racket...every shot was awesome...!..but then ..the next day was bad again!...heh..i have no idea why hehe

Its the racket for me, i used to switch between my Yonex carb 8000 and Winex Aerodynamic 200 whenever i felt that i was playing badly with 1. I did this because of the 2 different weights.

Yes, I've been playing a lot with my MP100 lately. I consider it a heavy racket. Yesterday I switched to one of my old raquets, a Carlton Aerogear 1000FX and my shots were to my surprise much harder while I maintained control. The thing is, I never liked the 1000FX much, as I found it a bit powerless. Now, suddenly it was dynamite! I think the 1000FX is really stiff and about 10 grams lighter than the MP100. I guess my wrist play has improved so that I can play well with a very stiff and light racquet...

But you will have to keep practising with the heavier racquet to maintain the advantage.

Yes, that's true. I use a squash racquet specifically for that purpose.

Hey, I got the answer for you Kwun.
Somebody spiked your Gatorade drink.
Could be amphetamines or steroids. You better go have your urine tested......

where do i get more of this amphetamines?

things i do for badminton.

Don;t ask me this question!

why? Cheung, are you hiding something from us?

we are friends, right? we are supposed to share "good stuff" with friends..

I don't want to be implicated in anything.....

Besides, it's you whose game got better. Aren't you supposed to share what you drank/ate?

I had the same thing happen when my new Iso 600 came in the mail. Could it be that we concentrate on our stroke more while trying out an unfamiliar racquet? Which brings up another question: How much does this phenomenon, to be known from now on as the Kwun Effect, contribute to our results when a dealer hands us a "latest and greatest" racquet to try out?

Now that is interesting. It would make a good research topic. OK Kwun, I want you in the lab NOW!!

so you are going to supply the amphetamines? :)

i think they should have drug test for you guys before tournaments ;-)

it's what the doctor prescribed, i don't know anything about it....

Hey, you guys might have stumbled into a new form of badminton tactic. Like the "drunken" kung fu fighting style, playing badminton under the influence of amphetamines would be so different to your opponent because the deceptive moves would be so radical and unpredictable that they think u r a wizard in badminton. What should we call this new form of play? Rolling Stone?

I am vigorously denying any knowledge of use of amphetamines on my part. (Dunno about Kwun).

In the Olympic gymnastic event, one of the gold medal winners was disqualified for taking a common cold medication even though the team doctor prescribed it.

Oops, i think i was under the influence when i wrote my last post. Too generalized (ex. you guys). Not my normal sober character.

so <b>you</b> are the one that need the drug test, not us? :)

I wasn't under the influence of amphetamines. Is alcohol a ban substance in the olympic? If you don't want the title of wizard of badminton, i'll take it.

It's a banned subsatnce in the US if under 21 yrs old, right?

i dont know, i live in canada and the drinking age is 18.

I never had any problems with any racquets or anything like that. I can play with just about anything.