Well, it has been a long time! Some of you may have noticed I've not been around, and also that my website has been largely dormant. I've been preoccupied with various technical work on the website (among other things). At the time when my workload was at its heaviest (and most stressful), I lost the habit of visiting the forums. It's amazing how much in life comes down to habits. Anyway, I'm back now, and the Badminton Bible is not dead. We should be back to regular new content (videos certainly, and probably articles too) in the next week or so. It would have been much better if I'd at least communicated what was happening, but I didn't have a satisfactory channel of communication. So I've finally started a blog. Highlights: Where's all the new content? (or, "what the hell have you been up to, Mike?") Reviewing and planning (improvements we've made, and the next improvements we're planning) Trouble with Highwinds (part 1) (a very technical post, attempting to explain my biggest time sink) For those who, being sane, do not wish to read that last post, I offer a précis: "Bastards, bastards, bastards! Unbelievable. How can they think this is okay? And where's the sodding documentation? I've got three months to fix everything or my WHOLE BUSINESS BREAKS. And none of the players support it. Bastards." To avoid ending on a such a negative note, I also have a question: how do you feel about videos in multi-purpose sports halls? You know, the ones where you have badminton lines together with basketball lines (and others). Obviously a dedicated badminton court is preferable. But how much? We've been bending over backwards to film at such a venue, and we're beginning to reconsider. Would you rather see more videos on worse courts, or fewer videos on better courts? How important do you feel the court lines are?
Welcome back Gollum! We missed having you around BC! Re court lines, that's not as important as being able to see the stroke and the shot and the net, and being able to hear you clearly, ie no background noise distractions with other players playing in the hall.
Thanks, that's pretty much what I was thinking too. The venue we have in mind might actually improve the audio.
It is, indeed, good to have you back, Gollum. Your posts are always well-written and edifying. I second professor visor's motion that the clarity of picture and sound in your videos is more important than perfection in court appearance.
Hurrah! "Edifying" scores gold in my list of gratifying adjectives. Thanks, that's encouraging. Unfortunately I heard back from the school in question, and (surprisingly) they seem to be heavily booked. Still, the idea stands, and there are other schools around...
Great videos by the way! To me it doesn't matter how clear the court lines are. But maybe its worth doing one video in the new setting in order to get some proper feedback. Cheers!
Thanks! We'll need to get some test footage anyway, to see what the video/audio is like in a new location. If I'm unsure, I might even upload the test footage to canvas opinion.
It's good to see you back here! The blog is a good idea. The lines on the floor don't matter to me, for coaching purposes. Looking forward to some new videos/articles/whatever.
Thanks for letting me know. So far this seems to be the consensus. Unfortunately the venue I had in mind is too busy, but I'm already looking at an alternative.
