Basically when ever I mention that I play badminton they laugh like it is an inferior sport, It really annoys me how narrow minded they are If I said something like football or rugby they would be like cool what position you play in How can I say things that will make people understand how great it actually is. Ive mentioned things like, Its the fastest racket sport there is, and shuttles can travel over 200 Mph, Some of them even say " tennis is faster " then i just give up
first of all i think its because most ppl think of the game they used to play as childs on the grass / in the garden..or wherever...in germany we have a different name for that than badminton (most ppl dont realise that however) the difference to badminton is that the goal is to keep the shuttle in the air as long as possible its like a game just for fun with no competition to play with girls and kids but also look at my doubles thread most badminton players wanna play for fun with little engagement they rather stay around, play doubles to not have to run as much and chat more in my opinion its not hard to become a decent player, however only very few ppl are, even after many years of playing in a club..because they just dont have any desire to put work in it if you play rugby or soccer in a club they know you have a coach who drills you to run and make certain exercises no matter if you like it or not now why has tennis a better reputation? just my guesses: - maybe because they see games on TV which last 3-5h and the commentators are feasting about how tough and great the players are - maybe because everyone tried badminton out on a fun basis at whatever grassland and noticed how easy it is to hit a shuttlecock above the net while if they try tennis the first time they struggle a lot and therefore think badminton is an easier sport just my thoughts... personally i stopped arguing about that issue when ppl are reacting like you said because my personal experience of my club and league play is that the majority of clubplayers are on the softer side of sportmen...
First of all, a lot of people play it in the garden during the summer, which gives a totally different perception of how badminton is/should be played. Secondly, the media attention and budgets are (globally) not even remotely close to what Tennis gets. All the grand slams have prime time in the majority of the countries. Badminton only gets attention when the big tournaments are played AND only in a select amount of countries. There's no way I'm going to see badminton here in Belgium on TV. The only time I saw it was when the Int. Challenge was held in Leuven. Once the majority of the people see our sport for what it really is (a demanding sport, both physically and technically) they will change their point of view. I have a lot of friends who reacted like that at the beginning. Luckily 10mins on court changes a lot .
Fairly related thread I started awhile ago. Lots of information and speculation you can find here: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...better-compared-to-Badminton?highlight=tennis
The countries that are dominant in the sport also play a rather important part, for example in China badminton is religion, Brazilian soccer is second to none and here in Singapore, complaining is an art form, in a good natured comparison.
because people naturally choose a sport which they have a hope to be good at. One rather straightforward way of finding this out is to look at the performance of their fellow countrymen on the world stage.
Why badminton is so underrated and not so popular? Personally I think there are so many sport business giants who did not view this sport as commanding, attractive and rewarding commercially. So, they dont invest or sponsor this sport. Imagine the amounts these guys have invested in golf n tennis? There is nowhere badminton is getting closed to it. How can we compare n compete? For badminton, there should be facilities like halls, lighting, nets n other equipment which many institution n organisations find expensive to build n does not give a good ROI. Besides that, we need good coaches and better players to spare with in order to improve. So for many under developed countries, badminton is practically played as a backyard sport. They cant invest in this sport facilities as there are other more pressing needs for their economy. Besides problem in promotion of this sport, nowaday, there are less passionate players who play this sport just for the love of it.
The problem with badminton is that you can't just play it outside on the streets or wherever unless there is almost no wind at all. When playing football e.g. you just need a ball and some space. That's it. When playing badminton you need rackets, a shuttle and a net (without a net it is pointless to call it badminton imo).
I hate how what I'm really good at doesn't receive much respect in public. I would have more respect if badminton was at least top 5 sports in the world.
Unfortunately you are not in Southeast Asia where the badminton game is popular. No one will laugh at you, especially when you challenge them to a game of singles and win. You will receive all the respect you deserve.
but still we play that game because we have so much fun while playing it so who cares about respect and what others think..i think its a pity too and not quite fair, but i dont mind that..because i for myself found the sport i enjoy so much and wanna do in my spare time (as long as enough players in your area play it everything is fine ) also the majority of sports have that same problem
That's the point ... every country has it's most famous sport, be it soccer in Europe and South America or Baseball and Football in the US or Ice Hockey in Canada ... or Badminton in Asia. Did you ever see a video of a Yonex Open in China or Malaysia on Youtube? If you have a look at the audience, you could think it's a US Wrestling event If someone tells me tennis is faster, I tell him he's wrong and if every try to convince him fails, I show him THIS video So ... no matter how popular badminton is in your country ... who cares as long as it rocks
It's the UK, anybody that doesn't play or like badminton thinks it's a sport for pansies, get used to it. The reality of it is these folk that you tell have probably tried it once or twice and played like pansies and don't know any better. It's not under rated or not popular you struggle to book a court in my city, just different strokes for different folks, for instance I see all athletics as just exercise and what i gather from rugby union is you get the ball find the nearest opponent and run directly into them lay the ball off and repeat.
Tell them the game is played elegantly with deftness, dexterity, determination and deception. The speed time a shuttle reach opponent during a smash is less than 0.1 second - literally blink of an eye. The most important reason is publicity and "money". If tournament game prize is raise to US1 million, the game will catch attention. I guess the profit generating organiziation should do more;
On one hand, you can say that any sport will look like it's 'for pansies' if you look at low-level recreational players or try it only two times as a beginner. Think of a child learning to skate, playing catch in a yard with a family member, or giving someone a football, tennis racquet, hockey or lacrosse stick for the first time. So people should be able to make the leap from that to accepting the possibility that at a professional level, the game will be entirely different. On the other hand, sometimes the highest level of a 'sport' can look very much like the recreational level. Take a quick look at bowling, archery, darts, golf, curling, or baseball played at the highest, and you still see a bunch of often overweight, sometimes middle-aged, rarely athletic-looking competitors whose skill level is obviously worlds apart from the backyard, but whose exertion level is not perceptibly different. Hence, considering how effectively economics and other forces within the media work to deny the rank-and-file backyard player a peek at professional badminton, they can in some way be forgiven for not knowing into which category this sport falls. Another thing is that as a beginner, you can accidentally hit a tennis ball out of the park or otherwise make it move at an impressive speed but at the same level, making a shuttlecock do anything but flutter in the air or worse - gulp - the wind, is much more difficult. Hence, extrapolating to the speed of the pro game is easier for one with no knowledge, even without the obscene gap in television coverage hours.
Rule #1: do not argue and come up with geeky facts like 0.1 second, 300+ kmph speeds, it only enhances the geek stereotype . Rule #2: do not put down other sports to prove your sport is "better". As mentioned above, every sport at the highest level is an extremely difficult skill level and deserves respect (of course you can still jest it for your personal entertainment , as long as you respect it) . Rule #3: as mentioned in another thread, just smile and walk away like the Fonz (or James Dean) Then again it doesn't hurt to actually be good at other sports. I can't remember anyone ever laughing at me for being a badminton player, they'd sooner be curious than mock it. Must be my aura (and in school situation being one of the best few in pretty much any sport played in PE, be it softball, basketball, football, rugby, t&f, hockey, volleyball, handball)
