I'm in a absolutely wonderful mood today because of training. The coach made the girls play against the boys, everyone was playing a match except me because I had played with many of them before and beaten the guys, and the really advanced guys who would have thrashed me were already in a doubles game. So the coach trained me while they were playing a game. It was about 1 hour, just the coach and I and I found I actually learnt and improved in that 1 hour more then I would have in a 2 hour group lesson!(Sorry for the 4 I's) I'm thinking that maybe I SHOULD take up individual lessons, much more worth it. What do you all think? I tried seaching for a thread like mine but couldn't come up with a thread like this. Sorry for such a weird post, I'm just in a too great mood since that badminton session.
If the opportunity's there, take it, Joanne. You won't play as many games as you'd like, and some of the drills will seem boring after a while, but your technique can now be closely monitored and improved. The quality of your movement and strokes will take a huge leap! On the other hand, you may be discouraged when you find that there aren't any of your friends around to compete against...I always find that I can work WITH my friends, even if I play against them. Also, it's good to have someone you dislike on the other side of the net...thrashing them in a vigorous game always seems to be of paramount importance! (Sorry if that sounds slightly evil - I suppose this kind of motivation brings about a guilty pleasure.) So find out which environment you prefer before you decide. It is worth the effort if you really want to succeed. Aleik.
But it's quite expensive.. and I'm thinking about the long term. Will I continue to like badminton if I've no friends or competition? Or should I like, continue with my group lesson and only have individual lessons when I'm free? It's paying by the hour you see.
Keep to the group and have 1 hour of single lesson for a set period (say 1 month with 1 single lesson 1-2 times per week) see the progress adn how you like it. If it makes too much of a change stop.
if the single lesson is too expensive, what i would consider is just what Dill said. But even if that's too much, maybe just try limiting the signle lessons to once a month. After you've done a single lesson (like you mentioned, you've learned a ton more), take what you learned in the single lesson and try to improve upon it in the group lesson. For example, if the coach tells you to do a certain shot (how to improve it, etc)..try to do it in the group lesson, improve it during ur free time, etc. It's not always necessary to take so many group lessons as the coach can only tell you so much. You can coach yourself with drills..ask friends to feed you shuttles if they're that dedicated, etc.
But you see, in my group lesson I'm trained with other girls and no guys as there are enough girls to make a group. So the skill levels are really different. The training we do as a group will never be as tough as the training I took in today's lesson. I guess my coach knows I can do it and really pushed me, only rested about 1 minute for each exercise, and I repeated each one 2 or 3 times. Lol. What I liked was my coach said "prepare to die under me" when I asked her who I was going to be playing against. I didn't die under her... So the thing is, in a group lesson the coach will kind of correct certain things only, they won't pay very close attention to everything.
What i can suggest is (and this is what i tend to do sometimes) that after the group lesson, if there's some spare time, ask the coach to point out some things he/she noticed that you were doing wrong. Hopefully he/she will be able to point some things out. For your single lessons, what sort of drills do you do? If they're pretty simple (as in it only involves a few people to operate), then you can get other friends to help you do them in a spare gym, etc.
Yes, but it's not very often my coach remembers my mistakes after training several others. But if I ask my friends to help me, they won't know my mistakes. And I don't think they'll be good at hitting the shuttles where I want them to be hit, some of my friends can barely serve! Oh yeah, just incase I forgot thanks you all for your replies so far!
Well what I meant was that you said that you may be concerned about losing friends so beggining the single lessons at a slow level and see how much progress you make, if you feel yourself pulling away from your group see how you feel with regards to keeping your friends. This is a decision that many players have to make, when they get to a certain level the people that they train with fall away and are not able to keep up with the level of ability and you have to make the decision to keep going and maybe move on to another group or to stop progressing to remain with your friends. Quite difficult, but you only have the issue of single coaching to consider at the moment. Take it slowly to see how you feel with your progression.
I've been playing just over a year and soon started playing in our local leagues. Last week I had my first ever coaching session. It was a one on one for an hour and was absolutely brilliant. Yes it was expensive, but as well as getting badminton coaching I got an absolutely fantastic fitness workout! I was exhausted afterwards. Thoroughly looking forward to next week. Whilst it may in the future mean I have to look for a better club as my standard goes up that is something I am willing to accept. It's a bit of a shame if I have to move from playing with my mates at my existing club, but if I am after improving my game I can't have it both ways.
So true Advantages of private coaching? 1) rate of learning is very high 2) intensity is better 3) fitness training is better 4) better confidence when playing tournaments Disadvantages of private coaching? 1) lack of social interaction with ones peers 2) you may not like the strenuous training (but the results depend on the effort you put in - not the money) 3) cost 4) people have higher expectations when you do play tournaments so if you lose, they say "why did you lose?" 5) how to find the right coach? How to get around the disadvantages? 1) there is nothing to stop you playing with your friends AND getting private coaching during the same week for a period of time just to try it out. 2) some people get a sense of well being from training hard. you might be that sort of person 3) V important! One strategy I've used is to share the lesson with one other person and split the cost. i) makes it cheaper ii) the coach can alternate one-on-one with both of you. then each person gets a little break to rest, think about the technique. work out how to perform better iii) still have some social interaction with a friend iv) both players do not have to be the same level since the coach can alternate training between the two players 4) nobody can win forever! 5) subject of another discussion Overall, my view is that private coaching helps an immense amount but the player has to be prepared to put the effort in as well. Otherwise, it's a waste of cash. Group coaching ie more than 4 people to one coach gives me a sense of dissatisfaction (as the player) because not enough time with the coach. How much is the hourly rate for a coach in Taman Megah?
Thanks for your replies. Dill, you mean if I stop my group lessons completely then only I'll lose my friends? So if I continue with it and a inidividual lesson once in a while it'll still be okay? Woop., did your coach go easy on you as it was your first time? Did you rest a lot? Cheung, will I improve as much if I train with a friend? After all, it'll only be about 30 minutes of training then. And it won't be so tiring. Hourly rate in Taman Megah is RM50. Not sure about splitting the cost with a friend though, I asked my coach and he said I've got to ask the tauke(Michael) incharge.
Yes, 25 RM for an hour will sound nicer to your parents Myself I used to do two hours, split with another person, twice a week and go to my group for badminton. Two hours is good but the cost becomes quite high. If you can persuade you parents to do let you have lessons twice per week during the holidays, plus your regular weekly sessions, you will see the difference. 50RM per hour is not expensive split between two is 25 RM each. A meal for four at the hawker stall might be 20RM now....
Since you enjoyed the session so much, I'd say just try it out for about 8 sessions over 4 weeks and see how it goes. Maybe when school finishes at the end of the year and there's the long break. Are you on a weeks holiday now??
No Joanne, if you do your group and private lessons (assuming you learn and put into practice what you are taught in your private lesson) you should notice yourself getting better than those in the group session. If this is true, then you will become better and need other training partners at the same level to push you forward because your group cannot push you because they are not at the same level because they have not been putting in the extra work or getting extra coaching. What I was trying to get at is to take the private lessons slowly at the start to see if there is a gap opening up between you and your friends at the group session, if there is not then you are not progressing enough and have nothing to worry about in terms of losing your friends at group session. BUT if the first statement is true then you will need to find players or a session on YOUR level due to you getting better from the coaching. That is why you should take it (private lessons)slowly, and if you do this then you will get the best of both worlds. Longer exposure to your group because you do not pull away in level too fast, only one or two lessons per month keep the cost down, you will not be pushed too hard for too long (ie) longer recovery time.
Did my coach go easy on me Joanne? I would say not really. From what I am told she used to play for the country so she is pretty good and I guess pretty expensive. However I believe as well as getting someone who is capable of teaching the badminton I am getting someone that is watching how hard I work and importantly how much I am pushing myself and adjusting the coaching to push me at the right rate. Make no mistake, I was absolutely dead at the end and really couldn't play the last few shots of the last drill. I think this proved that a) I was pushing myself to my limits and determined not to quit and b) the coach was (hopefully) keeping an eye on me and pushing me just enough. Half way through she asked if I was ok and I said not too bad, my legs were hurting a bit though. She replied that she'd normally done most people in by now in their first session. That pleased me!! But it was just fantastic. As someone who is still relatively new to the sport but is willing to really put the effort in I came out with such a buzz!!!
Cheung, I just thought of this. My friend and I train for 2 hours, we'll pay RM50 each. I'm sure I'll enjoy this more then training alone? I'll definitely benefit more right? Yeah, I'm on holiday now but only for a week, exams on the 29th Sep. But I'm looking forward to the end of the year though! Dill, I'll consider that, but what I've got to worry about is whether I've time for both. I'm in afternoon school you see, so there's not much time to spend on weekdays, if you know what I mean. Woop., what did you learn? What kind of workouts? My coach made me do tapping, net, cross smashing, in other words nearly everything, I had to run criss-cross everywhere around the court. I loved it! Plus the fact that my coach praised me sometimes, guess that's what coaches do to keep us going!
Unfortunately the first thing I was told was that I was holding the damn racquet wrong! So we started with forehand and backhand grips and just played some clears to try and get me comfortable. Then it was overhead drops from the back of the court to different positions in the receivers court. Then lots of nets shots, running behind a box at the service 't' to alternate between backhand and forehand sides. There must have been some other stuff too but I remember to finish it was just 5 sets of returning the shuttle with whatever shot I chose from wherever on the court it was put. It was just a first lesson so the emphasis was probably on testing me a bit, giving me a chance to adapt to the new grip, and definitely footwork and body position (especially on the net shots). We talked quite a bit about technique on the overheads as well.
Oh I see. You mean you started from the very basics? I had the impression that since you've been playing badminton for a while she would have started other stuff already. Excuse me for thinking otherwise. Remember to tell me how the 2nd lesson goes, she might be really tough on you!
