Rant on an irritating player

**axl886** · 01-20-2013, 09:21 PM

So yesterday I encounter 1 fella (let's call him A), roughly a year since I first met him during one of the random sessions I joined. And I was reminded AGAIN why it irked me when playing a MD game with him:

1) so he came down with his fren B, who happened to be my partner for 1 game. And all throughout the game, he was joking and trash-talking his fren across the net... and wasn't taking the playing serious (eg. short forehand serve going wide by 1 foot?!). Look, it's a paying session... surely it's not fair to me nor his partner (another "outsider") that we did not get a good enjoyable workout?

2) when challenging each other at the net, when the shuttle is still *on my side* as I am attempting a netshot, he frequently makes a motion of smashing down. Maybe my mental concentration is not strong (or I'm easily irritated

), but it's damn distracting and highly unsportsman-like!

3) when he wins a point, and gets back the shuttle, he only takes a second or 2 to serve, after checking the receiving player is racquet-up. A couple of times, his opponent's partner was still walking to his ready position when play started! Granted, the receiving player should have checked that his own partner is ready before indicating he's ready to receive. But it's surely good ettiquette to ensure all players are ready to play... before serving!

Ok, rant finished. Feel much better now!

Please feel free to add your own experiences guys.

**|_Footwork_|** · 01-21-2013, 01:52 AM

1) don't play with him if he has other ideals of a good training. simple as that! you want to have a serious workout (which is fine!), he wants to have some fun (which ist fine, too!). but these things do mnot match! play with someone else!
2) don't know what you mean? in principle, he can try to make himself big at the net, limit your options by being extremely aggressive at the net. that's not unsportsman-like, but absolutely standard... (he's not allowed to yell at you or make awkward movements that are only meant to distract you and have nothing to do with the game. but making shadow movements or swings and trying to anticipate your shot and thereby limiting your options is perfectly fine (and good play!!)).
3) that's your problem i think. you have to be aware that your partner is ready. take your time, you have enough possibilities to slow down zthe pace of the game in between rallies. that's pretty much your problem...

**axl886** · 01-21-2013, 02:03 AM

1) Yup, purposely didn't wanna play with him (either as partner or otherwise) after that particular game.

2) Lol... shadow swings are not considered a distraction?

Where is the BWF rulebook when you need it.

3) I know it's my "problem", but you don't think it's good baddy social etiquette to ensure everybody on-court is ready before commencing the serve?

ADD: found the relevant rules ->

It shall be a "fault":
13.4 if, in play, a player:
13.4.5 deliberately distracts an opponent by any action such as shouting or making gestures;

**|_Footwork_|** · 01-21-2013, 03:26 AM

didn't quite understand what he's doing:

is he just waving around with his racket in a "senseless" manner? which means he's just behaving like a clown in order to distract you... (he's not allow to do that!).
or is he swinging his racket in a possible flight-traction of your shot? this can definetely be regarded as anticipation/guessing your shot...

in a friendly match, i would definetely wait until everyone's ready...

**axl886** · 01-21-2013, 08:50 AM

Yup, sense manner - you got that right. As I mentioned above, the shuttle is still on my side of the court, he "air smash" happens at the same time that I am making my shot, thus it is a deliberate attempt by him to distraction the opposition.

Oh well, I guess one meets all sorts of people every day.

**Borbor** · 01-21-2013, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by axl886

3) I know it's my "problem", but you don't think it's good baddy social etiquette to ensure everybody on-court is ready before commencing the serve?

No, because it's the SERVER who dictates when the point commences; obviously your side didn't win the previous point, so why should they (who just won the point) have to wait on you? Get yourselves in ready position and don't make the guy who's gonna serve wait on you.

**axl886** · 01-21-2013, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by Borbor

No, because it's the SERVER who dictates when the point commences; obviously your side didn't win the previous point, so why should they (who just won the point) have to wait on you? Get yourselves in ready position and don't make the guy who's gonna serve wait on you.

Except there were a couple of times he actually served when his OWN partner was still getting back into position...

**Borbor** · 01-21-2013, 08:45 PM

Then the partner needs to get his butt in gear

**DuckFeet** · 01-23-2013, 09:49 AM

I had a guy shouting YES! after each point. He looked a proper muppet when I did my deceptive XD flick server on him as he rushed the net

I did not shout "YES" I just grinned at my partner. I hate the anticpating-net-smash players, always have to go cross court drop, best when they are the type that jump when they swing

**amleto** · 01-23-2013, 03:48 PM

do you mean cross court net, not cross court drop?

**DuckFeet** · 01-25-2013, 05:31 AM

Yes I do. Shhhhhh.

**ronaldindin** · 01-25-2013, 09:12 AM

don't ever play with him again. He goes into the court and you leave. No point argue.

Or give a hard smash right on his body if I were you

**paulierand** · 01-25-2013, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by axl886

3) when he wins a point, and gets back the shuttle, he only takes a second or 2 to serve

Hold your nonracket hand up to force him to wait for you. Take a few more seconds and make him wait until you're well ready to receive. It is a common tactic to serve quick once you have a momentum. But if he's serving quick just because you're not ready, that's bad.

**vixter** · 02-07-2013, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Borbor

No, because it's the SERVER who dictates when the point commences; obviously your side didn't win the previous point, so why should they (who just won the point) have to wait on you? Get yourselves in ready position and don't make the guy who's gonna serve wait on you.

No, it's the receiver. It's not like in tennis, where the receiver is supposed to follow the pace of the server. In badminton, the receiver is setting the pace and may ask the server to wait if he/she is not ready.
This guy was obviusly

**kvyra** · 02-07-2013, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by Borbor

No, because it's the SERVER who dictates when the point commences; obviously your side didn't win the previous point, so why should they (who just won the point) have to wait on you? Get yourselves in ready position and don't make the guy who's gonna serve wait on you.

Get your facts right please. Badminton is a receiver's game.

**kvyra** · 02-07-2013, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by axl886

So yesterday I encounter 1 fella (let's call him A), roughly a year since I first met him during one of the random sessions I joined. And I was reminded AGAIN why it irked me when playing a MD game with him:

1) so he came down with his fren B, who happened to be my partner for 1 game. And all throughout the game, he was joking and trash-talking his fren across the net... and wasn't taking the playing serious (eg. short forehand serve going wide by 1 foot?!). Look, it's a paying session... surely it's not fair to me nor his partner (another "outsider") that we did not get a good enjoyable workout?

2) when challenging each other at the net, when the shuttle is still *on my side* as I am attempting a netshot, he frequently makes a motion of smashing down. Maybe my mental concentration is not strong (or I'm easily irritated

), but it's damn distracting and highly unsportsman-like!

3) when he wins a point, and gets back the shuttle, he only takes a second or 2 to serve, after checking the receiving player is racquet-up. A couple of times, his opponent's partner was still walking to his ready position when play started! Granted, the receiving player should have checked that his own partner is ready before indicating he's ready to receive. But it's surely good ettiquette to ensure all players are ready to play... before serving!

Ok, rant finished. Feel much better now!

Please feel free to add your own experiences guys.

It's in the receiver's advantage to ensure his partner is ready before being ready to receive a serve, if the server serves when his own partner isn't ready, then he is just dumb.

You can always hog a shuttle when losing a point, pros do it all the time, pick it up, slowly walk back to position before hitting it over and hit it to a place where it's still considered 'friendly' but require an effort for him to retrieve the shuttle, absolutely nothing wrong with that. It doesn't make for an enjoyable game but it's not flouting the rules.

In response to your 'shadow swing' issue and rule quotation, if it's a net shot and he is swinging in anticipation, I've never seen an umpire call fault whether in a pro match or my own tournament play, as that particular ruling is geared more towards more obvious gestures like taunting your opponent. Unless he is consistently waving his racket at you when you are not making a shot with the shuttle in play, then it will most likely be a fault. But...what is the problem? if he is waving his racket at you, it only means less reaction time for him and more areas for you to place the shuttle, honestly I would be very happy if people wave their rackets at me, because that can only mean he is decreasing his own chance of returning the shuttle back at me LOL.

There's only 3 things that irritate me when on court in pick up games and 2 of them have to do with the serve. 1. Service errors, it totally pisses me off(guaranteed harder smash response from me, and that is not a good thing for you), simple things like serving above the waist, racket head pointing upwards and double motion during serve, for some reason in the public sessions I have gone to, people tend to not call out such errors in the spirit of 'friendly-ness'. 2. In mixed doubles, when the lady stands in front without bending down, she is totally blocking my sight of the shuttle path and the male server behind her doesn't move to create a visible service shuttle path, I am very sure this is a service fault(haven't checked the rules), it's rather unfair that your opponent only have half the normal reaction time to do a serve-return, it's pretty ridiculous. 3. Lack of respect for your opponents, I was in a game recently where the session is generally friendly-competitive across all levels of play, and my partner and I are quite clearly better than the opponents and my partner after going 11-0 up, he started doing weird stuff like standing at the corner of the court to serve some unconventional angle trick serve, I mean c'mon, what are you 12 years old??!??!?!! have some maturity.