Hi there. As usual I went to the gym for my badminton training. The kids in my club are trained by the former Polish national champion. I am always very keen to play with him but he usually concentrates on kids and there isn’t much time left to train/play with him. Anyway, On Monday when I entered the gym I saw Robert Mateusiak (currently #16 in the world ranking in doubles) worming up in the court. It turned out that he was for few days in the city where I live and needed a light training after the Christmas break and he was invited to our gym. Luckily he asked me to train with him (in fact there was no-one other to choose). And it was really great. We trained for more than hour playing clears, drops, drives and smashes. Probably the best training I have ever had. It is amazing how you are focused and trying your best (sometimes when you try your best it goes terrible) when you play with someone so good in comparison to the regular training. When we were playing drops his accuracy was really amazing. When I train with my regular partner we count how many times the drop was so perfect that the shuttle touched the net and we treat it as point. During 5-10 minutes of dropping it is difficult to score more than 5 points. After Robert’s drops the shuttle touched the net every two or three times! Incredible accuracy. Finally, we started to have more dynamic exercise. Robert was attacking and Darek (mentioned former Polish national champion) and me were defending. I could defend only some of the smashes, even if I had enough time to take the position and he certainly didn’t use the 100% of his firepower. What was the most amazing for me is that how effective is the smash aiming at the right (I am right-handed) arm. I should try to use that tactic. After the training I asked many question about WGP tournaments, especially these in Asia. It is very interesting to hear about the big tournaments from the players point of view. It was really great time, especially that totally unexpected. I don’t thing that my skills raised after that(), but I now I can say that European MD Bronze Medallist wasn’t able to defend my sharp smashD). Do you also had opportunity to have a training with someone playing professional badminton? regards, dzgdz
playing with top players. the feeling is so strange. when standing there, you suddenly feel that your side of the court has grown triple in size, there are just so many empty spots that they managed to place their shuttle to. and then their side of the court have shrunk to half size, no matter where and how you hit, they are already there.
That's funny I've noticed that as well. The other problem is that you are too busy watching their racket skills and trying to pre-empt their shots it's easy for them to send you the wrong way. My first coach was ex-Pakistan no 1 and even when he is getting on in years he can still cuff us at will. The only thing I can say about his skill is it was like a light switch with a dimmer control. Most of the time it was set at dull to match the club level but when required it could be given a flick and it was like staring into the bulb directly, totaly blinding and awesome. His nephew came over to the UK once and hung about with some of the kids in the club for a while and we were about 16-18 and he must have been about early 20's, he was a mirror image in play ability as his uncle, every Scottish international wanted to play him and all he wanted to do was have fun with us and his family and everyone was wanting a piece of him. I think he played just about everyone and no one got anywhere near him, the funny thing was after matches you could see the blank expressions on the players faces, they seemed to think they were better than their skills alowed.
I have played with professionals and I find the experiences humbling indeed. Way back in 1957 when I was studying in Melbourne, I came to know the Australian singles champion quite well. His name is Ong Eng Hong and he was a past Malaysian youth champion before becoming the Australian champion. He used to drop at my place and we would go to a nearby court to have a knock-up. We would play 2 against 1, meaning my regular doubles partner (who was a very good singles and doubles player) and myself would play him. We never got to beat him even once, and my partner and I were Grade A doubles champions of the state of Victoria at that time(Grade A was one grade below the Open grade at that time). He was so fast; and what beautiful repertoire of strokes he had! The next professional I played against was in 1965 in Malaysia during company badminton nights. We had in our company a former All England doubles champion (1959), Lim Say Hup. Say Hup was considered the greatest doubles player of his time. Although he was past his prime, I was very frustrated playing against him, simply because I found him unplayable. I just couldn't serve to him. His left-handed shots would always leave me in two minds. I have had a few knocks with Yeung Mei Leung, a former Hong Kong champion and a fellow squad member of the fearsome Chinese team lead by the maestro Tong. This is the fellow with the 17 lbs string tension, but what a master in placing the shuttle to the 4 corners of the court. Currently our club has a regular coach, who was a former Hong Kong singles champion, and he is the youngest of the professionals I have had the good fortune to have played with. IMO I don't think he is in the same league as the previous professionals. This is strange. I thought modern champions are better than champions of old.
Well, I've had the amazing good fortune to have had a knock-up with Candra Wijaya. We started off with clears which were fine. And than we played some flat rallies ; every now and then he would have this smile on his face and seemed like he hit the shuttle no harder than before but the pace was awesome. The shuttle would fly past me and I'd be left there thinking 'Whaat!' A totally nice and likeable person. I'll never forget that time.
Yeung Mei Leung is a fabulous singles player. You are right, his placements are outstanding. I currently play with a guy who was coached by Yeung Mei Leung. Hau Wang Cheong (younger brother of legendary player Hau Jia Cheong) is another fabulous player in those days. I had big trouble just getting the service back from him.
I don't know whether it is the same person, but we used to play with someone with that name, or close to it, in the mid-80's at the inadequate Chinese YMCA Hall at Palmer Road. He was like a convenor to us, very friendly, a gentleman and was still very good with his badminton although he must be close to 50 years then. I think he worked for Ong & Co, a firm of stockbrokers. Maybe he was related to the owners with that same surname. I recalled that he had connections with Australia, probably as a student. But I have not seen him for a long time now.
Playing with a pro is like playing with a wall. No matter how you hit , smash , the ball will come back to you fast!.. its very hard to find a loop hole. But it is a very good experience to learn and practise your respond and reaction. It does make you be a better player if you learn from it.
Eng Hong would be about 69 years old or thereabout. He comes from a very rich family. He is, or rather was, a very handsome fellow with an infectious disposition, with girls in Australia literally swooning over him. I don't know if he is the same chap. But I have a photo of Eng Hong and me when we were on a boat from Australia to Singapore. I will try to locate it and see if I can put it on here. But the photo is a 1959 photo and he might have changed. I do remember about him buying a seat in the Malaysian stock exchange, but that was a long time ago. I could be wrong as it could be another stocbroker that I am mixing up with.
In a badminton camp here in Quebec, we play with 2 of the best player in canada.. (30-40 in the world).. And it is GREAT!!! doing drills with them is like paradise, every shot are well timed... blablabla... The most awesome thing is multi-shuttle... they seem to take into account your speed, technique etc and they push you to your limit awesome
i often have a chance to play with a palyer...who actually won an international under 15 tennis championshipp.....is an awosme pkayer...also of badminton...he idnt want to try national.... when i play with himi feel my game is improved ...althu i lose the game everytime
Hi Taneepak I just found one very old photo, probably taken in the eighties, and wonder whether you are talking about the same Ong Eng Hong. He is the one standing second from the left with dark glasses. The film was overexposed and as it was kept for so long and only converted to digital recently, you may find difficulty identifying the man!
Would you guys say that the experiences might sometimes seem like a tournament experience in that you improve so much in a tournament, and are stretched to your limits to win against opponents who are just as good or better than you. I swear, if I went to a tournament every month, I would be twice as good as I am now. One weekend at a tournament and you improve just as much as if you had been training for at least a month or more. I have had the experience when playing players who are much better than me (I wouldn't dare play a national or international player for at least another 5 years) and I've had the same feeling as most of you guys had. It's so mezmerizing watching how they apparently seem to walk to the bird, relaxed, take a stroke, and send you running after it. It makes your court suddenly seem so small, and all your efforts and reaches futile. At the same time, it made me realize that it wasn't neccessarily how much you seemed to run as it was how smooth you were. I mean I could be running everywhere and dead by the second game, but I could be calm if I learned to lunge and react faster. It's such a strange and humbling thing to see players just sort of walk, stare the bird, wait for it, and just flick and send you running again. All the while, they look as though they were at walking speed, while you are running everywhere without any success. Does anyone know professional players who play in Vancouver - I heard there were a few at the VRC(some lady was ranked 16th in the worlds way back in her prime I heard)? I'm not too familiar with the national and international players actually. I have never gotten the chance to look at their games or anything...anywhere I can get those? And of course hollyburn country club produces national players, and the head coach there is from China...but I don't have the luxery of paying about $10,000 a year for a membership just to have a chance to see her maybe once a week...