Badminton and academic studying: training

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Cheung, Jul 10, 2004.

  1. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    My main job requires me to do *a lot* of reading and studying. Of course, I love to play badminton as well during the time when I was a student. Add to that all the social life (partying, alcohol, food, ten pin bowling, 5 a side football etc.) So I had quite a good student life.

    After taking a badminton coaching course and doing some sports coaching theory, I find that there are more similarities with physical training and mental academic training than I first imagined.

    I already mentioned it before in 'training the brain'.

    There are long term objectives, there are basic foundations of theory, there are intense periods and there are stressful periods.

    But a major difference is...in a badminton competition, you have the pressure to trying to be the winner all the time.

    In academic studying, you'll be happy with good grades in the exams:D you don't have to be top of the class all the time. You don't have the pressure of your countrymens expectations on you :eek:

    It's a hard life.......
     
    #1 Cheung, Jul 10, 2004
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2004
  2. cheekygen

    cheekygen Regular Member

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    i agree with you :) it is not easy to excel in both sport and academically unless you are very dicipline and mastering the time management. Certainly some sport trainning will help to reduce the stress and there will be more connection between the mind and body.

    But problem arise when you are more involve in badminton, amateur or profesionnal which require you to train each day twice a week or 5 times a week etc..... what about going on and off from tournament? Sometimes the players are just too tired after a trainning session to go to school..... therefore, many players take risk to choose their career in badminton and give up totally in their study which i think is unwise......

    Perhaps WCH's father is right after all when he said that " You can find a thousand and million of doctors, lawyers, engineers but how many WCH you can find? There's only 1..... champion is only one."
     
  3. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    LOL, the reverse is true as well.

    Most times, my coaching session is in the evenings. After a hard day's work, I get to the courts. My coach can see my condition is not good that day. I cannot pick up the new badminton shots so well, I cannot perform the well known routines consistently. Sometimes, he will adjust the training differently.

    There cannot be so many doctors in the world:) even if you count those who are called Doctors unless you include those of Chinese medicine, dentists and PhDs. But then again, PhDs are the real doctors. :)

    Here's an example of the similarities of the studying and sports learning.
    For a new concept in chemistry, you need to get introduced to the theory. Then you have to understand it. Then you have to process it and commit it to some notes which you understand. After that, you have to memorise it repeatedly for an exam much later on. Then you have to turn it into an answer that gets you a good mark! The teacher may give you many questions on the same topic so that you can cope with what the examination may ask.

    For a sports technique, its similar. Introduction, comprehension, practice and grooving (this is equivalent to memorisation in studying). Coaches may vary the training of the shot so you can cope with different oppponents.
    The examination is if you can apply the technique or shot making process to successfully winning the point.

    Using this concept, us *normal* people are far behind the top players.

    My coach said to me, if we use academic levels as an analogy, he would be a professor and I would be a primary student when it came to badminton :rolleyes: (he was an international player)
    Come to think of it, that time I had an honorary assistant professor post in one of our Universities. Forgot to mention that to him. Perhaps some thing are better left unsaid. :p
     
  4. jamesd20

    jamesd20 Moderator

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    Also for those taking exams, think about your preparation to a tournament, would you train,train,train day and night in the last few days to the match, or would you train hard for 6weeks to the exam, then only "refresh" the skills in the last week.

    I think a lot of us (me DEFINITELY included) are guilty, or have been guilty of cramming before exams. Everytime I begin a course or module now, I always think, would I expect my footwork to be any good if I only learnt it two weeks before an important tournament?
     
  5. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

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    I just started playing singles again two weeks ago, to prepare for a tournament next week. I have improved a fair bit, considering I'm only playing games and doing footwork exercises. I guess you can say I'm "cramming" for this tournament.

    Anyhow, a significant difference in the badminton and academic study analogy is that academic study is purely mental versus badminton which is more physical and motor-control oriented. You can think about the subject matter which you are studying any time you want (e.g. on the bus, eating lunch, in the bathroom, etc.) and gain insight and understanding. However, visualizing yourself playing badminton under the same conditions would yield much more limited benefits; you need to actually go and hit some birds to master the game.
     
  6. JRMTL

    JRMTL Regular Member

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    As a university coach, I see that managing study, part work and badminton isn't easy. The key is the time management. But even if you have planned your time the best way, there are always some bugs that happen suddenly and that weren't predictable...

    JRMTL
     

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