I often wonder what would look like if a pro play a club player in a professional tournament setting. I just found couple of clips of boonsak against which i think a B to B+ player. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub-Jh5uza2I&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H4EXNsJ3-w&mode=related&search= boonsak won of course but i think he still didn't sweat it.
Of course. Any A player can beat a B player, any B player can beat a C player, and so on. At least, that's the way it's supposed to work.
Yeah I've always wondered what that would be like too. Just to see how large the gap really is. It's certainly very one sided as Boonsak is just so much more consistent in his shots. I think most of what makes a pro a pro is consistency. The B player made a lot of errors. More than once clearing it out off the serve. Still a good player though, just lacking consistency... I know if I had been the one playing Boonsak I'd have been lucky to get one point . I always love playing people far above my skill level though as I've got nothing to lose, and every point I get is one to brag about .
you should often see this in bigger open tournaments... you always see high club level, provincial, regional, etc, players get pitted against national team players in early rounds. of course this is dependent on when the individuals have time to play in said tournaments... probably less often in bigger badminton countries such as china/denmark, etc, but i see this often enough in western canada... cooler, you should too, seeing how for example, beres/patrick/milroy brothers, etc, play in the occasional and various alberta series tournaments and you get a lot of the derrick/glenora/glencoe/winter club members in the mix...
when i say club player, i mean A- or lower level. Maybe i should had used the term recreational player. Looking at those videos, I know many U17 locally can wax that kid (Alex Tjong), which i think an average B player (with some spurts of B+), not A- material. Bobby Milroy, Wil Milroy, Mike beres, andrew D, are all internationally ranked, they aren't club players
I agree quite interesting. Boonsak ONly lost 2 rallies in the four minute clip. His opponent looks technically awful, but that he won two rallies against Boonsak is pretty good. What would be more interesting would be to see a video of this Alex tjong in a match he can win. I bet his technique would look much better.
I think boonsak would make alot of VERY good players look like Bs. I watched a squash match between Jon Power (ex. world #1) and some very good Open players recently. Jon hadn't been training and he had put on 15lbs since retiring, but he still DOMINATED everyone. And without even putting any pace on the ball. Just simple, simple stuff. He played 5 players back to back to back and was never even threatened. And he was playing good Open level players. Boonsak is in that top tier. Big difference between the guys in the top ten and even the guys in and around WR #30. so even if this other guy was good, boonsak can still make him look like a slouch.
but the alex guy made tons of unforced errors in less than 4 min span: 1. 2 out clear from high serves, out by more than 6 inches 2. left a shuttle that was more than 6 inches in. these are basic errors that 'A' players don't make under no pressure, even for A- players. Boonsak wasn't even doing much attacking, mostly nets and clears, only smashes when it was an obvious winner.
The gap between the pro's and the A-players is just huge.... I get whiped of the court by an A-player and took on/two A-players to three sets, but always lost.... thsoe A-players dont'stand a chance against the pro's of my club (on of them is worlwide top 100 singles)... and that pro gets his butt kicked by boonsak... that's a long line of buttkicking I still have ahead of me another example: in the secodn division two teams promote to the first (top division) where Yao Jie, Dicky Palyama, Eric Pang and other pro's play... so far they've lost every match, even from clubs without any fultime-pro's...the gap is huge... BTW, in the match you can clearly see Alex gives up mentally
I would have a difficult time keeping it mentally together while playing someone of boonsaks level. Even though there is no pressure to win, the pressure to avoid stupid mistakes would be huge. And as a result, stupid mistakes creep in. I think there are tons of basic errors an A player would make if he was put against boonsak. If Boonsak can beat him with clears and a few net shots, there arn't many mistakes to be made other than simple ones. The question is how many mistakes does an A player make for every one from a world top ten?
Actually, I think his technique is not too bad. His biggest problem is that's he's extremely hesitant, which is understandable given his opponent. That, plus unforced errors due to him trying too hard (probably due to nervousness) makes for a pretty ugly game. Has anyone here actually played against world class players (Top 30 or so)? Unless you have, it's pretty hard to appreciate the difference in skill level between them and any so called "A" grade player. They would take them apart quicker than you can say "jump smash". In fact, they would quite easily deal to two such players at the same time (2 on 1 singles). Wayne Young
If you think he's awful I hope you never have to see me play To me Alex is being pushed to his absolute limits in terms of court coverage while Boonsak is coasting around the court. Its very easy to make lots of errors in a situation like that. I would imagine it would be fairly demoralising playing someone like that and knowing that there is nothing you can do to even remotely trouble them.
Not often during regular practice sessions. Sometimes during a local/regional open tourny (early round).
Technique-wise, there's nothing wrong with Alex. Just too nervous, some bad tactics (he's not making Boonsak run), as he is, as andymcg said, he's being pushed in terms of footwork. As a result, he faces more pressure, and doesn't have as much energy or time to think about his placing as well. Thus, his shot placement is not as sharp, and is forced to do most of the running.
Not only Make lots of errors but the footwork techniques disintegrates. Even Top pro players when pushed to their maximum have breajdowns in technique It is made worse by the speed of the game, since he does not have the speed or power in his body to complete the correct techniques at the pace required. When he is in control his technique is good though. BTW: I am sure my technique is worse than you Andy.
that alex tjong fella is not a bad player, but i think he's not strong enough... he gets pushed deep and has to play clears with great accuracy to avoid being made toast...so he's going to hit a few long. With a harder smash, he could get a few points. Judging by what i've seen I could rally with Ponsana, I think... I would think I could get a few points at first, but there's a massive difference between getting licked 21-4 and being competitive in a set. I've always wanted to play against a top 10 just to say I've done it: I've played halfcourt with Rexy Mainaky and that was fun, and I played a 5-pointer against a former Malaysia BJSS academy player who did take out a lot of top 10 players untill injury finished his career [even unfit, he still was able to nullify my power game, his accuracy was unreal, and I got taken out 5-0.. i think I could have done better] I think the main problem would be athleticism
Well just a small tint on this one i saw a Scottish internationalist called Craig Goddard play against him in the Sudirman and Craig took the first game and was pushed hard in the other two being beaten 2-1 where as Ponsana was not looking that pushed. I think Craig is around the 100 area and Ponsana is around the 20's in terms of ranking ????? As for a Scottish club/recreational player playing him, they would struggle against Craig so would find it very difficult or nigh on impossible if Boonsak was playing flat out which he wasnt against Craig. But then again we would have to bring in the differing levels in each country against each other as i'm sure Scotland isnt the greatest in terms of average ability
