So You Aspire To Be A World Champion?

When I attended a workshop not too long ago, the subject of what makes a world champion was discussed. The Singaporean moderator has a PhD in a sports-related field and is engaged in educating teachers of physical education and sports in Singapore.

Quantity:

Apart from spotting a young talent who has the physical attributes and potential to develop further, it appears that research has uncovered that the average world champion would have spent at least 10,000 quality hours honing his knowledge and skills in his chosen sport.

By itself the figure 10,000 seems small but when one really looks at it in connection with the training an average athlete receives in his or her career it then becomes too burdensome and seemingly a luxury to have.

You can compare yourself with this 10,000 hours target and see how much of it you have achieved and at what stage of your career.

Assuming you start your badminton training at age 8 and you spend an average of 6 hours a week on a 50-week-year (or 300 hrs a year), how many hours have you spent (1) up to age 12 (Primary school), (2) up to age 16 (Secondary school), (3) up to age 21 (Varsity or Poly) and (4) up to age 24 (Professional)? This is for simple calculation only as in a real life, a professional athlete will want to train maybe 4-6 hrs a day on a 5-day week.

The answers are (1) 1,200 hrs (4 years of regular training); (2) 2,400 (8 years); (3) 3,900 (13 years); (4) 4,800 (16 years).

So, if by age 24 (say your peak physical/biological age), your hours of training are more or less in line with the above example, you already know the answer that you have only covered less than 50% of the time needed for training an average world champion. Of course if you are training for a competition you may increase your training time but without injuring yourself in the process as this may set you back further behind. Even then, are you on target?

Quality:

Now it appears that the research has also uncovered that merely spending time training without an aim or a goal does not enhance your performance by much. The key point is that you need to add value to your training. By that it means that each and every time you train there must be an appreciable improvement, be it little or much.

Now let's take an example of the short service in doubles.

You can start by measuring the percentage of a simple good service at each training. E.g, if the first time you managed 50 good serves out of 100, at the second time you improved by gaining 51 good serves, and at each training you increase your good percentage, there is improvement on quality.

Then a measure could be made on the height of your serve that crosses the net at no higher than 2 inches, then 1 inch, then just skimming across the net.

Another measure could also be made on your wide service, not just at the "T" but on the boundary lines, your surprise long service to your opponent's back hand, the furthest corner and including the flick serve, etc.

On a similar basis, an assessment could also be made on other strokes, like the smash, the jumpsmash, etc, as you go along. Practice and more practice may be necessary to ensure that you come close to perfecting a stroke, or even your footwork and general strategy.

So not being able to attain the minimum number of training hours required of a world champion will put you in a disadvantageous position, and not being to put in "quality" time at every training session will also set you back.

Now compare the badminton professionals of some countries versus that of China, then we can see why China is dominating world badminton even now. Until such professionals are willing and able to commit to the rigorous demands akin to the Chinese system, then we should not expect miracles from them.

Similarly, don't place too much demands on your young trainees and expect them to match those from countries which put in much more training hours for their trainees, especially those coaches who could devise quality plans and assessments for their students to move forward.