so here is a dilemma for you guys. as mentioned in a previous thread , i have this problem with getting into form at a very very slow pace. i usually play rather poorly at the beginning of the day, and as the day progresses, i play better and better. and sometimes, i surprise myself how well i can really play. but it takes a long time to get into that form. well, this happened to me in a tournament over the weekend. the tournament was held Saturday and Sunday. on friday, friends (RedDog+iyang) flew in for a tournament, so we went off to the gym and practiced a few hours since we have never played with each other before. on Saturday, janet and i played mixed together. there were some ok games, i was playing pretty well, but not completely on my top form. we managed to scrap a 2nd place in c mixed, and lost our b mixed games at the b cons semifinal level. so onto sunday. iyang and i were playing b & c mens doubles. at the beginning, it was just lousy. i was moving slow, smashes were off to the air, the feeling just wasn't there. we lost our first round B match that way and were drop into the consolation round. however, as the day goes on, my feeling gradually came back. we played against this pair earlier in the day in level B, and we went into 3 games. the second time we played them in level C after my feeling came back, we whipped them in two game quite convincingly. and the best, was the last 3 matches. we played B cons semi, B cons final, and C final. i was completely on fire. i could nearly jumpsmash everything, and hard and sharp ones too. court movement was as fast as i have ever. and mentally i was very sharp and vivid. i remember at least a couple of times when i see a shot and i dashed across to the other side and did a net kill. we played 9 games in those 3 matches. and i think i was so in shape, i could play another 9 more. i have never played so well before. in other words. only after friday, saturday and most part of sunday had i gained my top form. so where is the dilemma? i think at the top form at the end of the tournament. i can place pretty high in B doubles main flight, and may be even get a match or so in A doubles. however, as i take so long to get into shape, i will be at poor shape at the start and never advance beyond the first 2 rounds. however, if i enter the lower level flights, at the end of the day, i feel like i shouldn't be playing those levels, perhaps at that form, i can go higher. so there was the dilemma. what are you opinions?
Train more instead of playing games. Train harder when training Play a serious practice game before the start of the torunament in another gym. Some strategies that are personally useful
a full warmup does it for me.... and I don't mean just stretching. I mean wearing tracksuit or whatever for the first few games (arms and legs covered) until i'm pretty sweaty. Then, play in shorts and Ts.
Kwun, iyang and I were just talking about the exact same thing. We need too much time to warm up, sometimes we even have to get to a point that we're tired, inorder to reach to our top preformance. So by the time we're ready, we're already out of the game. It happens not only during tournaments, but also just during our regular badminton practice times. It got pretty depressing last night at practice again, we lost to a pair of mix who we know we would have no problem beating, we just couldn't preform at all. I guess trying to play some "serious" games before the tournament might help in the short run, but in the long run, we will still have the problem of not being able to warm up soon enough. We will not always have time for pre-games before a real tournament, so I don't think we should depend on that. We tried to wear warmup suit while hitting to warm up faster, however, the suit will get in the way of hitting, so I usually take them off when we start clearing shots...(since tripping myself over infront of the opponent while warming up would not be a good idea). Now we are kinda stuck, and don't know what to do. However, I do believe a part of it is mental also... I just don't know how to overcome that yet. Right now, we just hope to get to play the lower level flight for warmup before we play the higher level flight.
i don't think warm-up helped me. i did a full warm-up, jog around the court, stretch, drives, clear, etc, etc. did it all. and that doesn't help. an intense game.. there were quite a few intense game i played during the course of saturday. but those weren't enough to "wake me up". still confused.
RD, i noticed iyang took as much time as me also. we weren't playing too well at the beginning, and iyang was playing really really well at the end.
other options Some times this kind of situation heppened to me and what I found was that it was not muscular but the concentration (or thinking too much). Let me explain, you might not be looking at the shuttle when you're hitting it but maybe that just before you hit it you peek at your oppenent side to find out where he is or you think what king of shot to do instead of doing it. Then any of these situations will make you hit the shuttle slightly off the sweet spot of your racquet Then there is also the situation where you look at your shot go without thinking that you should be returning to the "middle" of the court or an opponent shot is not the shot you expected and you just freeze instead of reacting and trying to get it. Try to see if this possible and If it is then I'll give you the routines and "excercise" I do to help. Normand
I thought you guys did really well at the end too (until iyang had the cramp), but I think that's because you guys had pretty girls cheering for you on the side, no? Infact, I guess it was just the first match wasn't as well, but your opponent of the first match came to me and told me they already put out their best against you guys in that match, and finally won the 3rd game. Good job you 2~
Streching and jogging doesn't do anything for me too. I find that a hot towel or full clothes that keep the muscles warm is the important thing. Warm muscles = more flexible = better control and strength. When the adrenalin kicks in, it'll keep the muscles warm for you "aka the zone". Until then... sweatpants and sweatshirt works wonders. My 2 Cents
Possibly the problem lies in the mental side. A good warm up should take about 15 mins. This is a general warmup. Then we should take some time for specific warm up - strokes, footwork, etc. You mentioned you played better on Sunday. Did the Sunday game take place at about the time you usually practice? It could sound strange, but the time when you practice can sometimes influence your performance. For example, I usually practice during evening time. If I have a game during morning hours I could have trouble finding my rhytm. Another possibility are your objectives. Do you have any when you go into a tournament? Do you prepare accordingly when participating a tournament? Or do like I do, get into a tournament just for the fun of participating? These are just suppositions. Just trying to have some more ideas for you to think, should you feel they are useful.
I believe the confidence improves if you know you've had intense training sessions in preparation. Like hundreds of shuttles in training.
i see two aspects of it. and both can be classified as mental. one is the execution of shots. shots at the end of the tourney was much much harder, sharper and more accurate than in the beginning. the timing of each execution is right on. that could be preparation before the tournament. so in my case, the practice during the tournament made me more in form? the other is the anticipation of shots. this is mental. i can see shots better. i have better confidence in going for risky shots. i could tell what shots my opponent was about to take. i have seen this very experience guy do the same. before any of our shots are executed, he already know it and waiting for it already. i felt that way at the end of the day. i was intercepting and killing drop shots that is heading to my partner's end of the court. this definitely count as being in "the zone", as we have described. i just want to understand why it takes so long to do so.
My two cents worth ...maybe it because you are getting more relaxed and actually enjoying the match more instead of focusing on wining/losing? I find that I don't get into the zone that often but when I do it was because of the games that I was having. "Fun" games where you are being challenged and push to the limit that you ended up just focusing on the actual game itself not the eventual outcome. I also find that a number of times when I played against teams that I am supposed to win easily, those are the toughest to win.
it is actually interesting you pointed that out. while i don't think i will go into a game wanting to lose. you won't be hearing me mumbling "i want to win, i want to win" either. i value a game well played more than a game won, esp for the close games. and on all the harder matches, except for the very first matched play by iyang and i (and lost), i think we have played well. at various point in time, we have gone into difficulties, be it a strong opponent, or nervousness and cramps, etc, we have dug through well by reacting. and also at the same time, we were able to identify our opponent's weaknesses in the game and capitalized on it. back to the winning part. near the end of the day, when everyone else in the tourney has finished their matches and we still have 3 more to go. we already have at least the C 2nd place, i was at the point that i can either win or lose and i will be home happy. and the first 2 of the 3 matches came out quite strangely. both matches are almost identical. we chose to start at the better court, we lost the first games really bad, like 15-3 and 15-1. and in both matches, we came back and won, and my memory failed me already, but i believe we had close 2nd games on both matches and we won the 3rd games quite convincingly. the 3rd match was different. we had the upper edge all match. but in either game, although our spirit was high and we cheer ourselves on. wanting to win wasn't in my mind. perhaps it is at the back of the mind, as would everybody, but it wasn't the case that i "want" it. in the end, we lost the C match. and i was just as happy. however, as you said, those are very enjoyable game. but it was because we were playing well. is it is chicken and egg thing? is it because i was enjoying the game thus i played well, or i played well because i enjoyed the game?
Mental preparation is possibly the toughest part. For most of us amateur players, it is a very hard to reach level. It can somehow to be trained and possibly not easily if we play only "fun" games. One of the ways to get there is like what Cheung precribed: "hundreds of shuttles" in every trianing session. Professionals have to undergo this "treatment" almost every day.
dont know if this might help you guys... but recently i had a team tournament, I get to play with my coach and two hours before the first game, he came by to my house and he asked me if I wanted to go for a jog. I was confused and said I dont want to coz i'll be too tired if I do. His reply was that he find that he plays much better after going for a jog. Then he goes on to explaining that he'll be doing sprints and jogs. Maybe you should try it out Kwun, jog for 20 minutes to kick start your body into excercise. The other day, I went to gym and ran for 25 minutes in the morning at the treadmill and some other excercise, skipping, weights etc. I felt tired, but later on that evening, when I played badminton for two hours, I played one of the best games I've ever played. Foot never got stuck, shots were placed very well, thoughts weren't stuck etc. Too bad, towards the end I ran out of energy coz i worked myself too much at the gym and I started getting hungry too Anyway, try it out, before going for badminton, go for a jog like you normally would to kick start your body. Then rest for an hour or two and then play. See what happens I think it could be that when you start doing real excercise, instead of your normal warm up, your body will start the adrenalin rush to wake you up.
Problem doesn't sound physical. In general fitter players need a harder "warm up", you'll see top players doing a few push ups, sit ups, jumps where as lower players would take the edge off their physical performance by working this hard prior to a match. Even if your warm up is lacking you should be hot by the first ten points unless you simply aren't rallying. By the time you've played a couple of hard matches in the day your performance should be below your optimum,through fatigue, not above! Perhaps its the mental side you need to work on. Write down how you feel prior to a match, what you ate, how nervous, your goal / expectation of success. Write down afterwards how you performed, what mistkaes you made. Do this for a couple of weeks, also at practice. Just the process of monitoring your mental state will make you more aware and possibly improve it.
