Hi, I've been thinking for a while whether I should go for lessons with a private coach ( taking lessons once/week and probably more than once during holidays) or should I instead, go for club lessons where a coach teaches a class? I would consider myself to be a beginner, but have played badminton for a few years and can do the basics such as smash, drop, clear, etc. Thanks for your help!
if you're still a begginer i would suggest a class since its probably cheaper than a private coach. The private coach is needed when you're more advanced and you need critiquing on certain areas.
if ur goal isn't high aim then don't waste money, rather just find partners to play with at the clubs. When I said high aim mean. -become a pro -want to improve in such a short time A coach is just a person who can help you to come to ur goal faster. If u're not in hurry then no need. You might ask what if my technique is wrong. Well if you actually a type of person who willing to learn and willing to ask, then nothing is hard about that. Just come up to a good player in a club and ask if he or she has extra time to show you this or that. As a good player with good manner, he or she'll be glad to help you out. However, by doing this, it will take a little more time to get to ur goal than have a coach. However, by doing this you'll have more friends and you'll get along with other people at the clubs more. So if u're just looking for fun in badminton then don't have to get a coach.
canti and gamepurpose hit the nail on the head there are several ways to improve from a beginner level 1. group lessons 2. private lessons 3. observing other players 4. playing more When I started out, I played several years without getting any lessons. All I did was just play and watch others play and learn from them. That has gotten me to c level in badminton. Once I gotten into university, I went to train with the varsity team, the coach almost immediately helped me improve my game. After training with the varsity team for a month, 4 nights of every week, I was able to play at b level. It really depends on how serious you view the game of badminton, and how much you want to improve in a certain time frame. If you're a casual/social player, then really not too much point in investing so much into lessons (private, especially, is expensive). If you want to improve a lot over a very short amount of time, getting lessons will help you realize that goal. Lastly, another effective way to improve by yourself is filming a good player play, and filming yourself play. Focus on their footwork, and placement of shots. When you compare the two films/games, you will notice some differences. List out the differences and ask around on how to change/improve on them. ps. you gotta film at a similar angle, or else the two footage would be meaningless and pointless in comparison
Just to relate my own experience. I have been playing badminton on and off since I was 10 and I'm now 36. I took up lessons with 2 professional coaches, once private lessons for about 2 months, and now with a team of other players since April'09. Here's what I think... Private lessons are good if you cannot find someone else to train with or if you mainly need a sparring partner. This means you have to be fairly advanced. While I benefited a lot from my private lessons, my coach encouraged me to join a class as I was not advanced enough to reap the most benefits from private sessions. While he was with me all of the time, I could only keep up with up to 30% activity. That made it hard to do the footwork drills I needed most. To help me improve, I did not really need 1:1 coaching but rather I needed to start from the very basics of movement, etc. How group sessions helps? First, there is a cycle time for each student to train and to rest. The company and rest keeps you going for longer overall than with 1:1 lessons. My activity was kept at 25-30% but sustained across a longer period (due to costs). Rest time can be used to do shadow drills to reinstate what was taught. Good coaches can take advantage of the training time and give you the specific tips/corrections during your training time. You also have the benefits of company to measure your own progress -- more motivation. Lastly, group sessions keeps the cost down. All these is provided that you find a good coach -- I had the benefits of 2 fantastic coaches. My main regret is that I did not do this earlier. I could have avoided most of my injuries (I've hurt both my legs and racket arm) if I had learnt the correct techniques. OTOH, seeing my badminton days coming to an end is exactly what prompted me to get coaching. My court coverage is now better than ever although it still sucks. Now, there are fantastic guides online but what you think you do and what you actually do are totally different. If you are serious about the game and intend to play it for a long time, get proper coaching.
Some sort of group training would be my recommendation. I played recreationally for many years and didn't get any formal training until I was on my high school team. In my final year of high school I came in 7th in mens singles provincials and 3rd in doubles. I then didn't play for a few years until I moved to Alberta and played for one year in college, the coach there wasn't great but he brought in some part time coaches (one of which was the provincial XD champ, female). I then started to play mens open and was doing ok but my break through came when the Grant MacEwan coach (one of the strongest colleges in Alberta), who also helped train the Canadian National Champ for a few years, started to help me and my group of friends. He got us court time and trained us, not just play but training. Having a group around you gives you incentive to improve and someone to test your skills against.
Thanks everyone for your considerate replies! All this time I thought private coaching was the best possible option out there, but then to get the most benefit from these expensive lessons is another factor i need to reconsider. I more or less just want to improve my badminton skills and know the correct footwork, method of hit, and basically all the fundamentals. Since I'm a high-school student, do you think it'd be wise of me if I first start going to club lesson, say... once every week, then during summer vacation time, I'd get a coach and help me improve specific techniques? (Since 1-1 coaching for sure, costs more $ than club, and since I need to basics down first, I believe it'd be better if I know the proper footwork and shots and etc. before specializing on my game style)
once a week lessons are great but u should go an extra day for playing only not for lessons so u can use what you learned and refine it.
interesting... Should we just start playing with other and ask for opinions for awhile (1 month) and then get the coach to correct the technique or improve the technique OR get the coach in very beginning and learn the basic and everything and off with the coach about couple months later? *get coach in very beginning good benefit: have the correct technique from the very beginning, pretty much everything correct and then just improve yourself on playing games later on and training urself with the correct technique. *ask opinion from other before u get to the coach good benefit: you might save money by having more less lesson days than start from the beginning. Because you already pretty much know a little so the coach just going to refine your technique a little. bad things: sometime we tend to stuck with our habits. Once we got the habit, (if it's bad in this case) it's harder to change to the correct way. I guess it's depend what kind of advices from other players give you. If it's the correct way then yea. But bare (if that's the right word) this in mind. Some players are seem to be good; however, they are not able to TEACH you. So don't just hate them when they denied your request. Try to find other people be OPEN MIND.
lol sorry for my grammar, pretty much doesn't make sense when i re-read it. please try to understand thank you and sorry. =)
