Hi we're assembling a new badminton team to play competitively in Hong Kong and around the areas (South China). We have a few openings for men's doubles, and we're starting mix doubles teams too. We practice weekly near Kowloon Tong (club house). We are looking for committed members who can practice with us once or twice a week, doing drills and training and of course games. We are late 20 to mid 30 players and are seeking the same. Our level is HKBA E Grades and D hopefuls. We have ambitions to improve our games substantially through commitment and hard-work. Sorry, we're keeping the team close-knitted so try-out is a must. The core team is only 6-8, maybe 10. Type: feather Play level: HKBA D-grade hopefuls Fee: membership fee paid on an annual basis which covers court and cock. Venue: Club house near Kowloon Tong Date/Time: Monday night and another weeknight 6:00-9:00 If you're interested please reply to this post. If this post is still up, we're still looking Thanks and happy smashing! Dan
What level would be HKBA E or D hopefuls? Any sort of benchmark I can measure against? I'm definitely interested though
Hi ryim, Thanks for your interest, and that's a fair question I ought to put this in more concrete terms. Here's a sketch, plus or minus 10 percent– 1) Footwork –*good application of footwork all around but want to improve speed & agility; to me footwork is 80% of the game and we like to keep 60% of our session to drills to improve footwork, in terms of speed, agility, control and power. 2) Techniques –*demonstrate consistency in all kinds of shots, a) backhand clear/drive/drops with confidence; b) forehand smash/drops/drives with control (know where to place shots), c) defense with good reflexes and control (and not just lift). 3) Use of court –*Good spacial awareness, can place the ball anywhere to force opponent to react; know where partner is going so you never run into each other; know how to cover for partners in difficult shots. 4) Tactics –*this is an area we'd like to make big improvements on as a team. I believe badminton is all about tactics, not how fast your smashes are. I try to be explicit but it's hard to spell everything out in words. This is a start. I don't want to sound cocky as I sometimes make these mistakes myself. That's one of the reason why I'd like to put together a small team of really competitive players and that way we can learn from each other. You're welcome to PM me with question or interest. Good luck! Dan
I would say C grade players are very regular players having played in many competitions and probably had some sort of regular training in the past. Quite a few have good technique. E grade players some have had regular training but have played much more on a social basis and want to have fun playing in a league. D will be inbetween. The league level is only a rough guide. For instance, I've played from D to B leagues. Dan is right. It is really hard to put into words. If you have been a keen player in competitions in the past, probably D league is an appropriate level to start.
Actually, no. For me,the league was all about having good competitive games. If you win the league, everybody in that team (and that team only) will get a grade from the HKBA. So if you win E league, you get a D grade which will preclude you from playing E division in future years. So if you ended up with the C grade from winning the D division. Everybody (including the weaker 3rd pair) will get graded a C. No problem there but because it's very difficult to go down a grade (for years later), the league loses players!! I don't have grade so I am still able to enter E all the way to A leagues Having said that, the league is really good fun and you get to play and meet a variety of people. I enjoyed it immensely.
Besides being on the high school team in Canada, I've never really played in any competition or had proper training but I am deifinitely interested to improve trememdously through training. I do play a few times weekly (I would play more if I had more time off work) and would love to play more.
Yeah, I understand what you mean. In terms of skills/technique, it is really hard to put into words but I just had to ask
Hi ryim, I'm from Toronto. Why don't we play a game? I'll send you a PM and we can take it from there. To Cheung, thanks for adding to the explanation I couldn't have done it better.
Dan, I also always like to meet new badminton friends. My team and I won the rookie HKG men's double league in 2007 and I am currently playing in Grade D. I also play regularly with C & B Grade players in my various clubs. Let's discuss via PM. Cheers!
Thanks for your interest, guys. I'm really glad to see that there are so many good and passionate players here. I'm going to PM each and everyone of you to get this going. Stay tuned!
Clarification: I'm getting a few friendly PMs asking whether we're just beginners, I can imagine when I say E grade that really throw people off. No actually we're all above- intermediate players and we train weekly with professional coaches. We also play in different tournaments on a regularly basis. Hope that helps Keep those enquiries coming, we're excited to hear from you.
hi there!!reading this thread with interest. very much like to join you guys for a game. i currently play county level in the uk, and division one standard in the club leagues. i also play in national ranking tournaments in england, only satellite and orbitals so i suppose possibly the equivalent of grade c/d? but i am looking to move to HK eventually for a job, after i get my promotion in UK im coming to HK in the summer, any chance i could join you guys for a few games? iv done ok in a few tournaments, and had regular coaching at university from 2 england players. as well as being a level one coach myself. although i have a feeling the standard in HK will be much higher than i am used to. Ray
Hi Ray. We have two players from the UK, both good players. You are most welcome to play with us and see what it's like, just let us know when you are here. My email is makwanying@gmail.com, look forward to it!
are you still looking for players? i'd love to play wd or xd! i actually have a partner from a diff club (3 months now) and if you're still looking for players, we can be pretty committed!!
My wife and I came to HK a few months ago and would like to join some club in Kowloon. Could you please provide me with some info? Thanks. Kent
