This is an extract taken from Badminton Canada's guestbook (http://www.badminton.ca and click on the guestbook link). It's written by Danny, somebody started training since the age of 11 in hopes of making the Malaysian National Team. Pretty interesting to know about their intensive training routines and how much the government support them. I was sent away to a sports school for 7 years and was trained to be a national player there. If you’re not good enough you will be kicked out, its that’s simple, regardless whether your school marks were 90%+ or not. All my lodging, living expenses, training, shuttle cocks, racquets, shoes, bags, books, school, etc were all paid by the government. I wake up 6am in the morning, have a small breakfast, ready by 7am, 1 hour of running (hated this part the most sometimes I would almost fall asleep while running) and 1 hour of skipping and exercises. By 9am, we would be on court doing drills and footwork until 12. School from 12:30 to 6:30pm (dinner at 6pm in school) then 7:30 to 9:30pm doing more on court drills and playing matches. We do this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday we have morning training from 7am to 12pm doing yet more running, drills, weight training, and some matches. We have Sundays off and I tell you Sunday is a day to sleep and get together with friends and also catch up on school work. After 7 years at the school I was given a choice. I wasn’t a member of the elite group of 10 players out of 60 who will be moving to the national team facilities to train. I either accept a scholarship from the government to go abroad to study or I move to another district to continue training and be a full-time badminton player for the district. I chose the scholarship with a signed agreement to not play or even compete while I’m in that country and after I finish I have to work for the government for 3 years. Here I am in my final year at Ryerson [an University in Toronto], I will be done and going back in June. Badminton to me now will only be a recreational sport since at age 21 and 3 years of not training and playing at all is just too long and too difficult to get back in shape to play competitively again. The main reason why I am writing this is to give everyone a glimpse into how the Asian countries train their players and how the government and its people supports them.
I would imagine he is still in Toronto, but he is not allowed to play because he has signed a contract that says he's not allowed to play while he's studying overseas.
How can top Canadian players compete with that? Canadians train for a couple of hours, not even everyday.
wow thats a hard agreement.he should be allowed atleast to play. he must be so tempted to go to tournaments and own all the players..
I will be really frustrated. I mean, just yrs of training, that's part of his life already. Suddenly, u even can't swing a racket anymore for 3 yrs. Now, I think that I am lucky that I am not a pro.
Yep, I would feel really tempted. He must have had one hell of a self control because I would have flew back to play badminton. After 7 years of badminton and then ditching it for 3 years and a possibility that you may never return... Yodums
i have the same feeling as LB. however, it all depends on his perspective. if he takes badminton simply as a profession and just that, then may be it will not be of much effect to him. however, if he truely has badminton in his blood and loves badminton with a passion, it will be very painful indeed. however, also remember that he is studying in college now in a different country. that's a major change in his life in which he will be adapting to and while at that, likely he will be busy studying and coping with stress in college (just look at our friend Adel). likely is that he is kept busy enough that the lack of badminton may not have that much effect. i stop playing badminton for 4 yrs while i was in college. while i wasnt' as crazy about badminton then than now, college was new and fresh enough an environment that it didn't caused me any depression then. most of us who plays recreationally really do treat badminton as a passion. i for one will probably go into deep depression if i were to stop badminton for a few years from today. on another angle, the contract signed seems to be a little bit strict. i see no reason why he should be prevented from playing badminton recreationally. sure, i can understand not having him play for Canada. as MAS did pay for his education and with his skill Canada will probably suck him in for the rest of his life, it will mean MAS lost all the money that they invested in him. however, playing recreastionally and keeping himself fit and in good badminton shape has very little effect on anything if any at all.
I have doubts about not being able to play recreationally. I believe he/she can play recreationally but not play or compete for the country where he is residing.
if he plays at a club or community center wif a friend n not show all his skills...i dun fink they MAS government would know ....unless they haf spies followin him
I have the similar expereince. I stoped baddy for about 3-4 yrs in high school. First, the damn NY public education system does not have $$$ to support this minority sport. Second, my family was facing some $$$ issue at that time, no way I can pay for all the amount I pay now for baddy. Third, I was busy learning the language, and tried to get into the new world, just no time to play much. However, deep deep in my heart, I still love the sport, and pray everyday, once I can pick it up again. God, can't describe the feeling, when I found my college has this club. I was almost crying when I suddenly see the little white feather thing flying around. I immediately picked up a $5 cheap heavy steel racket and joined them. I found all my skills were gone at that time. But, I had a lot of fun. REally a lot, a lot more than most of the later sessions. It's like meet someone u love, but did nto meet for yrs... Now, I have several $$$ to spend on baddy, and just gone crazy on this. If u ask me to not playing for 3 months, I will be screaming around on street everyday (if cops won't lock me up). 3 yrs... hmmm... ur ppl surely won't find me here any more...
err, it clearly stated 'not play or even compete' of course, if he play recreationally, it is hard for MAL gov't to know about it and enforce it but technically as described in his agreement, i interprete it as he cannot play. I'm sure if he play for fun, no one knows or cares.
After 7 years of that grind, once he finds there are other things in life he can do, badminton would not be so important. It enabled him to get an education, to be provided for, and to get some travel. It's not the same as it is for us who play for the joy of playing--for many of them, it's just something they do because they're trained for it. They are able to do the things we marvel at and aspire to, but it is not so special to them. My wife said that when she was in high school (she was on the badminton team), a top Danish junior came over and attended the school as a foreign exchange student. He had no interest in playing while he was over here.
one of the first thing i did when i found out that i am going to grad school was to email people in the badminton club there and ask about badminton there. that was months before school started! i was very happy to find a few good players and then tha addiction continued from that point on. even then, the number of badminton players and court was very few. when came to visit CA after i found out that i am moving here. i went to one of the tournament and just sit there and watch people play. i was already very happy. the sound of the birdie was magically soothing. one day i am going to make a CD, "sound of badminton". it will surely be a sell-out.
It is really tough for agreeing not to play badminton for one's undergraduate days when one has been trained as a professional badminton player for many years preceding. The agreement seems rather strict if it really prohibits him from playing even recreational badminton. I suppose he has not much of a choice if he needs the scholarship badly and thank God, his grades must be good enough to be admitted to the Varsity. I can't remember whether we have a similar case in Singapore whereby a National badminton trainee was awarded a scholarship to study at an overseas university and required to adhere to similarly strict terms as the one in discussion. But we have many National swimmers who were awarded scholarships and allowed to swim for their colleges. The most recent case was swimming sensation, Jocelyn Yeo,who recently helped University of Texas win top honours and Jocelyn herself was honoured by the University for bringing them glory. Because Jocelyn was still in training while overseas, she could continue to represent Singapore at regional and international meets. By so doing, Jocelyn is able to continue to enjoy and improve on her swimming and it is a win-win situation for the athlete, her college and Singapore. Her self-esteem and confidence level must remain high and this will have a positive effect on her studies and social interaction with her professors and fellow college mates.
I would probably think that the reason they enforced such a harsh contract because the Malasyian government didn't want to pay for his badminton for 7 years and then have him fly to North America and spread it everywhere. Yodums
