am i too late to join the national squad ?

It would appear that it may be too late for you, if at the age of 15, you are not competing in Open and national tournaments ? You really should have started by now, these give you a good idea of where you are in terms of ability, in comparison to everybody else, in your age group. If you are still trying to be best in your school, at the age of 15, then unless you give up school and train 10hrs a day, you don't have much chance. (and even if you gave up there is no guarentee that you will make it so it is a large risk.) what's more you do not have a coach to examine your play. I think if you post a video of yourself playing we could establish where you are level wise.
A few questions for you:
1. What do your parents think ? Are they fully supportive of your goals ? Supportive parents can help you, as they are 100% behind you
2. Is your partner committed to badminton ? Is he the same level ? If the answe to both is yes, then keep the same partner, if he feels that badminton is a hobby, then you might want to get a partner that is fully committed to Badminton. And who wants it just as much as you.
Btw, I am school champion 4yrs running, in MS, MD & XD (XD 3 times, as there wasn't XD in our school 4years ago) although I have a different partner for out of school, because my partner at school considers badminton as a hobby (although they are both very good) when I entered National Standard tournaments a year and a half ago , the standand was very high, and although I could cope with some players others, who had been playing longer, trained more, beat me easily. Don't let tournament failure get you down though, use it as motivation to train harder like I did. And when you are not bust with School Work do some training, wheter technical, Physical or even Mental.
Good Luck !

 

I would say it probably is too late, although not neccessarily. Quitting badminton is a bit extreme just because you are not in the national squad. If everyone took that attitude then there wouldn't be many players in the world.

I would advise you to spend whatevermoney you want to spend on badminton on coaching. Rackets are fun to try & buy when older & have money, but they don't make you play better - especially at your age.

You should aim to be the best you can be & just enjoy the competition you have. ther will always be someone better than you (even LCW/LD lose sometime) but playing at low level agains equal standard players is as much fun when on a higher level.

 

I dont know where you are , as the standard vary between country. 15 is not too late to really have a go at national tournaments (juniors) , I seen the standard of play in the junior here and I have to say that if someone got the dedication, passion, and a good coach then they can compete and win some of those tourneys after 1-2 years of training . also if you are gifted/talented and mentally strong ..you would have a chance in representing your district.

I dont know what are you referring to as school tournament; is that within the school (which does not mean anything) or you representing your school and competing other schools in a tournament

 

He is in Malaysia.....see post #3

 

don't worry whether it's late or not.. just do ur best n never give up.. good luck on ur tournament..

 

well, good luck to him then ! there is nothing wrong with just playing a few local tournaments and regional matches. Is only a game after-all.

 

Im 16 and have no couch either, in my region people only view badminton as a beach/garden game. nothing serious.
So I improvise, I watch pro players, tutorial vids, train with my brother (which is the only other player I know that lives within my region) on a self-made field. Im currently setting up a better field in a local children's school gym

 

15yo players

doesnt matter what age u r..if u have the love n passion for the game then
just do it..no regrets....I have known some players ex-school state palyers
still playing n others totally laid off the game.
Seems like u harbour the wants of becoming national champion but dude
not all 15yo or whatever age will necessary becomes champion.
But then again who is to know....Dont push the limit till u drop off....IMportant Queston
is what do u WANT to BE.?......For Passion of the game or being Champion?

 

First you need the HONOR to establish a Location! Homeless? Not the Ideal National Squad player for a jerk. You are still young and at the right age but if your family does not provide you a home then wait till you are at the National Legal Age to join and compete in the National Squad! In the meantime keep practicing, playing and enjoying Badminton at your youthful status.

 

I think it is still possible especially at your age. However you need to put in lots of effort in to get up high.
You will also need your full backing from your family as Badminton coaching and training is not cheap.

 

Hai there zul,

Age can be a stumbling block for you but then if you can quickly excel well from now, from my opinion, no path is impossible for you to fulfill your dream, as long as you are continuously determine to do it and being guided properly on how to achieve it . Firstly in Malaysia, you must understand first the structure and what are the certain level/phases that one should go and make his way up before you can achieve the dream that you want.

The road starts from representing your district first in a state level tournament. So in your current scenario, you must do well first in your school level tournament in order for you to represent later your school in the District Inter-School Badminton tournament...understood, then.....

Playing very well again here in District Inter-School Badminton tournament will allow you to represent your district in a State level tournament..............got it,.....then what?

Here in the State level tournament, if you again play very well, you will then have a bright chance to be selected into your state badminton team to represent your state in a Inter State ( i.e Sukan Malaysia @ Sukma) / National level badminton tournament (i.e local badminton circuits i.e pahang Open etc)..............o.k,...are you still there..... then we move on and at this level, the turning point to begin achieving your dream will take it's course and you need to play damn well.........

In this Inter State/National level tournament, if you play even better then you have a high chances to enter BJSS (Bukit Jalil Sports School). BJSS select their athletes via 3 methods which includes talent identification program, scouting and recommendation from National Sports Council / State Association. By playing well at this high level tournament, there will be a high chances that you be spotted or recommend to enter BJSS.................and i hope you can make it little brother...........

Once in BJSS, the road to represent National squad will starts. Here, you need to excel well again against your collegue at the National level tournament (MSSM, Sukma, National Junior Championship, State Open etc) to impress the National Junior Squad Trainee and selection committee that you have the what it takes to don the national shirt and if you have it, then you can start to join BAM as a Elite backup.......o.k dzul, the moment of truth is here....

At this level, if you make our country proud by playing very well in National and International level (winning gold, satellite, Super series tournament........thrashing Lin Dan, whacking LCW, toiling Chen Jin.....and also super thrashing Hafiz, Arif, Liew Darren, or whoever there is still in our elite backup / main team where no good results being produce for decades........i can't see that there is any logical reason for you not to represent the Elite Team @ National Squad!.........annnnnnnnnnnddddd after that,while still donning the national shirt, you can still consistently produce good results in whatever tournaments that you participate.....you will be a world class player.......

So...dzul....indeed it takes a lot of hurdles to pass through and time is your enemy now. By consistent proper support and guidance as well as the continuous aim for an improvements...maybe you can accelerate fast. Start from Now.

 

Hahahaha.. i love the 2nd last paragraph

 

Great post, shooting stroke.

I have to say, whilst I'm all for the idea of people trying to make their national team and play badminton professionally, I don't think most people realise how high the level of the professional game is. If you have never actually played against or even just hit with a pro, you honestly have no idea how good these people are. If they look good on video and from the sidelines, they're a thousand times better when you're down on the court with them. That's a very high level to try and hit by your early twenties if you aren't a very capable player already. I don't know which country you're based in but if the school tournaments are anything like here in England you should be winning them comfortably if you're an aspiring pro.

I am sure that some professional players started around the age of 9 but they probably had world class coaching right from the beginning. You probably have a lot of catching up to do. If there's a professional player who's sometimes around the centre you play at or in the surrounding area you should ask if they could spare you a few minutes to practice with you. This will accomplish one of two things; you will either approach your goal with a renewed confidence knowing that your target isn't too far away or you will get a harsh reality check as you come to the realisation of how far you have to go. Either way, it will probably provide you with motivation to work harder and a better understanding of what you need to achieve. If you don't know of any local pros, try to find another high level player, even someone that just plays for their county/state/province will probably still be quite a way beyond your level at the moment so they will still provide you with something to aim at. I'm not going to say that your task is impossible but I'm sure that it's going to require an awful lot of work to make your dream a reality.

I remember reading somewhere that to become a true expert at something it takes 10,000 hours of practice. Now obviously, this doesn't take in to account the quality of practice or any natural talent but let's assume that in the majority of cases this figure is roughly correct (in reality I don't know if it is or not). If you were to become a professional badminton player by the age of 21 then from age 9 you would have to have spent 10,000 hours playing badminton. Between ages 9 and 21 you have 12 years. 10,000 divided by 12 is 833.3 (recurring). So assuming the original figure is correct, you would have had to spend 833 hours 20 minutes playing badminton each year or in other words play for an average of just over two and a quarter hours a day assuming that you played every day, apart from one day off every leap year for twelve years. This obviously isn't possible so the actual average daily court time would be closer to or in excess of three hours. I don't know how much you play at the moment but to go pro you're going to have to play a lot of badminton.

I hope I haven't put you off too much - best of luck. Just believe and hopefully you'll get there eventually. Sometimes it's best not to think about the difficulty or the probability of things like this, if you really want to do it then it's probably better to give it a go, regardless of the odds, than to never know what might have been.

 

he is from Malaysia, that makes it even harder to be part of the team, when the country is probably in the top 5 in the world at badminton, competition I am sure is very hard.

 

We are still awaiting the thread's owner to have his say

 

Dzul posted his thread early July and from all the encouragements and advices given, personally just for a start, i wanted to know how does he fair in his school tournament...(Hello dzul...where are you???)

Indeed Badmintonmania countries like Malaysia, due to the overwhelming public interest, availability of Badminton facilities that grows like mushroom, parental support, coaching support from clubs and personal setup and the current government education structure that emphasizing the important of sports to name a few makes the ambition to represent even at the district level becomes more challenging as the fast emergence of a lot of good and talented players through out all the states in Malaysia.

Therefore Dzul, let say that you are able to achieve something at your school level for a good start, however if you look into a more macroscopic level, at your age outside there, there are thousands of talented, ambitious badmintonholic boys that you need to whack again so that you can become the best among them. So you need to train very, very (say this 717 times) disciplinary, mind focus, well support and properly guided (i.e parental, coaches and good sparring partners etc), gargantuan godzilla hard from now i tell you. You need to set your target also little brother by structuring a well planned time frame achievement goal similarly like a gunt chart to track down your improvements. By having this you will know the reality where you are going and how are you progressing.