Today I played a match for my school against a foreigner for the first time. He was Singaporean, and amazing! Our team still won, but I have no doubt that he carried their team to where they are now. What sets the Eastern world aside from the rest? What coaching styles set these players so far ahead in terms of agility and speed?
Easy answer, nothing special! More exposure of the game to a greater number of people at an earlier age. Nothing special about Asian countries - you'd probably find the same thing with a Danish person. Question: What do you define as a 'foreigner'?
Yes, that was vague. In this context, I describe a foreigner as someone outside the UK. When it comes to players from abroad, I don't have a very open mind, which is why I asked my question in the first place. I don't know why I associated the word foreigner to my last opponent. Perhaps, from my one and only experience, I now have in my head the association of a foreigner with sublime skill on the badminton court! Our next opponents in the school competition, apparently, comprise two England youth members and two county players. !
"Foreigner" is a difficult word to use when people on this forum come from all over the world. Hence, the original question Good luck in your match. Just try to enjoy the game. Play the shuttle
asian countries train like mad..... they train from sun up, to sun down..... this is purely assuming this person was a serious player..... from what i hear, out of the 7 days a week that some of them train, 6 don't require a racquet..... which means MAD physical ability..... reminds me of the best ontario player..... mad physical ability, extremely consistent, but skills aren't particularly amazing... not that i'm saying that asians have bad skill, i'm sure they have amazing skill... but apparently the asians train more physical while the euros train more on the tactical/mental side of badminton
If you notice, the asians are usually "smaller" than the euros, so when an euro takes 2 steps, the asian might have to take 3 to cover the same distance, therefore, the asians will definately have to train their physique to compensate for the "petiteness" thus most asian countries will train longer/harder(also due to the fact that they are mad about the game ) Cheers!
I don't know if this is relevant but in some Asian countries, national trainees are paid basic allowances of some US 800 a month, bonuses for winning major tournaments,special allowances for being drafted into the Olympic squad,or depending on world seedings, some get to keep 100 % of prize money , plus endorsements.All in all a national no.1 can earn maybe US 3000 a month, so they better be good and that's why they are always lobbying to be included in national teams and tournaments.
