One size doesn't fit all. A great mind evolves and adjusts to constantly changing situations. To blindly follow what other sports do best is not what a thinking mind should do. Your suggestion to go independent in badminton, so that it can "copy" other sports, has done great harm to badminton in Malaysia and Indonesia. Perhaps, BE, badminton China and Badminton Korea have been lucky to totally ignore your misguided and may I say totally wrong road to nowhere. Pls let us stick to badminton and not sweep it under the carpet with other field of sports endeavor as a cover for advice blindly applied and greatly misfired.
I may be wrong; But I am convinced . I may be wrong; But I am convinced that currently and in the past national associations are not doing any good for our Badminton when they don't support players/coaches wishing to go independent. I am still upset how Chen Hong, Zhou Mi, Wang Chen, etc, ... were treated by CBA, and how Misbun Sidek was treated by BAM (just to name 2 National Associations). .
There is an excellent article in Financial Times: "Li Na serves an ace by flying solo" that describes Li Na's adventure in transforming the mind-set in China. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5ddeef38-2ae9-11e0-a2f3-00144feab49a.html#axzz1keIsyW2l Despite the professionalism in tennis as a sport in many Western countries, many Asian countries (including China) still adopts the association-based system to rule over its players even till now. Li Na (at the age of 26 then) was among one of the 4 pioneer female tennis players who decided to go independent and break out of the China Tennis Association in 2008. The main reasons cited were the rigidity of the system, the freedom to hire their own coaches, and the desire to earn more of the prize money if they won. The article correctly identified that the paternalistic system that China uses (through the various national association) has undoubtedly yielded many success over all these years. But, the move to professionalism, which was started by Yao Ming (in basketball) in 2002, had somewhat altered the thought process of many aspiring sportsman and sportswomen. Surely, Li Na and her fellow compatriots were criticized and ridiculed when they wanted out of the Chinese Tennis Association....especially since early results did not bear fruits. Slowly but surely...after 3 years (in 2011), they began to silence the critics with excellent performances culminating in Li Na nabbing the first ever Grand Slam title for China in the French Open. If Li Na and her fellow compatriots can achieve success in tennis, why can't badminton players achieve the same things too? If badminton is to achieve the same success as tennis and other professional sports, professionalism is the way to go! Players can be called up to represent their nations for Thomas/Uber and Sudirman Cups...similar to what tennis did for the Davis/Fed Cups.
Professional Players going Professional . That's exactly why I started this thread (Professional Players going Professional) for our BCers to discuss. The thread is located at; http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/93949-Professional-Players-going-Professional .
That was tennis, not badminton. In badminton the facts do not support your argument. The fact that Taufik Hidayat seems happier has to be viewed through the reasons for Indonesia's decline as a badminton powerhouse. Now, why is it that there is a correlation between the two-TD's happiness and the nation's decline? Let me tell you this. If you allow a country's top player, who has so much influence over the rest of the country, to do what pleases him only, he will just enjoy life without any pressure. His decline has become almost a morale-destroyer for the other players. For this Malaysia's LCW must be given credit for being more far sighted and working for the national interest. Now that Misbun has left BAM and gone back to grassroots coaching this speaks well of him. This is immeasurably better than sulking and walking away from badminton. Yes, the ultimate objective of this thread is achieved, although the thread's wordings seem a bit vindictive.
Agree with much of what taneepak has said. Would like to add: Centralised system works best in a country where the ethos and political/legal system encourages centralised control, e.g. China. It also ensures one significant aspect: accountability and responsibility, and enforcement; which IMO is noticably -sadly- lacking in many of the associations in many other (democratic) countries.
There are players who like to show accountability and responsibility themselves . However, even in China, there are some players who like to show accountability and responsibility themselves. They would prefer not to have CBA to decide what they can or cannot do/play. .
Hello... I'm a newbie here... Just want to share my opinion here.... The idea of badminton going pro is good.... If only badminton is in the same level as tennis, football, basketball n etc... If badminton is played widely in the sports powerhouse such as America, UK n etc... But for now badminton is not a sport which is played widely by sports powerhouse... That's why badminton player who opted to go pro finds that it's hard for them to survive..
