Badminton sport schools and development programmes.

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Xaujin, Aug 6, 2012.

  1. Xaujin

    Xaujin Regular Member

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    Hey Guys,

    After watching so many brilliant Olympic badminton matches, I was amazed by total dominance of China across all the disciplines. Naturally, I started to wonder how they managed to achieve such success! Of course I understand there are many possible answers (e.g. China has a massive pool of athletes to draw from, the athlete�s training schedules are ridiculously hard, etc), however for me, as an avid badminton player the most important was the system put in place by the government to scout and develop young people's talents. After reading up on a few Chinese players, I found they had all attended badminton sport schools, where they were coached and thereafter selected for the national team.

    Here in the U.K. I have not seen a single similar institute. Instead the only type of badminton I have experienced through the school curriculum has been two 30mins sessions of badminton for 4 weeks in a year. I understand this is only my personal experience and therefore may be different for others, however how can the government and people expect to produce world-class competitors with so few resources? There is no shortage of local clubs to play at, but professional coaching and progression to national level seems non-existent, unless of course you can afford �35+ per hour coaching.

    Understandably badminton is not as popular here as other Asian countries accounting for the lack of funding but despite this, I believe many more talented athletes from all backgrounds would be produced if more money was targeted at these developments.

    Thank you for taking the time to read my views and if possible please leave a comment on badminton in your country as I'd be very interested in hearing about them. :)
     

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