its to do with the popularity of badminton. Australian as a nation is good at rugby, Aussie Rules and cricket (and maybe hockey). what do the majority of Australians play? those sports. bigger number of players = bigger pool = bigger popularity = better funding = better training = better players = better results if you're saying that about Singapore then maybe. but Australia? how long have you lived here?
And how are things meant to grow if an attitude towards the sport is wrong or damaging? Everything needs to start somewhere. Majority of australians play those sports because its easy to get into and follow through to the elite level. (meaning if you have the talent there are countless resources and helping things to get you to the top) Badminton is an awesome sport and if given the chance and marketed correctly could get very big and popular. But its finding the people willing to do this thats the problem. And it will take years of hard work to help it grow. im talking in regards to the people playing badminton. Badminton seems to be social for most of them no matter how strong or weak they are. Study is their priority in life. And i was born and raised here and im white.
i started a thread some time ago about the view many people have about badminton. many australians have that view. its just not part of their culture. its extremely difficult to change the aussie culture. in fact, it is very difficult to change any culture. frankly, australia is a follower (except AFL - but even that is "stolen" from each code of football). get it popular where it has a real chance of being popular, like Europe and the USA. australia will follow suit not long after that. it will never replace the likes of football (any kind) or cricket, but it can be much more popular than it is now. and rightly so. getting an education is important. however, there are sports schools that can give almost equal weighting to both. i don't know about australia but one you always hear about is the Bukit Jalil Sports School in malaysia. whats the Australian Institute of Sport doing about badminton?
Hi dwcl83, it's nice to see another Adelaidean on this forum! The one thing that gives me hope is that Australia manages to produce world-class squash players, even though that's another sport that gets practically zero publicity.
i've never played squash but i quite enjoy watching it. i'm also quite certain i would enjoy playing it. but quite many people play squash. have a look at the recreational complexes or uni sport centres, the squash courts seem to be in use all the time.
That is the famous Mr Sze who is the coach. It is his son who played into the top ten in the world, went to Australia and disappeared after about 1 year representing Australia. He went on to forge a career in acting in Taiwan.
Surprisingly Cheung knows so much about our Mr Sze . Surprisingly Cheung knows so much about our Mr Sze. Yes, Mr Sze is now at Altona, Victoria, Australia. And his talented Badminton son has taken up a career in acting (in movies). .
????? Pretty sure mr Sze is living in brisbane and coaching a couple of students. 2 of my close friends and training partners trained with him last week.
Sorry, I just cannot catch up with Mr Sze in Australia . Sorry, I just cannot catch up with Mr Sze. He is everywhere in Australia. .
