Pretty sure this can go here, seeing as it is tournament related. Recently I was playing in a tournament, the tournament was split into two halls, and I had been warming up in a separate hall to the one that I had my first match in. Of course the golden rule (for me anyway) is to get to the tournament early (for me 20-30 mins before I'm scheduled to play) this seems logical, gives you time to warm up, get accustomed to the hall, and get everything ready to play. When my match was called, I was already fully warmed up ready to play, and wasn't particularly interested in wasting energy before the game. So decided that I was going to play half court clears, not return smashes, lousy drops etc, and give the impression to my opponent that I was a really poor opponent (when in fact we were about the same standard in my opinion)* This I thought was a cunning plan, it conserves energy, and gives the impression to my opponent that I'm not going to be that hard to beat. I let him decide when he was ready to start the game and of we went. All of a sudden, I was playing completely different to how I was in the warm up (part of the plan of course) took my opponent by shock and took the first game 21-6, second game obviously my opponent had readjusted and managed to do better but I still won 21-19. After the game, my opponents coach/father (not sure which) wasn't impressed with my tactics in the warm up and accused me of cheating and not giving my opponent a "accurate representation of my ability" (his words not mine) and therefore I had cheated my way to victory. But I thought how I warm up against my opponent is purely my decision and I shouldn't have to do anything I don't want to. It's my choice at the end of the day, and if I want to pretend I'm rubbish then come out and play 100%, then surely that's my choice. Who's right? Surely a player can decide not to try in a warm up, it's a players prerogative to decide how they warm up against an opponent especially if they decide they are ready to go. Nothing illegal here from my part I think?
Bollocks. Our lot NEVER play our trump cards during warmup at tournaments - a couple of us have decent backhand smashes, but why tip your hand when you can get a cheap point out of the surprise? The warmup isn't for your opponent to create a taxonomy of your strengths and weaknesses; it's for you to WARM UP. You might as well call Usain Bolt a cheater for not running 9.55 every time he trains.
Just ignore your opponent or his coach. It's a battle of mental n tactic in games n sport or in business, nothing wrong as u have done nothing to illegal. Your opponent lost the game mentality when he can't Adjust his play. Move on
This is what I thought... Surely it is in my interest to not play my best during the warm up then increase my level a few notches during the start of the match to take advantage of the situation, if he wants to play 100% smashes at the beginning it helps me and hinders him cause I know the maximum speed that a shuttle can come a me from his direction, whereas he is oblivious to what power Icahn put behind it... So apparently I'm a blatant cheat, and should really be disqualified, whereas I feel I'm a clever player, who simply outsmarted my opponent who had no idea that I was going to come put and play completely different... Just seemed a ridiculous accusation to be levelled at me, but I suppose some people are bitter...
Some players take the time to watch their upcoming opponents in a game situation (I know Koo and Tan sometimes do) and not rely on the warmup. Is this cheating as well? *facepalm.
Did they just step off an island or something? Just ask them nicely to talk to the umpire and tournament referee and see what kinda looks they're going to get.
I agree that the opponent has no cause for complaint just because he couldn't scout you out fully during warm-up. The sportsman-like thing to do in a warm-up is to give your opponent a decent chance to practice his strokes without necessarily revealing all your own agility and power. I think it was very wise of you to have warmed-up, in advance, somewhere else. However, there is a certain amount of sand-bagging that I would hope you would not stoop to in warm-up -- for your own self-respect. For example: letting his every practice shot hit the floor to deny him attaining any rhthym; faking an injury; making misleading self-deprecating comments ("I'm no good since that case of Latvian Shingles"). I know you wouldn't go that far, LD. But one has to decide at which stop to get off along the line that goes from clever, to sly, to sneaky, and ends at dirty rotten scoundrel.
Isn't it standard to warm up with your partner? At any rate, you can play like crap during warm up if you want to~
i felt pitty for your opponent LD.. obviously he got himself a stupid coach/father.. thats y he lost ..
I'm just curious, what was the calibre of this tournament? If they came into the tournament knowing that everyone had to be a certain level to get there, that's their fault for making judgments about the way you play and therefore, lowering their level to match what they saw. As for their accusation that you "weren't giving an accurate representation your ability", that is complete ********. You show your ability during the game and if your opponent sized you up purely from warm ups, that is actually quite disrepectful of your opponent because he clearly does not respect his opponent even if they are weaker than him. He entered a tournament to bring his best badminton, and clearly he decided to drop his level because he assumed that you were far weaker than him. Overall, they were sore losers who assumed too much about you. I'm really more surprised about the coach (if he was a coach), because if you play an unknown opponent, you should never underestimate them because that could be your downfall.
I didn't let every shot hit the floor, but he looked to be going all put in just the half court warm up, so I was returning most of his stuff, but if it looked like an all out smash I just left it, and I just played 1/2 3/4 length clears in the warm up, and (what I felt was most important) was that I let HIM choose when he wanted to start the match, so that he could determine when he was ready. It was singles, and it was just the 2 minute knock up before the game, unfortunately some believe this to be like the start of the game and I should be playing at 100% intensity (apparently) It was a local tournament, standard is really mixed, I just don't get how you can be accused of cheating before the match has even started...
bull**** you can do (almost) whatever you like during warm-up! have you ever watched the pros during warm-up? they play some easy clears, do some drops, maybe a halfsmash. nothing serious!! i would never play 100% during warm-up, more like 60% or so. the warm-up is for getting acustomed to the light, court, speed of shuttles/hall. every serious player warms up BEFORE the 2min warm-up period on court and starts playing 100% when the ref says "love all, play!"...
well, in local tournaments here, we don't have a separate court to warm up on, we can't really warm up before the match as its just a low-tier tournament. Ideally I believe tournaments should have them but in Ottawa where i do school, they don't. The only way to get warm at least for me, is doing shadowing when I am waiting and the 2 mins that i have to warm up on the court. How would you feel if you're trying to warm up in singles and your opponents just does some half ass shots for you? Example, hitting into the net every time and not even bothering to put in full clears for you? I am not accusing of the OP of doing this, but you guys should consider viewing it in that perspective. I agree with majority of you guys that OP didn't do anything wrong but I would be pretty upset if my opponent denied me of my warm up that I really need by not even giving a crap in trying to warm up. To be that just shows poor sportsmanship.
The opponent is there to compete against you and not to warm up with you. The gist of warm up is to raise your heart rate, get a feel for the court surroundings (lights, draft, roof height...), and get the feel for your basic shots. MOST ppl will try to do a normal warm up routine, like front-and-backs, nets, and smashes. But some players will also try to play head games, like JukUx said, not give u a decent warm up and try to get u upset... in that case, ASK specifically which shots you wana warm up with, be demanding and firm, try to get back at his own mind games (but stay calm yourself). And if you still dont feel like you're warmed up, do some quick footwork like shuffling or shadowing... pump your rate up so you can get into the game faster.
@Jukux : It should be obvious and common sense to realize that the 2-5 mins of hitting about prior to a game, any game be it tournament or club, is not enough to warm up for serious playing performance. Anyone who is serious would know you need at least 20-30 mins to properly warm up for a serious fight on court...and should know that the umpire is not going to put up with that amount of time for you. So, moral of the story, either you warm up yourself prior to coming on court or you treat that 1st game as a warm up game. And anyways, the 2-5 min of hitting about before a tournament game is not really for warming up your muscles and heart; it's really for the players to get used to the court, environmental and lighting conditions.
Well, true I agree, that's why I shadow when i am off the court but also where am i going to warm up some simple shots? Like i mentioned, we DON'T have any open courts for where you can just hit around with your partner prior to the match. All you can do is shadow and maybe find a wall to hit against. It helps but at the same time it doesn't really. I have played lots of local tournaments and when I organized one for my club, I made sure there was always 1 court free for those to warm up on before their matches. With the options you presented, I'd have to warm up during my first game which is pretty bad as it would probably result in a loss lol and that's not something i'd appericate if knowing that i could have beaten my opponent. of course you guys all agree with the fact that 2-5 mins to warm up in to adjust to the environment, but what about if you weren't able to warm up to begin with?
I find this thread a some kind of funny . I find this thread a some kind of funny. Why? Because our performance in our match has nothing to do with our performance in our warm-up. And, there is no such requirement that players have to warm up with their opponents (if they don't want to). They can do their warm-up with their fathers, friends, coaches, etc, etc, ...... .
stupid coach n players who judge the opponent only in 5 mins of hitting before the game. just ignore them, u have done nothing wrong. let them learn from their own mistakes.
There is no rules about how you have to warm up in a tournament. However, it seems Pro players have some sort of etiquette and follow a rough hitting plan, but he should have known that and been relaxed and stuff in his warm up too. I was playing recently and my opponent was attacking all my shots in the warm up and while we were playing nets he hit a kill, which barely missed me. He tried to deceive me on several shots in the warm up and I just couldn't be bothered. He beat me, he was a better player, but I just saved my energy for the game and shocked him with my rapid improvement. Your opponent tried to play a tactical game and get you moving and wear you out, you have the right to stand and watch him waste his energy.
