another chinese canadian high school badminton addict

Discussion in 'Introduction' started by TonyWdq, Mar 31, 2007.

  1. TonyWdq

    TonyWdq Regular Member

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    hello everyone

    I've been member on BC for awhile but just recently paid attention to this introduction thing. Also, because I have a little story to share I've decided to post something here.

    I moved to Canada in Jan. 2001 from China. Right now i'm in the last few months of High School. I started playing badminton in grade 9, first made the school team in the same year. I was truly addicted and played every day. The school coach didn't pay attention to me until grade 10 and offered me 1 on 1 training, I thought i finally got the chance to become good in a sport i truly like. Unfortunately my family moved to another city before Grade 10 badminton started. I ended up playing for a smaller school with little or no coaching. I was their key player, i was happy there but my skill didn't go up at all. The situation remained same for both grade 10 and 11.

    The biggest change in my view on badminton happened just recently (~3 months ago) when i joined badminton central. I realized how much a difference there is between my tiny little school's badminton level and the outside world, so I decided to learn on my own from the resources available here. I lost count of how many posts i've read regarding fundamental skill building and further improvements. I also filled my harddrive full of professional badminton matches as I began to understand matches and able to enjoy them more. During practice sessions I would try to get coachs and other plays to help me improve with the lessons I learn here. Though, its highly unprofessional, without a proper coach, it was really all i could do.

    Finally when grade 12 badminton season started an actual coach came to my school and saw potential in me. He came to me and told me he would push me into provincials this year. I was so happy thinking what didn't happen in grade 10 would happen now. Sadly, he left in the middle of the season due to family problems, our team was left with only a teacher supervisor. I was very very disappointed but I kept on practicing on my own, doing drills with nothing but walls and markers on the floor, occasionally getting the chance to play against adult players at local college.

    Finally the qualification for provincial (also the county championships) came yesterday. Everybody was excited except for me who didn't show up for practice at 6AM before we leave for competition at 7AM. It was so weird that day. I wasn't nervous at all like before, all i was thinking was how badly i needed that coach and how much i hated the teacher supervisor for pretending to be one. When we got to the hosting school gym I was still in the same mood. I originally planned to first peek out the compeition and check out my dream rackets: the MP99 and AT700, but due to my mood I didn't care when i saw those.

    I guess my mood was correct that day, in the morning events (mainly singles) every body on our team was beaten out in the round of 64. When I got to play, i was put against number 2 from another school (my dumb teacher/coach ranked me 3rd/4 even though i tried the hardest). After beating him 21-16 21-14 I gained a bit of confidence. Even though i was put against number 4 seed who was number 1 from another school I easily beaten him 21-12 21-10. I was really surprised how footwork can be such an important tool because during practice no one try their hardest against me to let me discover my true limit. So pretty much any smash/drop/clear that doesn't land directly on the line I basically have enough time to get over there and hit it back with a quality shot.

    At 10:40 AM 6 out of 8 singles players from our team have been knocked out of the singles event in both junior and senior category. The other one left was injured and couldn't come so I was basically the only hope for my school to secure a spot in the next level (top 4 qualifies). At that time I was in quarter finals. All i needed was one win to advance to semi-final and to qualify for the next level of singles event which is held 2 weeks after.

    There was an unusual long interval between the round of 16 and quarter, probably because of early lunch for athletes (we were sharing the caf with students in that school) but it made me felt uncomfortable. The gym was cold and the warmth i stored from round of 16 went away quickly, but when I stepped on the court for quarters some how I wasn't shivering anymore.

    I didn't treat it like a big match or anything at the beginning, so we just started like normal games. I treated it like such a boring routine that I didn't even bother looking at the umpire or anything outside of the court. When it started all of my attention was on the bird and the loud explosions coming off hittings.

    1st Game - I probed him here and there looking for weaknesses, but because I didn't take it too seriously I lost 18-21. I walked around looking for my teacher/coach/supervisor and NOT to my surprise, all he said to me was "good luck". There was no advice, no analysis on the match, nothing useful as it seemed to me.

    2nd Game - I saw his weakness, he was a purely defensive player, he never smash unless it was perfectly setup for him to do so. I know at that point I had a path to victory but I also know that if I dont win this one it's all over for me. Since the begining of that set, all I did was smash smash and more smash, I think I made roughly 10/21 points on smashes. Power jump smash, down the line smashes, cross court, left/right slices added into the smashes... I gave all i had. Of course he kept trying to make me set up for him by playing careful net, but his footwork troubled him. I ended up taking that set 21-18. In the interval I clearly saw him grinning hard and begging for advice all over from his coaches. Again, my dumb supervisor just stood there twirling his keychain watching the match on the adjacent court.

    3rd Game - I knew I was in trouble from the start. It could be due to the advise he got from the coaches during the interval but he could catch all of my smashes except ones that are really close to the lines. At 11 point interval I was 7-11 behind. Really, I had no hope at that point in my mind, my smashes can be digged, my net is equal or less perfected than his and my dumb supervisor was still twirling his ugly keychain watching girls playing on the other court. As soon as we exchanged court I saw the happy look on his face and I was raged. From that moment on I didn't let a single shot slip by easily. I even did dives to catch smashes (first time in tournament). I caught up to him and our score never went more than 2 points apart. We exchanged lead here and there, I'm quite sure that both of us know that this isn't going to be an easy win.

    At 20-20 I was serving, like I said in another post, it didn't feel like the old scoring system at all. I dont feel safe just because i'm serving. Throughout the match he has countered successfully at least once against all of my serves so I didn't dare play a tricky serve. I went with the short serve because I know he usually lift it to make me run more. BUT the unimaginable happened. He swiftly rushed to the front and did the drive across my right shoulder/arm pit area. I couldn't get my racket up fast enough. My racket head brushed the birdy with a pinging sound then it went passed the baseline.

    At 20-21 he served a long one as usual, I tried to do a cross court smash but due to my extreme fatigue (it was over an hour already) It landed rather close to the center. He dropped it cross court. I rushed in 2 steps and did a push to his back hand corner. He struggled badly trying to clear back hand through out the game so before he got to the shot I took position near the net waiting for the kill. Exactly as I've expected his backhand clear didn't go very far. If it had landed it could reach at most center court. I swang hard for the equilizer. Then, a hard vibration told me it was a off center hit. My body went cold watching the bird tumbling uncontrollably towards the net. It hits the tape. Bounced up. Then landed on my side. 20-22.

    I can't describe it but the world suddently opened up. My focus was now on the whole gym rather than the match. My oppponent came up to me to shake hand but we haned up hugged each other hahaha. Then coaches, parents came to congradulate us both, but I didn't catch any of it until my teammates told me what it was like after. Then on the way to restaurant (my game lasted too long, caf closed) one of the parent told me how high I jumped in my jump smashes and how far I reached in my dives then got up again to smash again. None the less I lost and my high school badminton ends just like that. However, I am satisfied with how much I accomplished without proper coaching in just short 3 months. University life starts soon, most of the universities i've applied to are in Boston area in the US, Toronto area and Vancouver area in Canada. Seeing how many advertisements there are on Badminton Central in those areas I'm looking forward to continue playing badminton. Maybe not competitively anymore, but definitely at least once a week to satisfy my addiction lol.

    Thanks for those to took the time to read my story. Hopefully it didn't bore the crap out of some of you. All of you competitive players probably has plenty stories like this. I hope to talk to you guys more on BC as a certified badminton addict from now on.

    TonyWDQ
     
    #1 TonyWdq, Mar 31, 2007
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2015
  2. westwood_13

    westwood_13 Regular Member

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    That was a fantastic story. Very, very well told. That last game sounds incredible, perhaps like one of those games that remains emblazoned in your memory as a defining moment, regardless of the win or hte loss.

    Glad BC could help you.. it certainly was quite the catalyst for my improvement, too.

    Since you're moving to a big city next year, I'd hardly say that your competitive badminton career is over. If you want it to be that way, I'd say it's hardly begun...
     
  3. martin8768

    martin8768 New Member

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    wow that was a great match, i could imagine the whole thing in my head perfectly, well i dont have a really great story like that to tell, but im in the same situation, no one in my area is certified/professional badminton coach and i fear my skill will not improve from this year to next, im going to senior level next year in highschool and senior years are important, u really inspired me to keep trying and keep selftraining myself! because I know myself the best, so do u.
     
  4. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    great story tony. Although u didnt got good training or advices, the thought process and focus u took during the matches are very correct. I think the edge u didnt have was a 2nd pair of eyes from your coach. Catching the small detail of your opponent and some advice to recify it from your coach would definitely helped u starting on your 1st break of game 1.
     
  5. wood_22_chuck

    wood_22_chuck Regular Member

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    Choose Vancouver, and we'll have a game, eh? Welcome to BadmintonCentral forums.

    -dave
     
  6. TonyWdq

    TonyWdq Regular Member

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    heh right after you posted this, i received a notice from UBC telling me i'm accepted :eek:. Just waiting to see which school give more scholarship now... Can't wait to get out... anywhere... open gyms in my area are filled with dinkers 90% of the time
     
  7. azn_123

    azn_123 Regular Member

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    Welcome Tony!!! COOL!!!!Ohh btw are you talkign about the UBC urr the one in vancouver??If you live around vancouver b.c. let's have some games and have fun!!!:D
     
  8. TonyWdq

    TonyWdq Regular Member

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    thx for the response guys

    YES it is the Vancouver campus

    if i decides to go there in the end i'll sure to setup for some games with our bcf buddies
     
  9. brady6

    brady6 Regular Member

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    Wow you are done yours already?Where are you from in canada?
     
  10. St00pid

    St00pid Regular Member

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    Wow, awesome story.

    massive props
     
  11. Zero_Cool

    Zero_Cool Regular Member

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    brill story......all the best inur future
     
  12. keben

    keben Regular Member

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    nice story, i could feel the intensity in the 3rd game
     
  13. rwg05

    rwg05 Regular Member

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    very well written!
     

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