http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/badminton/40802004 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...reveals-financial-mental-health-troubles.html What a sad piece of news. I always thought with her popularity, she could easily find a coaching job. But I guess not everybody is multi-talented. Regarding to that, I think it is also down to the British Olympic committees who withdraw the funding for badminton, which is one of the events that Team GB did ok over the years. Looks to me that badminton is still a minority sport in the UK.
It's very sad, especially when you look at the Wimbledon tennis championships - you need only be in the first round to earn £35,000, £57k in the second, and £90k in the third, and so on. As a semi-finalist you take home £550k, enough to live on for quite a while!
Badminton England has lost a big chunk of funding from UK Sport and the governing body is not in great shape, they should be supporting their past players better though. After all, Nathan and Gail still achieved the best medal in the Olympics. It is sad to hear what she is going through, I do sympathise to a degree. However badminton players in UK don't get paid that well to rely on that income post retirement and I really hope she lands a job doing something related to badminton. If I was her, I would apply to the local universities and hopefully she can land a job being a head coach at a university, aspiring the next set of athletes to be better in the sport. Also the county where she lives in should have a CBA (County Badminton Association) and CSP (County Sports Partnership). I'm sure if you liaise with them, they should have funding to start a new project where Gail could lead on. We are always looking for new female coaches and athletes, she would be a great role model to head such a project. She is a good role model, I've met her a few times and she comes across as very personable and approachable. Heck, she helped me correct my serve and I thank her for that, since then my serve has been rock solid I wish her all the best. Kindest regards, -Ajay- Quote of the Day It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
If she's such a good service coach, then Badminton England need her to sort out Gabby's short serve!!
I know right, lol. Gabby has always had issue with her serve when she is under pressure, she flicks as if she tries to do a tight serve, she normally nets. Kindest regards, -Ajay- Quote of the Day Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.
Good to see Gail Emms at the world championships! She has done the occasional commentary before. Perhaps more commentary on matches in the future?
I don't buy any of this. Having a WC title, she can easily find a good living off teaching badminton. Whether she is willing to 'stoop' to that level is the issue.
He always struck me as somebody who was never prepared to chase a point - he'd hit what he expected to be a winner and bluescreen when it wasn't. A "style" player, in short. Emms, though, she was one of the most tenacious English players I can recall.
I'll second what Mark says above. As someone that used to watch both Gail and Nathan play as juniors, I would have to agree that without Gail's grit and determination I doubt Nathan would have achieved what he did. Nathan had a mental concentration problem at times, at other times his creativity and awareness on court was exceptional. Like many talented players he could be hit or miss, if he started to beat up on himself and get negative it would all fall apart very easily. Nathan, however, is the one with the BE coaching contract and not Gail. I think that's a big mistake by BE.
It's a good point though. Is coaching the only viable option for pro's once they retire? Is badminton such a small industry that there is no other choice but to be a coach?
Is this true in other sports too or there more options for retired pros? I never hear much about retired pro athletes besides american football players because they are all concussed and die young or have major health problems.
Only if a pro chooses to be confined to the hallowed halls of the sport. There are many options in life in general, and pros shouldn't be exempted to this. A good advice maybe is to always have a plan B or a retirement fallback. To be a coach, manager or a trainer are just some of the obvious options, but they can also be entrepreneurs ( like Li-Ning and others) or since most pros in badminton retire at a young age, they can try re-inventing themselves on other interests. One's destiny is really a matter of choice