Im not a professional player, but Im just a guy who fell in love in Badminton after I finished my bachelor and moved back to my hometown. I personally seek and try to improve my skill day and night just want to see how far could I go. A lot of people tell me that yes I can keep training and playing eventually I will be able to play with ex-pro one day. It is possible. Ive seen a bunch of them done that ( the one who started late unlike most of the pro who train since 6-7 years old) I would say my ranking right now should be between intermediate and advanced. I could play with most club player. I still cant compete with the one who play for college or county yet. I mean I could play but I will need a really strong partner and we will still lose. I know there re still a lot of room for me to improve. Im not playing to win anyone but myself. I moved out of my first club because there is only few people there that could compete with me, but they are all so nice. They took me in since I wasnt able to perform a correct clear. I got coaching sessions then I keep training more and more till I could beat them almost all of them then I moved onto other club trying to seek for more challenge. Club after club I found out that most club players usually stick in one place. They love to play with each others on their own. Most of them are not welcome new guest. Everytime I join a new club. I always be nice. I play for everyone with anyone. I always tell the club leader that I can play for anyone im not piggy. I even play mixed for an old lady that no one ever care to play with because my first club raised me that way. And when I play with someone that weaker, I never want to humiliate them. Sometime my random partner make a mistake. I always told them thats its cool and its my fault. And in any club there gonna be a group of people who love to play among each other. Sometime when I join the higher rank at the certain club . First few day it will be alright. Then when I start to play for beginner they start look at me like a weirdo ( because none of them ever wanna step in to play with beginner) then I started to get zoned out. Then I just move to a new club because there is no point to hang around these jerks. However, club after club they are so many of them. I have seen some nice club too but their level doesnt attract me, so I couldnt stay. Now im so tired from looking for a club to join to improve myself. I need to find a new goal that make me feel like I wanna beat these pair one day. I actually have thought about move in to single , but in my country they are mostly double players based. I couldnt find any single club. Should I keep looking or change the way I think ? In my mind I wanna keep getting better and better, but I hate to see selfish people along the way.
Don't give up! Keep looking. Joining a new club is like dating. It can take a long time and feel tiring and frustrating but eventually you'll find "the one." Or try asking your coach to help introduce you to a new club, or like-minded people to play with. And meanwhile play with your original group so you can keep playing. But don't give up! Keep looking!
If you are playing with beginners you are - maybe unwillingly - sending a signal to other players. Which is: I just wanna have fun and enjoy myself, I'm not here to only have challenging games and improve. At least that's how I see it. Could be a reason the better players exclude you. Another reason might be that, like you already mentioned, they want to play in a group they know. There's nothing you can do apart from asking them to play with you a few times. If they never invite you on their own, leave it be.
Ah man, it sucks sometimes finding a new place. What helped me is getting in a training group so you would train at your own level and interact with the players of that level before playing some games afterwards. They already know you by then and may want to play more. At the beginning you should probably ask for games a bit more than just wait out, but they'll usually come around. Also, reaching a pro level is not important, having fun and improving from time to time is. I was hanging on one level for a while when something happened and I just exploded a couple of levels real quick, now find myself in the top 5 guys in my club with some nice tournament wins and all. It will al work out when you find your right spot! As for playing with lower level players, keep doing that too, they love it when you make a fun game out of it and surprise them with some weird shots now and then. I never really smash hard or anything in those games, but I make them run and dive all around the court by placement and sometimes some funny trickshots to keep them on their toes. Just remember the most important thing is to have fun, and it's easier to start at your level and then play with other people too than the other way around. Good luck and have fun!
I think you have to be clear about what you want from the game. Do you want to improve to play with ex pros? To be honest, there’s not much motivation in that. Just pay them to be your sparring partner Do you want to challenge yourself? Best way is to play matches and be competitive. It’s a long process. Can you do it without guidance of a good coach. Pretty doubtful. Who say you can reach ex pro level? Other ex pros or county players? Or just players who are still below county. With all due respect, the players below county level are less likely to appreciate the huge amount of work and effort it takes to get to that level. For them, badminton is a game and leisure activity. For ex pros, it’s been your vocation and life. Finally, if you are getting disillusioned by joining new clubs and their lack of challenges, then there is a mismatch. If you are actively trying to improve, then these social clubs are really not the competitive environment to push yourself. You have already mentioned that your new clubs have older and less athletic players. These are not so suitable if you have aspirations and this is why you feel demotivated. You need to start going to clubs which have fewer and fewer of these players. However, just saying you have potential is simply not enough. Probably, your basic technique needs on going refinement to match league one and county players. Are you prepared to do that to keep enjoying the game? Think about whether you have that motivation. Each step of improvement is progressively harder and harder. Check out the process by following the threads by @DarkHiatus and @Mason
I'll admit I'm a bit more cutthroat than you, haha. I don't have fun when I'm the highest level player in a group. In fact, I don't even like winning too much. When I start winning the majority of my games I start looking for a higher level club to play with. I've always said I'm not in badminton to make friends, but to play and improve. But, I know I'm slightly more competitive then most, haha.
I still get plenty of good games in our club, don't worry! The club is also a really nice one with good people running it and fun and nice people playing, that environment is very important to me. The extra challenges come from competition and tournaments, those are pretty tough and I lose plenty
