Should you choose to accept it. There have been a lot of discussions regarding the new scoring system, the prize money, IBF management, sponsorship, etc. This isn't one of them. Or, at least, not really. This is a discussion on what you'd change from the current form of the sport to make it, well, more attractive to current non-players and non-fans. To make a term like, say, "badminton necklace" as commonly known as "tennis bracelet". To make badminton fashion as highly sought after as NBA or soccer replica jerseys. Nothing is sacred, nothing is to be spared, no suggestion is too odd or ridiculous. The only rule is that the sport must remain recognizably badminton. IOW, you can't take volleyball and call it badminton. So, here it is, your chance to "think out of the box" as it were. Anything at all from the highest of brow and most sublime of suggestions to the downright absurd. Let's hear them. All in the name of improving our beloved sport. Just keep the discussion civil and no personal attack. Without further ado, let the floodgates open!
Implement quality plastic shuttlecocks in some sanctioned tournaments. my definiton of skill is how good u r with what u got, not how good u r with the best product, all else equal.
Though this is nothing new, after watching the IO finals last weekend, I must say that badminton players on-court appearance is quite unattractive. It looks like they're stuck in the 80's or something, or just simply don't care. What I'm most surprised at is that their corporate sponsors don't seem to care either. I'd be willing to hazard a guess that corporate sponsors in other more popular sports, say, tennis, would include a clause in the sponsorship contract that their players can't show up on court wearing their logos looking like they've just gotten out of bed. I'm quite sure that the Maria Sharapovas, Mary Pierces and Serena Williamses of tennis have a commercial reason for looking (as good) as they do when they step on court. The guys also. Agassi practically make a living out of it early in his career. Compare them to the two Chinese girls who played in the IO singles final. At the risk of sounding very rude, one---I forget her name, the one who won the title---looked to me like she cut her own hair. Her opponent wasn't much better either. Yet, I'm positive they're both actually quite attractive in civvy. If I were FedEx, Yonex, Wilson or any other corporate sponsor, I'd make sure I tell whoever it is I'm sponsoring, "Look, I'll give you everything you need to train, travel and play in tournaments. But, you can't show up for matches with my company logo prominently displayed on your person looking like you were in a car wreck on the way over." I'd make sure that a part of that sponsorship money goes to the players' makeover. Both the girls and the guys. I'm not saying that every player has to look model-perfect at 20-all in the 3rd set. I am saying that they can put in a bit more effort in their public professional (i.e., playing) appearance. Whenever I show "non-badminton" people some badminton DVDs, everytime I put on Camilla Martin, they would ask, "Who's the blonde?" Without fail. Regardless whether she won or lost, they'd watch her. And, I'd say she quite understated compared to the majority of (female) tennis pros. The point is, it doesn't take that much effort. Showing badminton in a glamourous way is tough enough with stadiums often looking small, cramped and resembling fighting cages. The players don't have to dress down to the occassion as well.
do the reverse of the way they made hockey popular, make super high salaries and show it on telivision. this will work because anyone who doesn't know anything about badminton will be like WOW i can get payed that much just for doing that? i'm in!!!
Yes, this will definitely work. But who would fork out all the funds for these "super high salaries..and get TV..." networks to bombard our homes with badminton?
If we could get networks to bombarb our homes with badminton, we wouldn't need to worry about it becoming more popular. I was just making a suggestion.
Yes, all roads point to big prize money. Knowing this is the simple part. Getting there is far from simple, because there are just too many dead-end roads that will burn your pocket with nothing to show. Ask anyone and each one will have his own ideas. But ask someone who has a stake in it, then you might have a better chance of success but no guarantee. Having a stake does not just mean having an interest in the game, otherwise he or she bears no costly personal consequences. Specifically, the IBF Council, in introducing the NSS, has a stake in the game under the NSS, because of the high cost of failure-the shake-up and sacking of the IBF Council. You and I have are no stake-holder, unless you are a sponsor like Yonex or the elected representative of your national or continental badminton federations, who have a lot to win if things work out but also a lot to lose when things don't work out. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Here are a couple of more un-original ideas. The first one may already be in practice and that is to make players reasonably proficient in some foreign languages such as English, German, French, Spanish, etc. This serves at least two purposes: one, because much of the untapped market is either English speaking or can easily understand English (e.g., USA, Canada, India, Australia), it'd be fantastic if top players can conduct interviews in promotional events in English. No need to be perfect, just reasonably understandable. For example, look at the riders and racers in MotoGP, World Superbike, F1, etc. They don't all speak fluent English---ever heard "Nitro" Nori Haga speaks English? ---but most can at least conduct interviews in passable English. And what great marketing tools the racers themselves are. Badminton players can do the same. The second purpose for teaching players foreign languages can actually turn out to be for their own good. I remember reading an article about the youth program at Galatasaray. I read that in addition to teaching them soccer skills, they also teach these budding soccer superstars some foreign languages which, IIRC, include English, Spanish and Italian. They reason that because most of big clubs are in Italy, Spain and England, their graduates would be better equipped for communicating with their future coaching staff, officials and teammates should they find themselves playing for one of those major clubs. We know that very few of the badminton players out of China, Indonesia, Malaysia will end up playing for their countries. Most, if they can afford to do so, will have to move abroad to find better opportunities. We also know that countries likes Germany, France, USA, Canada, Australia, etc. would love to have these top foreign talents playing for them. So, why don't Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian national associations and clubs teach their kids some foreign languages that they'd probably need? They wouldn't even need to cover many languages either. Just English would suffice. They can also consider it an investment in their own future too since if their graduates go abroad and become successful, their prestige goes up along with them. Now, on to the second stolen idea. I think most of us have seen some of these home-produced badminton videos (e.g., the "Masked Trickster", the one with a group of teenaged boys)? Or, the Ronaldinho Nike commercials? What about similar video clips featuring top badminton players? I'm sure they've got some tricks up their sleeves.
Personally; I love to see the ability of staging open air badminton game and competition. This will require the improvement of shuttlecock technology such that it will not be swayed easily by the windy condition. I remember in the old day; we had played so often at night in the open air when the wind is still, who really cared about mosquito bites for the love of the game? With the open air approach you could take badminton to the streets and have more kids to play! That was how the badminton get popular at the 1st place..may be we should go back to the root! In europe there is Inter european club championship; may be it is time for IBF to stage intercontinental club competition?
Interclub competitions would be excellent. Though, I believe not every country uses a club system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think countries like China and Malaysia are based more on a state or provincial system. Though they can easily act as surrogate clubs. Which brings me to another suggestion regarding sponsorship. To build a strong program, regular competition, etc. requires funds. That means sponsorship. I think we've been focusing too much on traditional sources of sponsorship. The Nike, Adidas/Reebok and Wilson. I think we ought to start looking for non-traditional sources. Companies that you wouldn't necessarily associate with sports or those who are just starting out and are looking to make names for themselves. Insurance companies, financial firms, sports drink makers, oil, high tech., telco/mobile phone, fastfood, etc. Allianz, GEICO, Allstate, State Farm, Merrill Lynch, Vanguard, Ameriprise, Red Bull, whoever makes Gatorade or Rock*Star, BP Amoco, Exxon Mobil, Google, Yahoo!, Vonage, T-Mobile, Cingular, Vodafone, AT&T, Orange, Alcatel/Lucent, HP, Merck, Intel, Amazon, McDonalds, Burger King, to name a few. Look at the market we want to break into and search for local or regional sponsors.
Does anyone have any numbers regarding the number of people who play badminton worldwide, or in individual countries? I ask this because if there are really not that many active players in a country, it will be next to impossible to get any big-money sponsorship and media exposure. It would take someone with very deep pockets to mount a sustained media campaign to raise public awareness of badminton in the UK (my country). First of all there is, let's face it, a negative image of the sport here. It is seen as an elitist pursuit - when was the last time you saw badminton being played on a Council Estate? In the majority of schools it is either not practiced at all or has a very low profile. Changing just these two aspects to positives would need years of investment and money on a vast scale. Where is this money going to come from? Well, it won't come from anywhere unless there is a large number of people willing to spend money on clubs, equipment and lots of people watching it on TV. Right now there is no such demand. We should start small. If you have kids in a school, make sure they have the option to play there. See if your club has some nets etc to donate if the school has none. Send your club match reports to your local paper. Include some good quality pictures (of course it won't hurt if you have some nice ladies in short skirts here). If anyone expresses an interest, bring them to play where you do. It's no good complaining about lack of big-money sponsorship and TV coverage - all this will come once the player-base is big enough. They will not just decide to manufacture demand where there is none. Look at the rapid rise of so-called 'extreme' sports (I hate that name). Skateboarding, Snowboarding - all of these apparently sprang up from nowhere to become huge draws, but in reality they have been steadily building for years. When millions of teenagers across the world are ready to spend as much on shuttlecocks as they are on skateboards, everything else will fall into place.
Come on, guys and gals, you must've some ideas? Just think of something about the sport that in your opinion needs to be improved, and offer a solution and rationale for the solution. However bizarre, odd, brilliant, etc. Want to raise the height of the net? Then suggest another height. Want to change the scoring system (again)? Then suggest an alternative system. Want to see longer or shorter racquets with bigger or smaller heads? Then how long/short/small/big do you think they ought to be?
Oh god, for the love of the sport, don't change the equipment :crying: Actually, I think we have to look at why badminton isn't as popular as other sports out there. We'll find that the main reason is that for most people, especially us Occidentals, badminton is that lame 'sportsy' game where you hit a bouncy plastic shuttle back and forth over a net without even moving In school, all they ever do for the sport is implement it in their PE classes, give you a racket, give you a bird, and let you loose. It's like sticking the average citizen in a commercial airplane. You like the buttons, but they don't do much for you If we could teach people that badminton really is, with an efficient system to speed up learning of the basics... Most people, unlike me, don't have the patience to work on their overhead clear for 1 1/2 to 2 months... We play the game because of the feel, because we know firsthand how great it really is If people are given the chance to reach a level beyond what they could imagine at first, and see the sport in the game, then badminton would have no trouble getting ahead in the sports world That's the general idea... No I'll need help on how to make that work
I KNOW!!!!! its the way you get points you see, with the new way you get points, more people will be interested in playing.
I dunno how changing the equipment will make badminton more popular but, if possible, I wish Yonex can develop a new type of floor that can suck water out very quickly so that players like LD can dive as many time as possible and doesn't have to get anyone to wipe the floor.
exactly. you gotta take it back to what people think the sport is. i dont' mean necessarily play sanctioned tournaments in open are arenas... but i mean even for us, the amatuers and such, to play outdoors every now and then, just because the weather is darned right and its convenient. instead of throwing around the frisbee or playing tag, hit the shuttle around... theres a few occasions where me and a few friends are on campus, between classes, after classes maybe, who knows, but we were bored, the gym we liked playing in was presently occupied with a dance class, and so we just pulled out a racquet and began hitting around. i don't mean just lobbing, but actual rallies consisting of drives and smashes as best as we can with the gentle breeze, but it did gain some positive attention... and its this positive attention taht the sport needs. you gotta admit its intimidating to the newcomer to approach a small and enclosed 3 or 4 court gym packed with sweaty gritty people, all decked out in the latest and the greatest, pounding off and returning shots at speeds and also gentleness they never associated with "badminton". it'll be a lot eaiser to join for beginners if they see "oh hey, look, even the hardcore badminton nuts with all their fancy kit and huge bags are willing to play outside..."
What about yet another unoriginal idea: overhead serve? Many have mentioned that one of the reasons badminton isn't more popular than it is is because its image of sissiness. (Is that a word?) Yes, jump smashes are impressive, but they're far too few and between. Compare them to the overhead serve in tennis and volleyball. You don't have to wait for a weak lift to see a powerful-looking overhead shot, but it's right there at the beginning of every point. So, how 'bout it for badminton? Why not introduce an alternative serve that is an overhead serve? Servers have a choice on how s/he wants to start a point: with an underhand or overhead serve. Here are some of the proposed rules: - The server has to start from behind the baseline. Her/his feet can not touch the baseline prior to hitting the shuttle. - The server must toss the shuttle up using her/his hand. IOW, s/he can not hit it up with her/his racquet and then again to actually make the serve. (Tossing a shuttle up to a reasonable height for an overhead serve isn't easy. At least, not for me. ) - No "lets" or 2nd serves. - The initial point of contact should still be the cork.
I like the idea but, maybe it should be from the doubles service baseline, because then when your opponent returns it, you are still trying to get into the court, so they can push you off balance just by a dropshot.
