TRANSFORMATION Part 2

1. Diversity in Training Programs

The best way to illustrate diversity is from this analogy. Most players want to be comfortable naturally. Take driving a car for example. Initially it is challenging. After 50 hours or so, it becomes automatic. After that, more time spent driving doesn’t improve performance. If you want to keep improving, you have to keep driving in challenging situations like new terrain, higher speeds or in difficult weather. Therefore, in order to improve, a player has to be pushed beyond their comfort zone. Explore a number of badminton academies. Different academies and coaches provide different ideas, approaches and training programs. Also watch the chemistry between the coaches and the players. If the child is unhappy or bored, it is probably time to find another club.

Ever since Kiera started swinging her racquet, she has had base training with me and my wife and assisted occasionally by her two older brothers whom were former Pjba state players. Whenever we had time or during holidays when clubs and academies were closed, we would take her to court to train and spent game time with her.

When Kiera was 10yo, she started training with an external coach arranged by her primary school. Gradually through recommendations, she switched school and joined Artsport. Later, we managed to get her in the Selangor Badminton Association to train with the state team. As she was progressing, we decided to supplement her with another academy ie. Sports Arena in Cheras Mahkota where they had a group of KLba and SBA players training there. Artsport later decided to form a separate group for the Elite players which later attracted some Pjba, KLba and SBA players. The group grew steadily and Kiera was one of the remaining pioneers there until today.

In mid 2022, at 12yo, I foresaw it will be difficult for her to get a place in the U14 category because SBA had a strong girls team in that category. There is a possibility she may not be eligible to play for 2023 JET. Therefore I decided to buy insurance and pursue the doubles category instead. Doubles require 8 players (away to non-host venues) and up to 12 players (if SBA host JET) - in the hope that she will have better opportunity to be in the doubles team in case she cannot get into singles. We decided to pair Kiera up with Felicia Ho who was then training with LJYBA. Therefore, Kiera joined LJYBA for this purpose and had to split her training days equally between Artsport and LJYBA while still attended SBA trainings.

The other reason why we went with LJYBA was because coach Lee Jian Yi was also in the panel of voluntary coaches for SBA. Obviously, by being in his academy, we belief Kiera's interest will be looked after as well. If at all.

Sometime in the 3rd Qtr or 2023, we added additional gym (coach Rosli) and physical training sessions (LJY on Sunday sessions) for fitness, agility and strength building into her training program. Therefore, I belief her progress would have, in all likelihood came from the diversity in her training programmes over the past 2 to 3 years. You can see it depicted in the colored bar chart below, a summary of her training hours (by months).

Performance Progression of a Player

 

I spoke to one parent in a recent tournament Kiera had participated in. We shared various topics including club trainings which he emphasised to explore various academies instead of reliant on one. The old adage came to mind, “familiarity breeds contempt…” I had been an advocate of this since my boys were playing competitively in their junior days. I try to observe that they dont fall too deep in their comfort zone. To give them fresh perspective in training, they always have training diversity with variety of coaches at different academies.

He continued to share, as a player develops further to higher levels, trainings should be complimented with regular sparring and competitions to actualise what they have trained. Some don’t see it that way but he seemed to be a firm believer of this and opined that the mentality of a player during training is different than when they are in a match with a stake at hand. When there is a small wager to spice up the match and usually this will bring up the intensity and quality of the match than they normally would during training. Tournaments with cash winnings often spur players into competitive mentality and precisely the reason why I wanted Kiera to participate in private tournaments periodically.

Its not so much for the cash winnings although it is nice to have, instead it is part of her training process or a check point if you will, to gauge where about she has progressed in the field of competition. Whenever there is a good challenge (win or lose), I would record it on video and analyse it. Her shortcomings will be highlighted and brought to the attention of her coaches to address specific areas in her game that needed correction and improvements.

Secondly, the private tournaments were intended as a precursor, preparation and readiness before a major tournament. It is akin to a trial exam as it were, a rehearsal and familiarization of the actual tournament. This run-in was intended to get her used to competition mode. Its a mental thingy to build her confidence and hopefully assist to overcome her anxieties, fears and doubts as the tournament days draws near.   

Therefore, the result of these private tournaments may be secondary. Instead, the focus is to build up her form and peak her at the right time, or at least an attempt to this effect. Therefore, at times she has to learn to accept her losses first so as this could induce her to reset herself in the next coming tournament psychologically and make a comeback. What we certainly do not want is to peak too early and her form goes downhill from here.

For the third part, I have conceptualize a typical players’ performance progression in a graph below.

This graph depicts a progression of performance over time, represented by the blue curve line. As long as a player trains consistently over time (without interruption of injury or long layoffs), the player’s performance progression should develop in the way of the blue line. I have identified three levels of relative progression as represented by three rectangular boxes ie. elementary, intermediate and advance levels respectively. In each of the levels, a player’s actual performance will experience ups and downs as I call it “Range of Performance” and the range should oscillate along the blue line.

There is a possibility of overlap in each range of performance too, but for illustration purposes here, a player with a distinct level of performance should not deviate too much from the respective rectangular boxes. It is therefore imperative for a player/coach/manager to understand how to manage a player’s form within the respective rectangle and to work the player close to the blue line if not higher during tournament periods.

The other part which is equally important succeeding to this is to plan a players’s yearly calendar using the concept of periodization. That will be in another article (if I can find the time to write again.)