2019 New Year Update

Its been more than one and half years since I last posted, I was away mostly due to work commitment. Time has passed and much has happened. The two brother have all grown up to become young men albeit late bloomers. Ryan, 17 this year has stopped competitive badminton in preparation for his O level exams last year but is still enjoying this game as a recreation sport due to love for the game. Aaron, is still under the banner of state Putrajaya Badminton Association which will be hosting this year’s National Junior Circuit leg 1 in early March. He is still in development, training 4 to 5 times a weeks following the Association’s mandatory training programme. The last piece of the jigsaw fell in the likes of the our little girl, Kiera now 9,  seems the badminton dna runs deep in the family. Last September, she was chosen to be the lone representative GU8 for her school in a local badminton tournament among the Chinese schools in the Puchong district. She turned out to be in the podium as a semi finalist losing to the eventual champion, who is a boy. Duh!  She doesn’t train as much as her big brothers since she is into latin dancing yet she will again be selected to represent her primary school for a local inter-school tournament this year. Small baby steps… I will update her progress as best as I can but meanwhile, enjoy some pics I’ve taken during the long hiatus from this blog.

With Amirul Rohin

With his regular doubles partner Tan Jie Yang 

With Lee Qi Hong KLBA

Piala Dato Sim Seww Hin U8 Semi Final

The dynasty... is it?

Career Wins

Here are the KPI for Aaron's single badminton results (from official tournaments) since he was 9 year old...

Master Paizhuan Stringing Pattern

I was studying the coach's racket and discovered that the stringing pattern on it was more superior than the conventional stringing pattern offered commercially by most of the stringing shops. I searched in BadmintonCentral and finally found this pattern which resembles the one used by the coach. Its called the Master Paizhuan stringing pattern. Heres why...

What is the Master Paizhuan pattern?
The Master Paizhuan pattern is a one piece top-bottom style pattern, originally designed for 72 hole rackets. You start by doing the first 16 mains, then you do the top 4 crosses, 1 more main on each side, then the bottom 4 crosses. The short side then ties off, while the long side goes back up to the top to string bottom down the balance 13 crosses. The 11th or 12th main is the last pull on both sides.

There will be a slight improvisation needed for rackets with 76 holes which most of you are using locally here. Preweaved, you will never have to fight with shared holes.

But why would you do this?
With the regular bottom up pattern, you lose tension in the sweetspot very quickly. This happens because you have more slack at the top, with the knot (which just doesn't hold as much tension), and because it's harder to clamp up there. I feel like you then get some tension creep.

The Paizhuan pattern, move all of the slack onto the outside main - the 12th string... a string you'll never actively use. Upon completion you will notice immediately the stringbed is more balanced and feels firm. The sound reverberates better as well.

Those who like to try your rackets using this pattern, the attached drawing will assist you or your stringer.

This is an improvised pattern for 76 hole racket used by Ryan. Yellow Short String. Green Long String. Notice the 2 tie offs are modified to 11th main string.

If you are not into the technical details of it, just send your rackets to Aaron or myself. We will string it for you by giving advance notice.

Stringing our 20th Racket

Its a small milestone but what better way to mark it with a small present for Ryan. When the string on his weapon of choice, Yonex Nanospeed 990 snapped, I decided to give it a complete makeover with full epoxy treatment on the cracked segment of the frame and a complete paint respray and finished with clear coat. The grommets were replaced and strung with two lengths of recycled strings strung at 25 lbs (main) and 26 lbs (cross) at proportionate tension. Those using Taiwan Yonex will know the rated tension is no more than 24 lbs but I was risking it to test the strength of the epoxy glue. To my surprise, the racket held the tension well despite the cracked joint at 10 o'clock. Ryan gave me a sheepish smile with the new look of his racket asking me... "eh daddy, how you do it arr...?" For those who have been close to the boys may probably noticed Ryan has scaled down his training hours in favour of his ever increasing school homework in preparation for his "O" level exams. He still trains with Persatuan, the club and privately with Aaron and I. He has just broken his voice a few weeks ago and in transition of entering into teenagehood. I have started to inject 30mins of gymn exercises after their usual on court sessions. He certainly is growing up having a mind of his own. So the journey continues....

Aaron's First Title in 2016

With nothing to show for in the 2016 national junior circuit under 14 category, I enrolled the boys in a private tournament in May, Dr Pro-Aero Sports-WVN Jr Round Robin Badminton Championship which has a surprise coverage by the Badminton Unlimited. Aaron was in his element topping his group and went on all the way to win in the finals. The results are published here in the link..

http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=4A5309C6-7890-4D74-8527-FE3460CD88AC&draw=63

More from Badminton Unlimited here...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_iVrFJsKzm8&feature=share

DIY Grommet Inserts

Note the 3 string overlap at the bottom insert.

Before tensioning but the plastic is still too soft. 

Aaron has a Protech Tangerine which suffered a collapsed in the frame between the 8th & 9th hole both sides of the racket. This is the highest stress point in any racket because of the shared strings between the mains and the cross. Sometimes, depends on the weave pattern, both holes have to withstand the tension of 3 overlap strings. Wish racket manufacturers can design rackets with stronger material on these points. I have carved out simple plastic grommet supports inserts to help stiffen the bridge between hole 8 & 9 made from shuttle tube plastic cover because it is soft and easy to cut into shape with a sissors. However this plastic material is still not strong enough to hold the string tension. I may have to source for alternative materials around the house. Maybe a CD cover? Any suggestions from the readers?

Acquiring a Stringing Machine

Pre-weave from 200m reel-to min wastages

4 point Fleet Crank Type Stringing Equipment

My first racket strung was my daughter's beat up Yonex

Done! After more than 3 hours for a first timer.

I was just lamenting how easily racket string snaps nowadays. At the rate the strings were giving way, I might as well string the rackets myself and that was exactly what Aaron has suggested to me one day. I was warming up to the idea but only a used stringing machine was all I could afford at the moment. As I was sourcing around, I met coach Collins during one of the boys training sessions. A connoisseur on badminton subject matter, my chats with him has always been enlightening. When I brought up my desire to acquire a stringing machine, I hit the jackpot. Immediately he sold me his manual stringing machine just like that.  

Thanks to coach Collins, I have bought over his Fleet crank type stringing machine c/w all accessories. When I brought it home two days later, being a curious person he is, Aaron couldn’t stop fiddling with it. I immersed myself into the art and techniques of stringing rackets and I had to accelerate my learning curve because Aaron couldn’t wait to sting his first racket. Being a fast learner, Aaron can now fully weave a racket without supervision. There were loads of “how to” videos in Youtube and great stringing resource sticky pinned in Badminton Central forum which is easily available.

The good thing about stringing my own rackets is that I could experiment with different string types and string gauges and different combinations of string tension to meet the playing preference of the boys. It has become my SOP now to pre-stretch new strings (to reduce tension loss, post stringing) and have Aaron to fully local weave the racket first before I take over on the stringing machine to save time. Our rackets now get proportional tension treatment to enlarge the sweet spot on the racket. My first racket, Kiera’s Yonex took me more than 3 hours to complete. Since then, the time has tumbled down to less than an hour (including grommet adjustments). Perhaps there is no pressure for me to speed up the stringing process since I am a meticulous DIY person by nature and pride myself in the quality of work produced. Nevertheless, the duration will come down as I get to string more rackets. For the record, the rackets I have been tweaking so far are as follows :

Yonex Arcsaber 009DX - Kiera’s                               Main 20 Lbs / Cross 22 Lbs (2 knots)

Dr Pro Ultrapower 569 – Aaron’s                               Main 22 Lbs / Cross 24 Lbs (4 knots)

Babolat X Act 85 – Colin’s                                        Main 25 Lbs / Cross 26 Lbs (2 knots)

Yonex Nanospeed 990 – Ryan’s                               Main 24 Lbs / Cross 24 Lbs (4 knots)

Protech Legendary Platinum – Aaron’s                      Main 25 Lbs / Cross 25.5 Lbs (2 knots)

Yonex Nanospeed 990 – Ryan’s                               Proportional Tension 20 – 26 Lbs (2 knots)

Protech Legendary Grand – Kiera’s                           Proportional Tension 18 – 22 Lbs (10 knots)

Wilson Dynapower 9500 – Customer’s                       Main 25 Lbs / Cross 26 Lbs (2 knots)