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.)

Afraid of your own shadow

 

When I saw her name in the draw, I was frozen. My mind went blank momentarily. I read the draw again to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. They were not… it was indeed her that I will be playing against in the second round. As reality sat in, I felt like crying. “Why oh why do I have to play against her of all people?

She had beaten me once before, 8 months ago. Although we were younger then but her height towers over me like David and the Goliath. She not only has the height but her body size was imposing and struck me as a fearsome opponent. My knees turned vegetable standing side by side with her. I cant help it. That was how phobia I was playing against a large opponent.

In December 2021, Selangor Badminton Association has organised a closed tournament to select a team of players to represent Selangor State Team for 2022 in the girls under 12 year old category. All I had to do was to reach the Quarters final to be admitted into the team. But she was in the way. She was my biggest stumbling block. If I falter again, I will be out of the team and had to wait for another year to attend the selection process again.

My dad tried to talk some sense into me that my game has improved very much since the MCO as I was diligently doing physical exercises during those months when we were locked in at home. My dad even drew a badminton court next to our home on an alley complete with a net. We trained daily in this makeshift court.

Be that as it may, I just could not get this fear out of my mind. You are afraid of your own shadow, he would say. You have already admitted defeat even before the game begun. I knew my mind set was not right but I needed a big mental overhaul. My dad constantly send positive messages into my head. He played you tubes of her game for me to study her strengths and weaknesses in her previous matches. Gradually I noticed she too had ups and downs in her game too. I gradually could see some optimism.

As I underwent my routine trainings, my mind never left to rest on this coming match. I trained hard like a girl on a mission. I did all the physical exercises, shuttle feeds the coach has given me. Yet I could not delay this match anymore as the days drew near. I had to face the music no matter what. My coaches gave me a great boost saying that I could beat her this time. That really helped my confidence. Thank you so much Jia Qi. She is like a big sister to me.

On the match day, my mom and dad took me early to the club for a 30 minutes court warm up. This has helped me calm my nerves as I could feel my rhythm. Our names were called and this is it! It was a 30 point match. The match started well for me as I led. I was calm and my nets were tight followed by couple of lobs back to her court. Her returns were untidy and awarded me points. After a healthy lead into the final third, she upped her game. She started to pressure me and forced me to commit some unforced errors. She caught up to level with me. I had to quickly do something different. I changed and played some net shots caught her off guard and I managed to finish the game with her closely behind by a few points. I was relieved and elated I have finally avenged my defeat 8 months ago. My parents and my team mates congratulated me. I could not belief it that I have finally beaten the player I dreaded most.

This was my most satisfying win not because I was a good player but I had overcome my mental frailties and self fear. Its in the mind as they say. How true it is. This has helped me in my future matches as well. I will always remember what my dad told me, you were only afraid of your own shadows. Go get her!