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!

History of BSU12 National Junior Circuit

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Sx1NMyRs8i7W61CY/?mibextid=xfxF2i

The Rally Point System Musings

 

The badminton 21x3 point format is also known as the rally point system introduced by BWF in 2006. It is interesting to note how badminton players are trained and attuned to this format which have been adopted in almost every major badminton game and tournament globally for 18 years.

 From observations, consciously or not, when two players from different training background and with different styles of play, vie off in the first set, they are likely not aware of eithers' style of play. This is an exploratory set or probing or testing phase. The result of this first set will likely be influenced by the following factors:

 1. The stronger and higher level player will likely win. The player who moves well, executes well with confidence and commits less errors will have the advantage.

2. The player who can adjust to the environment and conditions quicker, be it shuttle speed, court draft, crowd distraction and opponent's game style will have the advantage. As there is a break at 11 points, coaches are allowed to offer suggestions, tips and tactics to the player. The player who has the ability to adjust and adapt to the situation in the remaining 11 points will likely have the game in his/her favour.

3. Experienced players who have gone through the path of least resistance so to speak, the one who can read and avoid playing to opponent's game strength, who knows how to keep opponent guessing, make own's game unpredictable, knows the tricks to break and distract opponents rhythm etc. will likely have the upper hand.

As the rally format is played over the best of 3 sets, the second set now gives the losing player an opportunity to reflect back and regather or reset his game plans and tactics. By now the player would have an idea what went wrong in the first set and to avoid the pattern of play that will give the  opponent the upper hand. The player who can adapt to changing situations on court and adjust ones game accordingly shows ones maturity in his game to be adaptive. Not all games are won with their best playing style. Some games are won by preventing opponent from playing their preferred way of playing. Seasoned and experienced players even know how to anticipate the opponents' next move by committing early to get the better of the opponent.

As the name implies, the rally format of 21 point system gives opportunity for players to make a  comeback with minor tweaks and adjustments in their game. In a close game point for point contest, the decider will likely go down to the wire in the last 2 to 3 points especially in the 3rd set and how the player sets up the game to finish strongly. Many say this may be a game of chance and likely it is. Still a discerning player who has gone through similar nail biting situations before knows how to avoid to be too eager and how to be patient and wait for the right time.

I've seen games won and lost at close 3 set contest in deuce... sometimes the margins are extremely small in deciding who takes the glory of gold and who takes the silver of despair. Put aside the champagne for celebrations. The losing player will be more determined to come back for a win in the next encounter for a sweet revenge. Rankings and seedings don’t fully guarantee a player anything. To see who gets the better of who over time, they are measured through head to head statistics to decide their bragging rights. Consistency, discipline and self-determination are traits that comes to mind synonymous with the top players who have been through it all.

Happy New Year 2024.

Finishing 2023 with a flourish

   What a finish it was in 2023 as Kiera created a historic win over SBA GU13 No. 1 Siti Nuramina in the SBA Closed 2023 on Dec 2023. This was the prelude to the 2024 JET tournament organised annually by BAM. Siti Nuramina the top seed, who hailed from the formidable Azman family that produced a string of National badminton siblings of Siti’s uncles and aunties, held the record as untouchable for a good 3 years before Kiera seed 2, broke this psychological barrier in the final won in three sets 17 – 21; 21 – 18; 21 - 6. 

   Prior to this SBA Closed victory, Kiera had already risen steadily to win some local tournaments including Skyworth Tops Arena, MSSD, Allianz KL, TAE Junior, SSA Finals and Olimpik Muda where she had displayed her mettle and game adaptation to overcome her adversaries. 

  In the SSA finals, Kiera overcame the odds to upset Chanice Tan by 1 point; 30 – 29 in a hard fought battle to emerge Champion in the GSU13 and also the GSU15 category. Going into this final match vs Chanice, Kiera’s head to head record was 0 – 4 in favour of Chanice. Chanice Tan also emerged Champion in the SBA Closed in the GSU15 category. 

   In the Allianz Finals, Kiera was halted by the country’s GSU13 No. 1, the shuttle queen, Low Zi Yu in the semi finals losing 14 – 21, 15 – 21 and a good bench mark and experience for Kiera. Kiera will take a short break for Christmas, to recover her tight IT band before resuming her preparation for JET at the end of Feb 2024. I hope I can find some time to share her progress here as I have landed a job and have been extremely busy. Will see. Stay tuned!

 https://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament/draw?id=E5DA7CAE-8CEE-4846-A72C-378D86F8C62F&draw=6

  

Pearly and Thinaah 211 record rally

The 211-shot rally is also believed to be the longest-ever in competitive badminton.

Date : 25 May 2023

Stage : Women Doubles Quarter Finals

Tournament : Perodua Malaysian Masters 2023

Venue : Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur

Opponents : Ayako Sakuramoto and Rene Miyaura Japan (BWF Ranking 15)

Score Outcome : Malaysia won 21 – 17, 18 – 21, 21 -19

Comments by Pearly : "In our minds we wanted to win that shot, so we just mentally prepared ourselves very well and I’m so happy we won the point"

Comments by Muralitharan : "Winning the rally felt like winning the match. I also thought that we won after surviving the rally. I was too excited that it was finally over because it was exhausting and we just wanted it to end fast. When it was over, I really needed a break and I threw the racket as collecting it from the ground gave me some time to rest."

SELANGOR BA HISTORICAL CIRCUIT/JET MEDAL HAUL

Selangor BA historically has always been a state that strike fear to other rival states in the annual National Junior Circuits / Junior Elite Tournaments organised by BAM. BAM use this platform to select the most promising shuttlers into their fold and groom them potentially to represent Malaysian Badminton squad in the future. Arguably since Selangor is in the central region with capital state has huge schooling population, large pool of badminton clubs and academies, facilities, top notch coaches locally and internationally are among the many factors that produce so many good badminton players over the years feeding into Selangor BA. I have taken the liberty to extract out the results as far back as 2008 in Tournament Software to unveil the history of SBA achievements, many of whom have gone to represent Malaysia. The summary of medal haul over two legs as as follows :

APPROACH TO BADMINTON TRAINING

For visible results, do consider alternative clubs or coaches to welcome fresh perspective in players’ development. Often after many years of over reliance in a single academy especially with large monotonous group trainings, talents are not harvested enough and players get lost in their comfort zone as in pink curve (see Graph 1) depicting diminishing returns over time. If you see players are not progressing, bored and uninterested, its time to consider alternative clubs or coaches. I have seen players performance shot up in a matter of weeks upon switching clubs - graphically represented by the green curves in Graph 1. It's like their ability having been supressed all those years are now suddenly being released in the new club. Some clubs that I know of offers multi-faceted training programme. Apart from physical fitness, it is balanced with court drills, multi shuttle feeds and sparring. They include gym sessions for strength building, aquatic sessions for recovery, occasional track sprinting sessions for speed and response and even non-badminton activities eg. Futsal games, group outings for movies, theme parks etc. Occasionally they also organise friendly matches with other clubs and state badminton associations.

Kiera’s base club currently emphasises on perfecting core badminton techniques in wrist skill, shuttle control, contact point, shuttle speed etc. However, I noticed this club fell short in translating these skills learnt into match results. Furthermore, the absence of her coaches’ involvement in her competitive development in the State BA had compelled me to rethink about the adequacy of single club training. In order to follow a state player’s progress, club coaches should be aware of the dates of major state tournaments ie. State Closed, State Selection & Ranking, Junior Elite Tournaments 1, 2 & Final and Interstate Team Events in the annual calendar. I think clubs should tailor their training programme around these important tournament dates with the objective to prepare players to peak at the right time. This methodical approach to training is called Periodization is not new in sports science. It is applicable in all types of competitive sports. Non state players can hitch a ride on this programme with no detrimental effect in their development. Sadly, many clubs do not adopt the Periodization training method. These are explained in full details in You Tube if interested. GRAPH 2 : Example of Periodization Calender.

Over the years, I came across parents lament their children are unable to produce the performance that they are capable of in the tournaments. They are only able to perform 70% to 80% of their capability. Understandably, players suffer the jitters when they are put on stage under pressure to perform. Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate this and possibly perform above 100% of their capability in tournaments if the player prepare their pre-tournament really well.

In Graph 3, depicts a typical player’s actual performance (undulating in orange) vs the desired training level to attain (in dark blue diagonal line). That is why on some days, ( as per orange line ) player will play well (highs) and on some days, play below par (lows) due to various reasons afflicting their emotions. As long as the player continues to train regularly and recovers well, their performance level will progress over time as shown by the upward blue slope. If the player is prepared well, it is possible to peak them at the right time (eg. for Tournament 1 & Tournament 2) and in some rare occasions, they can perform above their capability (as shown by orange line above the blue line). One of the essential preparations before a match is a 30mins to 45mins court time for movement and rhythmic drills, strategy rehersals, stroke practises and short sparrings. I normally find an external court nearby. The trick is to time it in such a way that after this warm up session, we have just enough time for a clothes change, journey to the tournament venue and just in time 30mins before her match.