I've
done something tonight which I haven't done for 31 years, that
involves whacking; and I loved it!
No, you dirty
minded reader, that's just rude!!! I've started playing Badminton!
Its been a long
time coming. Apart from the 31 year gap, I planned to start two years
ago, bought my bat one year ago and eventually got round to starting
tonight and a lot has changed in that time.
First of all, the
rules have changed. The whole scoring and serving process is
different. I can't remember how it used to be and, frankly, I can't
even work out what it was tonight. I was just happy to be led, told
from where and when to serve, what the score was and just get the
shuttlecock back over the net. There seemed some relationship between
what side to serve from and the score, but I can't work it out yet.
It will come though!
Why? Because even
though it has just been two hours, I know I'm addicted. I now know
what virgin golf players feel like when they become obsessed with the
game. Tonight I was so annoyed with myself for missing the
shuttlecock, air blasting shots, serving out. Each time I made such a
mistake I WANTED to do it again straight away to do it right next
time. I wanted to go on and on, trying to get better. To not make
stupid mistakes again. The amount of times my opponent lobbed the
shuttlecock, tempting me to smash it, when all I did was swing wildly
and miss. I even suffered the ignominy of
having the shuttlecock land and bounce off my head, like a comedy
clown!
The next thing
that has changed is the bats. I bought mine for £10 at Sports
Direct and thought, that'll do. One of the guys tonight let me feel
his bat (dirty reader, stop it!) and it was amazingly light compared
to mine. What's the betting that this time in 3 weeks I'll have gone
out and spunked away £100 on a top of the range lightweight
titanium shaft (dirty reader!!!).
The other thing
that has changed from my school days is that the game seems a lot
faster. I suppose as a spotty teenager, we never really got up any
pace but man, last night, some of them were really fast, mobile and
powerful. My games seemed fast, but watching the speed of the other
matches was bewildering. The people were very competitive as well.
All of them very nice, but my, they went straight for the jugular.
Even though I was struggling, there was no sympathy, just
humiliation! It really made me question and reappraise my own killer
instinct. When I'm fully up to speed, like my opponents today, I'll
show as little mercy to the novices. It will all be part of the
learning experience for them.
The other thing I
learned was about “focus”. I'd often heard commentators,
especially in Tennis, talking about a player loosing concentration
during a game and this having an impact on their performance. I'd
never quite understood that. How could it happen to a professional
athlete? Now, I'm not putting myself in that bracket, but it did
happen to me tonight. Half way through one match I found myself
drifting off, thinking about girls I guess, and that turned out to be
my worst game.
So, now I'm just
looking forward to seeing how bad my body will be feeling tomorrow
morning, oh.....and that ebay search for a new lightweight bat!
 |
| a 'cock being missed earlier tonight. |
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