Sunday Badminto with Newly Strung Racket · 2009年06月21日 08:32 下午
Today JP and I went to play badminton with some of JP's friends like usual. There were only seven of us today, which meant that each player would get plenty of court time. Two weeks ago I broke the string on my favorite racket, an old Techno Pro 660 that I've used forever. Last week I played with another racket, but this week JP had gotten around to restringing my racket so I got my old favorite back again, but this time with some nice red strings. Like any newly strung racket, my racket felt different when I first handled it today. The hitting surface felt hard and devoid of bounciness, and I couldn't get good control on the ball. This was probably the reason I lost my first two games of the days, because I wasn't used to my newly strung racket.
After the first two games though I've adjusted to the racket and managed to win my next two games, once paired up with JP and once with another old-time player who I'll refer to as Cee from now on. I lost my next contest though because my partner,who was the guy who organizes these sessions, hurt his back while playing his first game today.With the injury, my partner Eee (his name from now on) couldn't run or hit too hard, and I wasn't fast enough to cover all of the openings.
Six games in now, I was paired with a guy named Kay (who is also one of JP's many badminton friends) against Cee and a young lefty who I'll call R. It was a very close game. Our side had the power advantage because of my smashes, but our opponents were experienced and had good defence. The game went over the 21 point mark as a tie and finally Kay and I won the game 25-23.
I was pretty tired after the marathon of the sixth game, and promptly lost my seventh game in which I was paired with R against JP and Kay. For my final and eigth game, I was still paired with R while our opponents were Kay and Cee. R and I put up a stinker last game, but some reason we were playing much better this time and held a slim lead over our more-experienced opponents. I guess our opponents were tired like we were and didn't attack too much, and my smashes were able to get through their defenses. The game ended up being a close contest, but R and I managed to edge it out 21-18.
So in total I played eight games for the day, which is about three to four games more than I usual want to play. Needless to say, I'm tired and sore all over, but I'm glad that we had some fun and I got my daily exercise. My record for the day was 50-50 again with four wins and four losses, but I'm more satisfied today than last Sunday since I played some pretty good games today.
— TJ
Sunday Badminton: Only So-so · 2009年06月14日 08:02 下午
It's Sunday once again, which means it's time for another Sunday badminton session report. This week in addition to the court JP's friends had booked, JP also booked a court himself because he invited some of his other friends to play. We had two courts and about a dozen players for about two hours, which means there was plenty of court time for everyone. Just like last week, I didn't play very well this week but unfortunately my opponents were in better shape. At the end I only one four of the eight games I played, and there was one particular game that my side should have won but I screwed up a put away near the end and lost 19-21. I just wasn't feeling well today. I had trouble moving my feet, and there were tons of easy shots that I missed. I suppose I'm still rusty from not playing badminton for two months prior to last Sunday. Hopefully things will be better next week.
Well actually if I want to get better at badminton then I should probably train, but I have a full-time co-op position right now and have to study for a test, so I don't have the time. At least none of the people I'm playing against seems to be getting better lol.
— TJ
My Triumphant Return to Badminton · 2009年06月08日 05:34 下午
After being absent from the sport for over a month, I finally returned to the court to play badminton last Sunday. The people JP and I used to play with on Sunday have reconvened so I have a place to play again. As expected after a long absence, I wasn't in the greatest shape, but it turns out that nobody was on form during that session, so I wasn't really at a disadvantage. Most of the games we played were sloppy with a lot of careless shots and unforced errors. They were not very competitive for the most part with one side (usually mine) having a clear advantage. There were also some air currents in the badminton center and that made things even worse. I lost my first game, but won every subsequent game during the session, so this qualifies as a "triumphant return" in my books since I could have done a lot worse. As expected, I'm feeling a bit sore today after yesterday's session, but it's not too bad since the games weren't tough.
Supposedly there will also be badminton next Sunday, so I'll post after that session as well. Hopefully the group will return to a regular schedule I have somewhere to play every week.
— TJ
Blog is Still Alive · 2009年05月22日 08:23 下午
Just realized that I haven't posted here in a while. This is mostly because I haven't played any badminton in weeks. The group I used to play with on Sundays seems to have dissolved, and I haven't found any other place to go so that's why I haven't been writing stuff. As for JP, the reason he hasn't been posting is the exact opposite of mine: he is too busy playing and coaching badminton. But worry not, this blog is a long way from being abandoned. I'll definitely start posting again once I find a place and a group of people to play with.— TJ
打羽毛球一定要重视眼睛的保护 · 2009年04月08日 11:07 下午
前两周的打球活动中，正当人人都十分享受的打球乐趣时，突然发生了一件料想不到的不幸事故。我们一位球友被双打搭档从身后抽球时伤了眼睛，让大家都十分的难过。如今，虽然事情过，但回想起来还是有许多地方需要我们吸取教训的。
本来，那天晚上的打球活动有许多人参与，其中有几位新球友。他（她）们的球技与我们的老球友相比还是不够娴熟。为了能让我们所有的参与者都能尽兴的打球。我们活动的组织者就分开来与新球友配对进行双打和混双比赛。其中，有位女生还比较少参加强对抗的打球活动，所以由我带她一起进行了4场比赛。整个活动过程都完成得不错。我们的混双均取得胜利。由于我知道这位女生的打球经验还是很少，在休息的时候就特别的提醒打羽毛球中最危险的是眼睛被伤害。所以要学会保护自己的眼睛。
然而，话刚说完，那些最不希望发生的事情就很快发生。在她的第五场比赛中，她与我们另一位打球组织者配对以混双战男双时，结果，在被对方回击了一个高远球过了头顶后，她在中场回头想看那球是否出界，结果不幸被自己的队友在身后一个大力的抽球击中眼睛。当时就眼睛即刻受伤，可想那近距离的抽球的力度是多大。
作为打球活动的组这者，我为发生这样的危险受伤事故而十分的难受。如果我们有经验的球友能意识到这样的抽球会给队友造成伤害，他能放弃击球，什么事就不会发生：如果这位女生不要回头看球，最多就只是被抽球击中后脑勺，也不会伤到眼睛。而事故就在大家都没有意识到的情况下发生了。
强烈建议打羽毛球的球友们能自我采取保护措施，戴上防护镜。
— JP
Saturday Night Badminton · 2009年04月01日 08:07 下午
Last Saturday night I went with JP to an one-hour badminton session with two of his buddies. I don't usually go to these sessions because most of the time there are four players already including JP, but last Saturday they were short one person so I went along. Since there were only four of us we pretty much played non-stop for the duration and managed to get in four games. All four games were JP and I vs. his buddies, and we won all four of the games, but all were close contests. We could have won with a larger margin but I wasn't playing too well that day. My power game was there, but I made a lot of unforced errors and my feet were slow. As for our opponents, the guy who organized the session was an average player, but his partner was pretty experienced and has a nice backcourt drop shot. In at least two of the games JP and I were down initally and had to come back to win. This is especially the case in the last game, where JP and I were down 9-15 and I was struggling. We got the serve back thanks to an opponent error, and I just decided to stay up front and swing at what I can. That turned out to be a good plan as we basically stopped the opponent from hitting to our backcourt. At the end we won 21-15, going on a 12 point run to finish the game.
Even though it was only an one hour session, I was feeling pretty tired and beat up since we played four close games non-stop, and therefore the next day I play with our usual Sunday group.
— TJ
Extra Long Session of Sunday Badminton · 2009年03月16日 06:07 下午
Yesterday JP and I went to play badminton like usual, but unlike the past few weeks JP's buddies had booked three hours worth of court-time rather than the usual two. A total of six people showed up, but only five of us ended up playing. The extra-long session and low number of players meant that I had to play a lot of games, and I'm not really used to playing for so long. Considering these facts though, I didn't too badly yesterday, losing only the last game when I was completely out of gas. At the beginning of the session I was charging out of the gate and dominating from the front court. My strength waned as I played game after game, but my side managed to pull off the victories which really has more to do with the careless play of our opponents than anything too excellent on my part. I did play fairly consistently though until the last game, so that must have helped too.After the grueling three hour session, both of my knees hurt and I was dead tired. My knees still hurt as I'm writing this, but hopefully I'll be okay in a few days.
— TJ
Sunday Badminton Update · 2009年03月09日 06:47 下午
Last Sunday I went to play badminton with JP and his buddies as usual. Attendance was a little better than last week where there were only five of us. We played a couple of doubles games and I won all of my games except for the first one. This may be because the people we were playing with played the day before and they were a bit worn out, while I had fresh legs. One of the guys who played with us actually had a great day and played better than usual. His shots weren't pretty, but for reasons the opponents just can't return them. JP and I both partnered with him once and won our games.After playing doubles, I tried playing a short 10 points singles game against the son of one of JP's buddies. He is still in high school but he has been trained to play singles where I almost never play singles (but I'm the better doubles player). I wasn't used to playing singles at first and my opponent jumped out to an early lead. However, once I got used to pace I grabbed back a few points before losing 6-10. I think I'd be a decent singles player if my cardiovascular fitness was better, but unfortunately I still have a long way to go in that department.
— TJ