Ooooh Paul, our Savior… I'm also looking forward to read your article as I had a lot of troubles with my anger increasing when playing due to frustration. My partner may learn a lot about that too.

Today we've lost in the second round of the tournament and I can say that it is mostly due to our frustration becoming anger.

My partner was like crazy when we were missing the shuttle and he really looked like he wanted to kill me. That frustration had led him to try to cover the whole court himself like he was the one in charge of everything.

I didn't appreciate that much because that disturbed me a lot. I know he wanted to win but his commitment had made him catch and miss the shuttles I could have save with more or less success.

But well, after the match, we cooled down and everything was over but I'll talk to him later about that. I think we are a good pairing but we really need to improve our attitude on court.

Jonathan

Well I cannot state (yet) this works for me from the very first moment on. I'll see where it brings me. But anyway; I last played at the club with one of my double partners. Nice guy, with a really, really massive smash; but he puts so much energy in his smash he never expects them back. So when the opposition does return the shuttle deep into the court, he's nowhere. When he's playing and on the losing part, he spreading his frustration all around the hall (yes, not the court, the hall). Including his partner thus . I ussualy completely ingnore it. So sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

Timing was perfect; I saw Pauls article just before I went to the club. The first MD game we were in charge till 19, but still we lost 20-22. So he was quite p*. As before I ignored his comments. The second I pumped myself up with positive stuff instead, we won. The third game was close, but we won. So there might be an important difference between ignoring someones comments, and ignoring them as well but in the meantime talking positive to yourself. And this might be the delicate difference between winning and losing.

Great stuff to think about ! Fantastic article, so yes I'll try to use this from now on everytime and see where it brings me.

Cheers, ED

Sorry for the radio silence guys…had an exam this week so have been a bit preoccupied. Anyway, excellent article Paul! I was a little sceptical before you wrote the article with regards to how I might be able to put your methods into practice but this is great stuff! I tried all of the above out tonight and I didn't lose my head once. After a missing a sitter, rather than scream like a lunatic I just said to myself that i wouldn't miss the next one – in fact, other than a fair few shuttles in the net, I barely put a shot out of court all night!

The only reservation I have about this is that i did feel like i slightly lost my 'edge'. Although i made less unforced errors, I also found it hard to maintain a high intensity to my game. To be fair though, i think if every badminton player could find the perfect balance we'd all be amazing and wouldn't be on here moaning about our badminton hang-ups eh!

In terms of the effect your partner has on your attitude i'll let you know next week as ive got my first match of the season on Monday.

Keep up the positive mental attitute guys!

Sorry guys, I can't contribute for now as I'm sick. I wasn't motivated to go on night sessions.

But next week, I have to as my second tournament is on next saturday. I'll tell you more after trying the advices of Paul.