I've tried in our club the same thing Matthew talks about. A few of us would love to play at a higher standard, and a few of us are certainly capable to play at a higher standard. And so we did “train” (uncoached) for a few club evenings. But it all watered away. Even keeping pairs together started becoming difficult, people started talking we didn't want to play with the rest no more. So it all came to an end, rather quickly. Pity though, I learned a lot. That's why I'm focusing now more on coaching our youngsters, and for myself I'll check the tournament calendar, and mlay singles and maybe mix.

Cheers, ED

Rogerh said:

Seems like this post has slowed down. Must be the weather.

 

 

Hi Roger, I have been on this forum for a number of years and I hate to say it, but this is the most active I have seen this forum in general! Especially for a summer! Last summer it was about one new post every other week and that was generally racket related! The problem with this forum (not this topic but the forum as a whole), is that everyone who posts, generally post long thought out posts which to be fair, makes it hard to reply as they are either completely right or may have a different opinion and acknowledge it.

Plus as well, there are only a few “coaches” on here as there are “stringers” so not everyone will have an opinion.

I've never had coaching (except two of Paul's weekends, but I mean in general). So for fun, I will roll back the years and give you an answer if you asked me that question (Is it the quality of the coaching that's at fault or that players can't be bothered?). I'd have to say, that for me, coaching would appear to be for county players and players that are already “good” as it were. Aside from the fact of who would pay for this coaching (I'm young child with no money), I would associate coaching with something that people are really passionate about and good at. Also, how do you find out about coaching? If I was a kid, someone would have to implant the idea in my head or let me know the benefits etc. I wouldn't just think, “you know what, I think I need coaching”. A bit of encouragement would help too. But there is no coaching in my area that I know of. So there are a number of stumbling blocks that could be looked at here.

I can also relate to that people want to play games rather than coach, there needs to be a healthy balance. As I've got older (shh, don't tell anyone that I get older!), my opinions and views on things have changed. I'm with the people that say “I wish I made the most of badminton when I was younger”. But in fairness, my mindset would not have been the same. You can tell me now, for example, that if I read a book (Chimp Paradox), that it might be a book that might help me a lot, I will take the risk and buy it and try to learn and understand it. Try this with a 17 year old and you've got a completely different answer! 

Going back to what Ed said, “keeping pairs together started becoming difficult, people started talking we didn't want to play with the rest no more”. If you had asked me this some years ago, I would have said, yes, this is a problem and most clubs have this problem. You can only get better playing the “better” people, especially if you are playing league matches, so why can't some people take some time to practice together to get their league games better”. This should not be a problem and I can't see why people don't do this at more clubs. HOWEVER, now that I'm a club secretary, I have to now think of the club as a whole. And this issue is something that will needed to be addressed when the season starts as people want a court for match practice. The problem with this, is creating a divide. No matter how big of a difference peoples skills are, a divide would be very bad. Ill feeling would be created and it could cause many problems such as making people feel down as they don't practice very often so does that make them rubbish at badminton? The thing that you have to remember here, is that without the “lesser” people, you wouldn't have a club. You wouldn't have enough members. If you try and create an elite club, you will be low on numbers and you will struggle. So It is important that everyone is happy. I would love some suggestions on this as I think we do need a court for match pairs to practice on but everyone has paid the same amount of money for the same amount of courts and time available. 

So maybe the proper answer is that they practice in their (the pairs) own time away from club night? But how easy is that to organise? 

Anyway, sorry for the long ramble, but I thought I would throw some ideas into the mix and see what you think of that? Just remember though, Paul's word isn't gospel (sorry Paul ). He's a darn good coach and I have a lot of respect for him, but Paul is like the rest of us, always learning as a coach and open to new ideas. So rather than wait for Paul to reply, why not throw some ideas around? You don't have to be right or wrong, that's the whole point of a conversation. We may even surprise ourselves (and impress Paul!). Having just written the above about asking myself if I would do coaching when I was younger, I did not know that about myself as I've never thought of it like that. 

P.S. As a side note, the problem with writing on the Internet is trying to write something and people not taking it the wrong way, I'm not having a dig or attack at anyone here, this could possibly be another reason that stops people from posting, fear of coming across wrong