Dear Paul, Matthew and Rich,

Many thanks for the very warm welcome here on badminton-coach.co.uk's discussion forum! I was delighted to see so many replies, although I must apologize for replying late. My schedule recently has been so packed, as I'm currently doing an attachment at Highbury Hospital. Gosh… no time for badminton yet…

Anyway, badminton is a hugely popular sport in Malaysia. Numerous halls can be found all over Kuala Lumpur (where I'm from), and people of all ages can be seen playing. By that, I mean youngsters, sometimes no elder than 5 years old, all the way to the elder age group. It's amazing to see such a diverse age group on the courts. Young players tend to adopt a more power-packed and fast gameplay whereas the elder and more mature players put their excellent technique to good use. We fondly refer to them as “uncles” on the badminton court. Their smashes are probably not any faster than 70mph (maybe 80) but their drops are pin-point accurate from decades of seasoned playing with their friends. I have heard of such “uncles” defeating junior state players with ease. Scary.

As for me, haha, well it's not anything really exciting I guess. Just a normal bloke's training tale. 🙂

We spent about a half hour to 45 minutes warming up. This includes 20 laps around the hall (with 3 courts) and then agility and speed training such as 'shuttle runs' back and forth with pushups and knee-jumps etc. All the basic stuff that trains a person to produce bursts of energy when needed. I was not the fittest player around at the time, so it took me a while to get used to the grueling warm-up session. Basic footwork and drills were next, although I do not specifically know what each drill is named. lol. Drills for netplay, lobbing, smashing etc basically.

We never knew of the Power Ball back in the day, so we would hold our hand up high and swing the racquet back and forth with our wrist to train forearm muscle power. It was pretty tiring, considering I was a young little boy at the time, but it was all worth it.

At the moment, I'm just playing for leisure, although with as competitive a pace as I can manage. No, I am not playing for the Uni Nottingham badminton team, but my friend (also from Malaysia) is representing the university and is in the 1st men's team.

I thought it might interest some of you, so here's a bit about competitive badminton in Malaysia:

If I remember rightly, this is how it works. Youngsters who are skilled stand a chance to be selected to represent their schools in the MSSM level games, which is the association for sports in Malaysian schools. Some of these would go on to represent their district in the MSSD level games. Those who continue to excel can represent their state (there are 14 states in Malaysia).

Koo Kien Keat was a former Perak state player, whilst his partner Tan Boon Heong was a state player from Kedah. Lee Chong Wei hailed from Penang. A number of other former top ranked players e.g. Wong Choong Hann were from Kuala Lumpur. By the way, it has long been thought that Perak state is famous for the birth of many skilled badminton players (from what I've heard).

These state players, if deemed skillful enough, would be invited to study at the Bukit Jalil Sports School located near the National Sports Complex where the 1998 Commonwealth Games was held. There, they would have a timetable and schedule for academic work which is specially tailored to allow time for training. At the end of their high school career there, the excelling players will successfully join the national team's backup pool whilst the rest (who did not make it) will go on to do other things in life e.g. college etc.

It takes a number of years to be promoted to the senior team where they can finally represent Malaysia at various Super Series tournaments, so a lot of hard work is involved.

Again, I think I was very very long-winded and I apologize for it but I hope that you all have a slightly clearer idea on how badminton is in Malaysia. If ever, I am wrong about any facts stated above, I stand corrected 🙂

Many thanks for reading, and best wishes to all!

Kind regards,

DW