Badminton Practice!

Phew! What a night!

Last month we had that Amazing Race Challenge right? This month there are two other sporting events, one of which is Badminton Tournament.

Last night was the 2nd training session. I was pleased to see that my "driver" is playing again this year! He lives in Yishun and gave me a lift there then i'd take the bus back to Woodlands.

The story is like this...

I so wanna play badminton with Paul, our champion last year. But he had a knee operation just 2 weeks prior to registration deadline. Mathieu, the Frenchman, wants to play with his fellow countryman. I'm left with the not-so-interested-just-play-for-the-sake-of-participating-in-something Amos, the new guy.

I stalled my registration ... then one day i saw that there were two names registered but with no partner! they were Edy and Wei Lee. They are both very good players! Somehow, i chose Wei Lee.

Boy! Was i surprised to see that Wei Lee is the Driver from last year! See.. i was confused between Wei Lee and Wei Ming. I tot he was Wei Ming! i told him just so and he said, "Oh that's why u put your name there lah cause you thought you'd be playing with Wei Ming. He's 1st runner up last year what. Eh Don't put high expectation on me, no!"

Now i remember my theory to recall which is which, Wei Ming is the tall one and Wei Lee is the erm... not-tall one. hehe

This year and last year is definitely NOT the same. Last year i was single, this year i'm married. I asked Zubair to come along, rather than him sitting at home feeling bored right. At first, he said he'd get bored watching sports, but then i said no you can go look around maybe GreatWorld City or something.. and he did just that.

In total i played 4 matches. I finished 2.5 ltrs of water in 3 hours.

It was really fun this time around! Chiaw Gek, our professional player, showed me the "footwork". The theory is you skip to the right and to the left as to reach the shuttle with least movement. No wonder i saw they hit the shuttle so effortlessly and gracefully!

Then the partner gave me some tips and asked me to practise

I need to serve lower so the receiving opponent wouldn't be able to smash.

To do that, i need to change the style i serve. From back hand... change to.. er... upper hand? and that my thumb should be positioned so that it's pointing the flat face of the net of the racket.

I hafta "tap" the shuttle and hit with my racket swung to the back a bit and wait for it to get lower.

At first i thought that "tapping" means light touch. But i soon understand that it means hitting it hard. and send it to the back of the opponent.

Another tip is to hit right end or left end, but not center.

Zubair said my face was so flushed RED after i finished the last match. Gosh the game is just about 5min and i cldnt take it! To be fair, i did a lot of jumping and the opponent made me run to the right to the left like crazy! Need to remember the skipping steps.

Anyway, by the end of the training session, i felt so... delirious that i regretted not coming last week. But at the same time i was also grateful that i didnt, bcos otherwise i would have terrible sore muscles i wont be able to enjoy the Eid Visiting with friends the next day!

Next week is the tournament. I can already identify which team is potentially to be the champion! The ultra Male team: Ka Wei and Albert. Well.. more details next week! Can't wait! But maybe can wait till my sore muscles ease up. hahaha