My Coach and I get into our First Fight
To say my coach and I are close would be an understatement. It was about one year ago today when I went to his house for the first time and sat with him and drank tea. Now I’m a regular…
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Badminton
Control of the Badminton Court–A Female Perspective
It’s not easy being a girl in sports. A few months back, I’d listen to everyone and everything. I had very little badminton knowledge, experience or skills and everyone could teach me something. But I’m learning fast (it feels like…
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The Politics of Badminton
Let me tell you a sad little story that happened to me. My first competition was actually a series of three competitions. Yet I only participated in one. Why? Because of politics. You see, the first one was an individual…
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The Thing I Hate Most About Chinese Badminton
Y’all know how much I love badminton and I know I’m incredibly lucky I get to play in China where the level and quality of the sport is so high. But there is one thing I hate about Chinese badminton…..the…
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Fitting into a Badminton Group
Badminton is not a team sport, but neither is it an individual sport. You need someone to play against, or a partner if you play doubles. And since not everyone has the same schedule as you, you need to find…
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One Lunge Forward, Two Steps Back
So ya know how my goal is to become a gaoshou (expert)? Well, it happened. (On a very unassuming Friday night.) It was past 9pm and I had been playing for a few hours. My coach called me over to…
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Badminton Problems: Stupid Fu&#$$*& Partners
Most of the people I play with are cool and we are used to each other. But I go everyday, and end up playing with lots of new people every week. Sometimes we become regular buddies and sometimes I never…
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The Dreaded Plateau
Somethings been a little off lately. It’s not my enthusiasm, it’s not my love for the game, but something hasn’t felt right for a few weeks. My schedule was thrown off by the winter holiday, and the rhythm and tempo…
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Advantages of Becoming a Middle Aged Athlete
There’s a lot of disadvantages and a lot of self pity to be felt for yourself when you are a 40-year-old trying to get into athletics for the first time. You can’t help but compare yourself to all the younger…
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Girl Power! An All Women’s Badminton Competition.
For those of you living outside of America there is a major international holiday called Women’s Day on March 8th. Don’t know why America completely ignores it but it’s big in China. Women are allowed a half-day off work and…
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