An American Girl Learning Badminton in China
There was a lot of “I hate you’s” directed towards my coach in class today. Which can only mean one thing: footwork practice. Footwork is, by far, my biggest problem in badminton, and hammering out all my bad habits and…
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So, a whopping five days after the typhoon struck, my coaches gym finally got electricity! It was even more amazing because his was the only building in the entire block to get it. But I wasn’t complaining. But I would…
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Xiamen just lived through Super Typhoon Meranti, the biggest storm of the year this far and one of the biggest storms to hit Xiamen in decades. Needless to say it made a slight dent in my training schedule. Like a…
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When I came back from my summer travels I wasted no time getting back into the badminton game. And by “wasted no time” I mean, devoted myself entirely. I decided to not see my friends, not go out for lunches…
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Now that I’ve upped my game from playing three times a week (for 2 hours a time) to five times a week (4 hours a time) I am basically a walking sore muscle. Even with two rests days, spaced apart,…
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On Tuesday, playing with my foreigner group, I got a shot over the net (barely) and my opponent wasn’t able to return it. “Hao qiu!” my partner said (good shot) but I silently cursed myself. Because booming in my head…
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Equipment I’ve pretty much got things down pat these days, and with my new shoes, and re-stringing my racket twice last time, I really didn’t have much costs at all. I did get myself some fancy new sweatbands, and a…
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I did it! I was finally asked to join a high level group of all Chinese badminton players. Woot! Cross another one of the “goals” list! It’s because of my coach of course. At his new badminton place he started…
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On Wednesday, after class, my teacher and I were playing doubles together. I was at the net and returned a shot, just tipping it over the net so that it flowed down at a slow, but steep, angle. Our opponent…
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This week was my 6-month class with my coach! Woot! Truly a momentous occassion when you think where I was when I started my first class with him. I could barely hit a birdie across half the court. Now we…
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