Badminton????????

d-arke

Dunno if this the right place to post this messege, but here goes.

Why isn't there anywhere I can talk about badminton within the Boards.ie website. I've come across the tennis/squash/racquetball section, its the closest i can find

Amz

You can talk about it here.

whiskeyman

http://www.badmintonireland.com

What do you want to talk about?
Badminton is a smashing sport... has a terrible image problem though
It's the fastest racquet sport in the world!

d-arke

whiskeyman wrote:

http://www.badmintonireland.com

What do you want to talk about?
Badminton is a smashing sport... has a terrible image problem though
It's the fastest racquet sport in the world!

Well, first off I'd like to see a dedicated forum for it as its just as popular as tennis or racquetball, if not more so.

Secondly, Your right whiskeyman, it does have a bad image, but I just wonder why so. Badminton is one of the most popular sports in Ireland, more so than Tennis (don't ask, I heard it somewhere....I think). Its a sport that many kids begin to play in late primary school/earlier secondary school and then give up during school, prob due to peer pressure into joining other sports or whatever. (which is exactly what I did, as I took up football)

The sport as you mention is the fastest racquet sport in the world, though I was told the other day it no longer is, and is probably one of the most intense sports you can play once you reach a decent standard of play. A failure in the sport at the early stages of play I guess and may throw beginners off.

This is something I've witnessed within my local club when newcomers come in and play against the seasoned players who are disinterested in playing as they don't reach their standard etc. Sure it has to be put up with and coaching can be done. The problem exists in trying to get more people into the game, especially youngsters. How many other sports are played by both male and females which speaking personally, I so wish I stuck at it when I was younger.

Anyways, I just thought this could be an ideal place to talk it.

ps.
Does anyone play in the Dublin & Districts Leagues.

Does anyone know anything about the coaching Level 1 course, I've already completed the Level 0, but I would like to know more about the Level 1 such as costs,difficulty etc.

Any coaches (North Dublin) willing to offer their services, for a fee of course.

Anyways, theres loads of things that can be discussed here and just thought maybe something could be arranged seeing as I'm a newcomer to boards.ie and don't quite knwo the system etc

Whiskeyman, the websites not great, been to it the odd time from now and again

Amz

Eh, the only reason badminton wasn't included in the title of this forum is because for months the only racquet sports that were discussed were the above mentioned.

If badminton deserved it's own forum there would be tonnes of badminton related threads here alreaday, or in the "Sports" forum. I think if you look around both forums you'll find that this is not the case.

If it'll stop you whinging I'll ask an admin to put "badminton" in the forum title.

d-arke

lol, thanks

CrimE

d-arke wrote:

Does anyone play in the Dublin & Districts Leagues.

Does anyone know anything about the coaching Level 1 course, I've already completed the Level 0, but I would like to know more about the Level 1 such as costs,difficulty etc.

Any coaches (North Dublin) willing to offer their services, for a fee of course.

Anyways, theres loads of things that can be discussed here and just thought maybe something could be arranged seeing as I'm a newcomer to boards.ie and don't quite knwo the system etc

Whiskeyman, the websites not great, been to it the odd time from now and again

I play in the under 19 league.

Level 1 coaching is on soon but you will be too late. Next one is on in January. Is pretty expensive though at about 350.

Badminton doesnt get the respect it deserves, when I get a chance Ill post some of the statistics I found, makes for interesting reading. Amazingly quick sport which requires agility, strength and skill.

d-arke

CrimE wrote:

I play in the under 19 league.

Level 1 coaching is on soon but you will be too late. Next one is on in January. Is pretty expensive though at about 350.

Badminton doesnt get the respect it deserves, when I get a chance Ill post some of the statistics I found, makes for interesting reading. Amazingly quick sport which requires agility, strength and skill.

I play in the senior league, though I can't commit to a team this year so I'm just going play as a sub all season for the club. Hopefullly I get a few games. Though, have my first game next Thurs in the cup somewhere in Wickow, which is a pain in the a** seeing as I'm in North Dublin.

Any idea how difficult the Level 1 is or whats involved, was told you have to perfect something like 20odd different shots?!?!

Totally agree with you, badminton deserves alot more respect, more so than tennis

CrimE

Yeah it does require you to be of a decent standard but it isnt too hard. If you are a competitive player you shouldnt have any trouble.

• Forehand Grips and Backhand Grips
• High and Low Serve (both Forehand and Backhand)
• Overhead Clear - both Forehand and Backhand
• Overhead Drop - both Forehand and Backhand
• Net Shots and Kills – both Forehand and Backhand
• Lifts – both Forehand and Backhand
• Smash and Smash Returns

Doubt it would be too hard. Why you want to do it, doing any coaching currently?

Larianne

I played badminton for about 4 years. But the club stopped because there wasn't enough interest which I was very disappointed about. Also the club I was in, not to boast, but myself and my brother were the best players there so it was hard to progress. We did get some coaching over in Baldoyle on Sunday mornings. I was thinking of joining another badminton club but it means having to get a bus to it. Must check it out.

Don't know where it gets the bad image. I never knew of it until after I stopped playing. I suppose any non contact sport is gonna get stick coz its not manly enough! :rolleyes:

CrimE

Yeah when people think of badminton they automatically think of the beginner with girly swings barely getting it over the net.

Dont know if any of you saw it but when it was on setanta sports a while ago I got some of them to watch it and they didnt think it was as girly anymore.

Chinese doubles star Fu Haifeng has clocked the fastest smash of 332 kph so far, while world number two Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark has recorded the fastest smash for a singles player at 298 kph.

d-arke

CrimE wrote:

Yeah it does require you to be of a decent standard but it isnt too hard. If you are a competitive player you shouldnt have any trouble.



Doubt it would be too hard. Why you want to do it, doing any coaching currently?

Dont know what you would consider competitive, though i did win the Dublin & Districts Mens 5B League(though in fairness we were in the wrong league), which i was fairly pround of as i was captain, which means nothing, plus i was injured, with a twisted swollen ankle from the semi final the previous week so i was standing like the karate kid. anyways....

think i might have a bit of trouble with overhead back hand drop and the overhead backhand clear.

as for why i want to do it. no real reason, im not involved in coaching in anyway whatsoever, just thought it might be fun and would be able to learn from it and maybe start a coaching class for kids down the line, my home town doesnt have a club anymore and it used to havea a good one.

plus, you know when your playing your club, you always get a few beginners, and the better players rarely pass on any tips and let the beginners learn for themselves, well thats the case in my club. so thought i could change that situation.

CrimE wrote:

Yeah when people think of badminton they automatically think of the beginner with girly swings barely getting it over the net.

Dont know if any of you saw it but when it was on setanta sports a while ago I got some of them to watch it and they didnt think it was as girly anymore.

Quote:

Chinese doubles star Fu Haifeng has clocked the fastest smash of 332 kph so far, while world number two Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark has recorded the fastest smash for a singles player at 298 kph.

Spot on mate, it is perceived as a girly sport thats why i really want to fight for the sport to get a bit of fair recognition and have its own topic/forum on boards.

As for the smashing, youhavent saw my smash, hehe, quality is all ill say

Larianne wrote:

I played badminton for about 4 years. But the club stopped because there wasn't enough interest which I was very disappointed about. Also the club I was in, not to boast, but myself and my brother were the best players there so it was hard to progress. We did get some coaching over in Baldoyle on Sunday mornings. I was thinking of joining another badminton club but it means having to get a bus to it. Must check it out.

Don't know where it gets the bad image. I never knew of it until after I stopped playing. I suppose any non contact sport is gonna get stick coz its not manly enough!

Why not join a club out in Baldoyle, theres a few clubs out there, my Mixed league last year had 5 teams in it and 3 of them played in Baldoyle so it kinda became a home fixture for us. I ended up playing out there every Tuesday and Thursday for the summer club. Great craic.

I should of joined a club out there myself, alot of tense feelings in my current club.

CrimE

I coach at my club and love it. It really is worth doing. Even though im only 17 I coach kids from 7-17. Coaching is a great thing to have. Teaching kids in your town would be good, always good to spread badminton amongst kids as they usually end up loving it.

And as far as your smash goes you should see my smash return...

GoneShootin

d-arke wrote:

badminton deserves alot more respect, more so than tennis

Agreed. I've played badminton once or twice and both times I enjoyed it. Personally I prefer tennis to any other racket sport but badminton does seem to come last the Tennis>Squash>Badminton hierarchy, around my local area at least. Its a public image thing, and that can only be tackled by Badminton Ireland. Compare the leagues and events that run around the country for tennis and compare that kind of activity to badminton and you will see what I mean.

CrimE

To be fair thats not entirely true;

• There are many international competitons hosted in Ireland, even though they are not well publicised they do get a lot of interest from the badminton communtity and there are plans to continue broadcasting them all on setanta sports.
  
• There are countless leagues running in ireland, particularly in leinster for all ages.
  
• Badminton is now in the Evening Herald every week including a new section on schools badminton.
  
• Events such as last weeks leinster schools mixed competition are also very popular with about 25-30 schools entering.

I know its an image problem but to be fair what are the Badminton Union of Ireland supposed to do about it? I dont see a viable solution other than spending a lot of money which they dont have.

GoneShootin

CrimE wrote:

To be fair thats not entirely true;

It is exactly true for the nationwide problem

CrimE wrote:

[*]particularly in leinster

leinster

CrimE wrote:

[*]Badminton is now in the Evening Herald every week including a new section on schools badminton.

Evening Herald is a mostly Dublin circulation

CrimE wrote:

[*]Events such as last weeks leinster schools mixed competition are also very popular with about 25-30 schools entering.
[/LIST]

leinster

Leinster, leinster, leinster. That's fine for Dublin. I'm talking nationwide here. On the badminton site there are links to 20 Dublin clubs. Just 5 in all of Munster. Even the so called National Badminton week events are mostly based in Leinster, with just one from Munster (my own local Mitchelstown club, god bless em).

I've already said I like Badminton, but badminton players cannot complain about not getting the respect it (rightly) deserves with the issues as described above yet to be resolved.

CrimE

The only reason, as you outlined, that I used only leinster examples is because I have an extensive knowledge of it. I can only speak from what I know and Im sure the situation is just as bad as you say it is.

Most of the focus probably does tend to be on leinster but you have to remember that the bui is seperated into seperate sections for the different provinces. The Leinster Branch is easily the biggest most well run of these due to the largest population etc. and hence enjoys events such as tournaments etc. a lot more than their counterpart provinces.

But what I ask is how do you propose they solve this? To the best of my knowledge none of the halls compare to the standard of the two branches in Dublin (Baldoyle and Terenure). I cant forsee the funds being made available for such a venture down the country, one which is crucial for what we would like to see in all parts of the country.

I fully agree that efforts should be made for clubs such as your own but I just fail to see very many viable options to do this. Its simple badminton is more popular in the leinster area than in other places as the funds are there to encourage it.

And there are also quite a few tournaments that all the leinster players go to in other provinces, the sligo championships being the most recent one of these.

GoneShootin

I don't propose any way of solving it, I'm just calling it as I see it.

CrimE

Fair enough I know where you're coming from. Hope the situation improves anyways and in conclusion badminton is a class sport!

GoneShootin

CrimE wrote:

badminton is a class sport!

agreed

d-arke

Sorry I didnt jump in on the topic, I've been away. But I'm back now, so...

First things, Hi to GoneShootin, another neubie to the topic... hopefully get a few more to have badminton receive its own forum.

Totally agree with ya on the Tennis/Squash/Badminton heirarchy, I presume its the same all over Ireland. But I wouldnt necessarily say its an issue for Badminton Ireland to deal with, surely it's got to go down to the local clubs to promote their club.

I've just been voted onto my club committee and as a result I'm developing a website which, is mainly to improve communication and efficiency in the club but also I may be able to use it by sending match results or whatever into the local papers, supply pictures etc. Who knows!?!?

Sure Badminton Ireland could help, but where, badminton national week, Wow, thats really gonna take off. Just been looking at the badmintonireland.com website, click on the national badminton week logo and you'll see a list of whats going on. But do you think that information will be available anywhere else. Thats the job of the local clubs. My club had a BUI representative come to committee meeting, gave us 2 national badminton week t-shirts to give out as prizes, but no one knew when the national badminton week was. I'm sure alot more can be done on the matter.

As for the badminton now being in the Evening Herald, thats great news. Well for us in Dublin it is.

As for competitions being held, just got emailed about the following.
Gormonstown College, County Meath is having a competition, €85 to enter. http://www.badmintonireland.com/content/templates/news_story.aspx?articleid=173&zoneid=2
Thinking of entering a team, but just curious what sort of standard it might be played in the senior dublin & disticts at level 5A, though I could probably push that to 3A since the summer.

CrimE wrote:

But what I ask is how do you propose they solve this? To the best of my knowledge none of the halls compare to the standard of the two branches in Dublin (Baldoyle and Terenure). I cant forsee the funds being made available for such a venture down the country, one which is crucial for what we would like to see in all parts of the country.

Terenure?!?!? Please don't tell me you think that place is counted as the benchmark for what a badminton hall should be. :eek:
Baldoyle on the other hand......

CrimE

I hate Baldoyle! Its like playing in a warehouse, I cant stand it at all. Never can judge shots in or out really pisses me off :mad:

I learned to play in Terenure and play there all the time which is probably why I like it so much, easily my favourite hall.

And that website for club sounds like an interesting idea... if I am bothered I mught just make one for mine

d-arke

Ah well I'm definitely in the other boat, I much prefer Baldoyle. More or less every season since I started about 4 years ago, at least 2 of the 4 teams in the league would play in Baldoyle, last season there was 5 teams in the league and 3 of them played in Baldoyle, so its like a second home venue for me.

Last season we had a semi final match in White Hall Road and the courts seemed to close together and the crowd are right beside the court and its too echo-y with that new ceiling. Plus, I went over on my ankle after 2minutes so I'm holding a personal vendeta against the hall. Went to Baldoyle the following week and won the league final despite having a near broken ankle.

As for the website, I simple set up a basic website so that people could get directions to the club,a news bulletin board, and have a section so that each team within the club can have their own page and have their fixtures put up with results, possible some digital photos, list of team members and available subs.

Some handy links: http://www.geocities.com - make your website with Frontpage or whatever then post up here. Only problem with this is that your webpage would then be called http://www.geocities.com/whateveryourclubiscalled

So to get around this problem, sign up to http://www.cjb.net then you can call your website http://whateveryourclubiscalled.cb.net

Though it doesnt get rid of the advertisements which is my only problem at the min

CrimE

Lol I cant argue with your logic when it comes to whitehall, sure it tried to break your ankle! I know the size of it tends to annoy some people and when theres a lot of people around it can be tight but its still my favourite

Cheers for the tips for the website, im pretty decent at that kind of thing so hopefully wont be too much bother.

By the way, Id reccommend www.freewebs.com instead of geocites and www.dot.tk is also good to get a better address.

d-arke

CrimE wrote:

Lol I cant argue with your logic when it comes to whitehall, sure it tried to break your ankle!

Dam right it did, ankle is still slightly swollen, don't know whats wrong with it. Though in fairness, I probably shouldnt keep playing on it though. Ah hell, it has to be done though. Its badminton!!

CrimE wrote:

Cheers for the tips for the website, im pretty decent at that kind of thing so hopefully wont be too much bother.

By the way, Id reccommend www.freewebs.com instead of geocites and www.dot.tk is also good to get a better address.

good stuff. i'm not to IT proficient. I know more than the basic, but I'm new to web design and stuff. If you come across a place where you can host a website without having advertisements on it let me know. Thanks for the links, will have a look now

nlgbbbblth

I played badminton from the age of 8 to 15.
I retired on a high in 1987 having won three consecutive singles titles, two doubles and two mixed titles in my local club in New Ross.

That summer I decided to get a part-time job in a supermarket which meant I had no time for the game as I worked most evenings and weekends. Have not picked up a racket since that last singles game over 18 years ago.

Often regret it now and was contemplating joining a club again.

CrimE

Ah definitely get back into it, you'll be amazed as to how much you remember its like riding a bike! Its a great hobby to have and keeps you fit so why not have a go again, go to a club night and see how you get on.

d-arke

nlgbbbblth wrote:

I played badminton from the age of 8 to 15.
I retired on a high in 1987 having won three consecutive singles titles, two doubles and two mixed titles in my local club in New Ross.

That summer I decided to get a part-time job in a supermarket which meant I had no time for the game as I worked most evenings and weekends. Have not picked up a racket since that last singles game over 18 years ago.

Often regret it now and was contemplating joining a club again.

thats the situation for most youngsters i feel, happened to myself. I used to play golf quite a bit in secondary school but then when i went to college i couldnt make time for it so i took up badminton.

anyways, u should definitely take up badminton again. apparently New Ross have a decent club, www.newrossbc.org.

im sure your partners are proud of your achievements

deisemum

Badminton seems to be popular enough in Waterford. My husband plays it several times a week, between practices and matches. He plays in leagues etc and there are a number of clubs throughout the city and county. Mind you when it comes to playing for your county a west waterford address seems to be more important than your ability and it has always been that way. Maybe that sort of things doesn't do badminton's image much good.

CrimE

That I have never experienced here. I mean I am on the leinster squad and dont see any discrimination as to addresses. Maybe this is present in other places but I have yet to witness it, here it seems to be judged on talent alone.

deisemum

I'm glad that in leinster that it's merit that counts. Unfortunately it's not the case in Waterford. In case anyone thinks it's sour grapes on my part, it's not, I'm not from Waterford nor do I currently play badminton so I can be objective. I've noticed this for myself and when I mentioned it to a couple of people I was informed that it's always been that way. You regularly see people from west Waterford clubs playing for the County Waterford team that get beaten by better players from other clubs in or near the city. Granted there are some very good players from the county that deserve their place but others are not their on merit, just because of their address or they are part of a clique.

d-arke

well i certainly can't offer any advice on that subject. i'm not quite that good, i'm stuck in the lower leagues of the dublin&district leagues (anyone wanna offer some coaching). but all i can say, people should definitely be judged regarding ability no matter what sport it is.

CrimE

I agree fully, I mean what bearing should address have on your eligibility for a team. Makes no sense to me, its just blatant ignorance and discrimination.

I just hope it isnt too serious an issue in badminton in general.

X-SL

I'm going to join a team .. on sat. to be precise.

CrimE

Good luck, where you playing if you don't mind me asking?

d-arke

yeah whats the club. only club i know that plays on a saturdays in one of the baldoyle clubs, either baldoyle or teamsters. though in fairness, the chances are your outside dublin

d-arke

just want to get idea's on what people think about subbing on teams you know your better than. kinda of an ususally situation for most i presume but hear me out.

after playing in the lower sections 5-ish of the dublin & district leagues, and winning one of the leagues, and after improving substantially over the summer could/should be playing about section 3-ish.

but after some personal issues decided not to join a team within my club and because of that am now eligible to play in the same section i won last season (with no disrespect am much better than that standard now.) problem being, was asked to sub once last week and once this week in that section, lost both matches. what annoys me is that although i could compete in the section no problem, my partners werent. if there were some sort of ranking system within the BUI this would have a negative effcet on my rating even though i should have won the match. for a majority of the match it was played like a mixed match even though it was a mens double, and no i wasnt playing the net. felt like a singles match

CrimE

A good few clubs I know of play on Saturdays, including my own.

The basic rule is you should only sub in for teams above your standard, eg. If I played for the 'c' team I could sub for a and b but not d if you get my jist.

I personally cant stand playing against people of a much lower standard than myself. Not being big headed or anything but its just not fun to play in matches like that imo, just boring.

X-SL

so they club turned out to be fore kids... *cough*..

any good south dublin clubs? near templeogue

CrimE

What age/ standard are you?

X-SL

Um.. beginner and 16.

CrimE

Terenure College Junior Badminton Club.

Season is already started put pm me for details and im sure you'd be able to check it out.

X-SL

ok,done.

d-arke

So did anyone play in the All Ireland Club Championship (if you can call it that seeing as not all ireland clubs are represented) in Gormonston College, County Meath, this weekend. How far did you have to travel, thoughts on facilities etc etc

X-SL

still waiting for that info lol

CrimE

Ah yeah sorry, its not usual I look at my pms as I dont tend to get many... :rolleyes:

Ill get all the info and pm you it tonight.

X-SL

ok thanks,

gaf1983

d-arke wrote:

So did anyone play in the All Ireland Club Championship (if you can call it that seeing as not all ireland clubs are represented) in Gormonston College, County Meath, this weekend. How far did you have to travel, thoughts on facilities etc etc

university of limerick usually travel up, we didn't this year - not enough people from the teams were free at the weekend - but the facilities are excellent, we usually stay in hostels/b&bs in drogheda

CrimE

I know it seems like im taking the piss but the person to get in touch with is away and im going away to Wales tomorrow till Sunday but ill get you the details.

Coolz

Bit late seeing this topic, hope its not too late to reply, seems a bit silly!!
i've been playing badminton since i was in primary school. absolutely love the sport even though the politics do get me down a lot of the time! my club is like a second family so i try not to let it!

i can understand your frustration d-arke about playing/subbing with people who are not as strong as you. it happens all the time. i had to do it. i worked my way up from 5b to 3 in 4 years, grade by grade, year by year. had to earn it and i felt better for it when i made the first team last year. it was also the first year in our clubs history that our first team won their section! what a feeling. its a pain d-arke but its so worth it. some people do get it easier and that pisses me off but personally i think having to work for it reaps more rewards

we have a club website too that i set up a couple of years ago. its crap but i do get a few emails from people interested in taking the sport up. have you done anything about your clubs one?

and as for playing in baldoyle or whitehall, whitehall gets my vote anyday. hate baldoyle so much! had to play both my semis out there in the last couple of weeks, least the finals are in whitehall after christmas. must better atmosphere out there plus home advantage *evil grin*

d-arke

well done in getting into your first team and winning.

can't say that i've worked my way up through the leagues. only been playing for 4/5 years now. always played in either 5a or 5b. though this season should have made the jump to 3b for our second team. i improved alot. theres a big jump in standards in our club. 1st team play 1b, 2nd team play 3b, 3rd team play 4b, 4th team 5b.

as for our club website. im on the committee and keep bringing the idea of using the website and the advantages, but they just seem to fog it off until the next meeting so im thinking of taking it down, cause i know it wont be updated after i leave in january.

whitehall, grrrrr!!!!! your semi's didnt happen to be on in the last fews days were they. my mother was playing a semi final in baldoyle in the cup, shes through to the final in january in whitehall rd