Time flies… and before I knew it, it’s been well over 5 years since I last competed in the same tournament as Viktor Axlesen himself in the Chiba World Junior Tournament in 2012.
I am extremely proud of what Viktor has accomplished, becoming World Number 1 in ranking at 24 years old! So we can bet he still haven’t reached anywhere near his full potential yet.
Recently, he made a video sharing tips for young badminton players to become better shuttlers and if you haven’t watched it already. You can watch it here.
So here are my thoughts and advice on top of the world champion’s advice.
Tip 1: Have Fun in Badminton
This is extremely challenging given that winning early has tremendous amount of advantages, such as free national junior team training, equipment sponsorship, plus which parent wouldn’t want to say that their children is a champion in their school/club/country?
That said, it is a must for parents and guardians to let the young players enjoy playing and training badminton because badminton is a late sport where players usually peak after 20 years old since the 21 points system change.
This means that the kids have to go through approximately 10 years of intensive training. It would be extremely tough to sustain top performance if they hated that 10 years of training.
Based on my personal experience, a lot of my friends started playing extremely young, at around 5 years old.
They went through very strict, regimental and tough training and become local and even regional champions by the time they were 10 years of age, but by the time they reached 14 to 16, many of them started to lose interest and the drive to proactively push their game to the next level, they started to stagnate in performance as they burnt out.
So remember, always have segments of free play and games as that is lots of fun and would make young players have something to look forward to in trainings.
Tip 2: Watch a lot of Matches
Viktor’s next tip is for you to watch a lot of matches of top players so that you can get ideas and inspiration from them. (including his own!)
Few things to note here…
Don’t forget to watch your own videos
Too often young players get overly excited watching and practicing the best moves seen in the recent tournament such that they forget to work on their weakness and their fundamentals; techniques, footwork and strategy.
So video your own matches once every while and reflect on your own performance. Ultimately what you want is for your game to be better, and it is easier to start with skills that you already have but forgot to practice, than to learn an advanced skill from players like Viktor Axelsen (Although it is also important to learn from top players too!)
Be Practical
Every top player has their very own best shots that are best suited for their height, speed, and swing. Yours may be different, so don’t get caught up in the idea of replicating only the best techniques or style of the top players because sometimes it may not suit your style of play, height, speed or swing.
Sad as it may be, you have to walk your own path, fail countless of times and discuss with your badminton coach in order to be able to find out what are your best ‘weapons’ in court. And speaking of coaching, we do offer both private and group badminton coaching in Singapore!
So again, watch a lot of videos, but be critical and smart about what you do after you watch the videos in order to see the ideas you get translate into the best results for your game.
Tip 3: Respect Everyone
This goes without saying, that you should respect everyone around you irregardless whether you are on or off the court. Only then, you can earn the respect of everyone else.
So if your child or friend starts becoming overly prideful, disrespects and insults other players on court. Help them realize the consequences of their actions and that they are better ways to interact with the people around them.
Tip 4: Spend time working on Your flexibility (>10mins Daily)
Here is a video on how you should properly improve your flexibility. In this video Kyle goes through his stretching routine which I find to be the closest I found to what we actually do after our trainings.
Tip 5: Take responsibility for your own training
In his last tip, Viktor shared the importance of being proactive in your own training.
The mindset of being personally responsible for your own result, that if you become a good player or not rests on your shoulders is very powerful.
This helps you focus on what you have and can do to bring your game to the highest possible level and not worry, procrastinate and blame things beyond your control for your result.
So focus on the resources you have, take charge of your own growth story, and become the best badminton player you can be. If you found this article useful, please share this with your friends and let us know what other tips you felt would have been very useful if you knew them when you first started and leave them down in the comments section below.
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