So You Want to Play Badminton in the Olympics?

You’ve set your sights high, and are wondering how you can attain your lifelong dream of being an Olympic-caliber badminton player. Only the chosen few, fortunate of body, mind, circumstance, and character will realize that dream. With luck, and plenty of hard work, you can be one of those few, or at least have a great adventure in the pursuit.

Here’s some helpful advice from my discussion with a badminton instructor and enthusiast, and ideas from a world-class player, that you can use to take your best shot at reaching your goal.

You should definitely start young. More importantly, when you begin to learn, be sure to learn correctly. It is crucial that you learn the correct form and mechanics from the very beginning. Otherwise, you might injure yourself over time, and you will definitely have to unlearn bad habits that constrain your advancement. What works to help you win at backyard badminton will hinder you in the long run. Take lessons from a professional so that you learn the correct fundamentals of stroke execution.

Find a professional who is committed to your advancement. This may take effort, as you need to find an experienced pro who does not have too many students, who believes you have the aptitude necessary to excel at badminton, and who is willing to challenge, discipline, and encourage you, as appropriate.

Join a club and a team. The badminton clubs and leagues in California and the New York area are particularly strong, but you can find good caliber competition and training near you even if you live in other areas of the country. In addition to taking lessons at least twice a week, you need competitive play to help you improve, so find the best club and get on the best team.

Attend camps and play in local tournaments. The camps will strengthen your skills in an intensive way, and the tournaments will help you learn about competitive pressure, playing before spectators, mastering different players and different styles of play, and peaking at the right time.

Play in sanctioned (ranking) State and Regional tournaments. Playing in these very competitive tournaments will challenge you, call on all you have learned, and help establish your ranking so that you can find better competition and better coaching as you mature.

With many thanks to Jackie Phan and Yeping Tang for advice and ideas, here are two additional sources of information to speed you on your way:

• Usabadminton.org (this is the official USA Olympic website for badminton)
• Badzine.info (this is an online magazine about badminton)