Back to Badminton

So I have resumed badminton with some regularity now. Once a week for now at a local club that plays doubles format with mixed abilities. I am not seeing a dramatic improvement to my game yet, but I think that's down to losing the momentum over the week's gap and keeping up with practice. So I am going to make note of some catchwords that remind if the key techniques have picked up,

1. Serve low, step forward to volley.
2. Keep eye on the shuttle, elementary, but surprising how often I just guess.
3. If clearing, step back.
4. If attacking, keep moving forward.
5. Fill the gap as your doubles partner moves around.
6. Monitor other players for their strengths and weaknesses as you are awaiting your turn.

There is also the confidence element. If its at a low ebb then you sort of disadvantage yourself. The standard of individual players you play with maybe better than you, but a doubles game in a club format is always ripe for a surprise. More often than not, no two players have played with each other any more than you and your partner, so even though may be individually good, will still have some coordination gaps. So keeping the conversation in the head positive is key. Listen to the conversation in the head and reason with it, results should patiently follow. That's my approach for now, staying easy on the self.

Taking a perspective though, I think there is improvement over the relatively adventurous start I made last year starting at the UK corporate games 2011 for IBM. That was literally after a year of having played any badminton at all and before that barely 4 or 5 times a year on average. My only prep then was 4 hours of play and 2 hours of YouTube videos. That got me into a start and going now. Though club play is mostly fun, am now attending the mid to seasoned players slot and have a non zero win record for starters, 3 out if every 10. Hope a year or so from now it will be better and I'll even start to rate myself a bit!