In pursuit of a new game – I. Badminton

Badminton is a very interesting game, which requires the speed of tennis as well as flexibility of an acrobat. My first impression of this game was least to mention boring. I used to watch some veterans hit the birdie in an open ground and I used to jeer at their struggle to overcome wind, space restrictions and hole(y) net to play a non-physically intensive game. And with cricket always being the main sport, the thought of badminton was a far cry. However, one cold harsh winter of Minnesota few of my colleagues convinced me to visit their game in indoor facilities. After which, all my previous excuses for not pursuing this particular game seemed trivial. A couple of weeks later I bought a new racket and started playing in October, 2005. However, as it turned out this sport required lot of time for practice and with impending “MS” defense time was the last thing that could be spared. The next encounter with badminton was at K-state, where dedication of quite a few individuals attracted me to the sport. Friday evenings were official badminton days. The occasional wins in doubles kept me going. But my real quest for leaning this game came during the doubles tournament in the summer. I found a very good teaching partner with patience and skill. He took my game to the next level by teaching movement and strategies. Though we did well for being “Underdogs”, we couldn’t win the tournament; nevertheless it was a good learning experience. Now with intramural singles tournament impending there are still so many things to learn and a great amount of fitness to be achieved. While the skillful Indians and the Chinese counterparts are already preparing for the game, here I’m trying to see the sport as a means of getting fit. Hopefully, before some of the skillful ones leave K-State I better get geared up to take my game to another level, at least a level where I could mention that I can play “Badminton”.