SAISA Badminton (and Goals)

This semester, I decided to join the tryout lessons for SAISA badminton (season 4). The tournament is to take place in our school during the first week of April. Although the tournament is very close to our May examinations, I feel I can still be able to commit to the sport since we won't be travelling to the play the tournament.

I have never played badminton at a competitive level or even been to any classes. However, I still decided to to join SAISA badminton because I feel that I will be able to apply the skills I acquired playing tennis in to badminton as well. This is not an easy task because although both sports are played using rackets, there are some significant differences between the two that I need to work on. The first being that badminton is not played with a ball, so the amount of power apply to a shot will be different. Other differences include, tennis involves the movement of the entire arm with a stiff wrist while playing shots, however, badminton involves a loose wrist while playing shots.

I have addressed all these issues and I think I have got a good handle of the game. On the 3rd of February, Our coaches, Mr Pradeep and Mr De Silva, formed two groups, Group A and Group B. Group A consists of player who have good skills and are likely to make the final SAISA squad. Group B consists of everyone else who still needs to work on their skills. People can move up from B to A and they can also go down from A to B. I was placed in Group A which I took as a good achievement and as proof that I was able to address the issues I had in the beginning. Of course, I would have to work hard to keep my place by being consistent and constantly improving.

My Goals for SAISA Badminton:
- Prove that I am capable of getting a place in the final 5 of the SAISA squad.
- Show that I can win matches in the SAISA tournament and reflect on my experience in the tournament.
- Reflect on my overall experience with badminton and compare my skills to the skills I had when I first started out badminton.