A Story of Success

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2015 All England and Swiss Open Recap

For those who don't know, I am porting over to my new website with medali.st, a blog for athletes. Click the picture to go to my new blog!

2015 All England Open

2015 Nationals Overview

I will be slowly transferring to my other website on Medalist (http://towbsss.mli.st). I may throw in the odd exclusive blog here, but for now, I will update my Blogger with a link to the other website, as I'm trying to make more formal postings on the other website. Anyway, I'm sure you're not interested reading this, so please click the picture below to read my latest blog about the 2015 Canadian Nationals!

Lessons From 2014

There’s that saying that goes something like, “Smart people learn from their own mistakes, geniuses learn from the mistakes of others.” So, let’s reflect a bit on my 2014 year, which had such major ups and downs, in a hope that it will make me smarter. If the saying really is true, then I hope you become a genius. Remember to come back and help me out after that happens.

Losing Nationals

I don’t really want to go back here, but it was a major highlight. All the feelings and emotions I went through during this time was intense. I usually am pretty chill otherwise, but writing this blurb has already raised my heart rate (seriously, I measured). It makes me angry, it drives me forward. I only need to think about this and I have instant motivation to do anything. Of course it’s a highlight, because it moves me so much. Never again will I want anything like this to happen, and I have grown from the experience. But I have not forgotten it. Perhaps it’s like the intro to an epic movie. Something bad happens to the protagonist, and a bit of him dies at the beginning. However, he picks himself up as it motivates him to finish his task. Since this is my own epic and my own story, I think it did make a difference, looking back from today. I’ve learned. I’ve grown. I’ve evolved.

Lesson: Put yourself first. If you can’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone.

Diving into Strength & Conditioning

(Dean Somerset trying to get me to relax my stomach)

Sometimes you just gotta dive in, and it’s sink or swim. I’ve totally felt this way about strength & conditioning, and getting involved with training at Fortius, joining the UBC Thunderbird Strength & Conditioning Club, attending Charlie Weingroff’s seminar, attending the BC NSCA Conference, attending Dean Somerset’s seminar, and doing an FMS Mentorship with Fit To Train, as well as helping out at their Level 1 & 2 Combo course. That is some significant money spent, but I feel it is well worth every cent. If you want something done well, it’s better to pay someone who knows what they’re doing to tell you what to do, or at least teach you what you should be doing. Trying your best and believing that everything will be okay only get you so far, if you’re using archaic techniques. At least that’s what I believe.

Lesson: Have an open mind and keep learning. Spend the extra money to learn from the best; I’d like to think of it as quality learning over quantity.

Finally Out of School

I did graduate in November 2013, but I was still registered in 2 courses from January to April. I took 2 kinesiology seminars, including functional anatomy and clinical exercise rehab (both great courses, UBC KIN 489E and 489B respectively if you wanted to know). I started off-season training at Fortius at the end of February as well, and continued it for 4 months. It was nice to train almost full time for 4 months and I think it really made a huge difference, even up until recent tournaments. However, I can feel the training slowly fading and another couple months of off-season conditioning would be great before starting the Olympic year. Though I’m out of school, I’ll never be out of learning something new. Being open minded is useful, although you need to combine it with critical thinking. Sometimes, things just don’t make sense and it’s okay if you don’t want to believe in nonsense. It’s everywhere nowadays.

Lesson: It’s nice every now and then to have a set schedule which you don’t deviate from. Routine can bring great results.

Commonwealth Games

(Source:Yan Huckendubler)

Despite the hiccup at Nationals, I barely made the Commonwealth Games team (although my National ranking has suffered). Fortunately, we took the top spot by a few ranking points, so we got to go to Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Prior to the tournament, we had an optional staging camp in Ireland, which a few of us participated in, and I was happy I went along for the experience. The Commonwealth Games were very well run and it was a wonderful experience overall, especially getting to see Michelle Li win that semifinal match against India. Unfortunately, most of us missed the final and award presentations, but I think most of us believed she would have little trouble taking the gold medal after than amazing performance in the semifinals. Great performance by rising star Rachel Honderich as well, as her and Michelle had a huge win against Australia in the team event. It was nice to be part of a team and to see some players really pushing forward and getting results. It’s inspiring.

Lesson: Celebrate the work ethic of others. I say this because the expression typically says to “Celebrate the success” of others. Sometime people succeed because they get lucky, and celebrating luck may compromise our own work ethic, especially if we give up and wait for luck. Make your own luck through a strong work ethic and have the best of both worlds.

World Championships

Although my match itself didn’t last very long, it was an interesting experience in Denmark overall. After not getting a hotel reservation, our coach, Jeff White, did all he could to find us accommodations and made sure we had a place to stay for a few nights. Additionally, he ended up staying at a crappier hotel so that the other players could stay at a nicer one. I would also like to thank Thomas Stavngaard for letting me stay at his house with Derrick and Adrian. The tournament was run quite well except for a minor transportation hiccup (the bus driver left without half of our team…), and getting to see some of the world’s best duke it out live is always a treat. This tournament also highlights the efforts of Jeff in taking the time to talk to Alex and I and our partnership, and acting as a bridge to improve our communication with each other. In the end, I would say it made a huge difference.

Lesson: Spread the good karma. Help someone out if you can, because you can’t always pay the same person back. Maybe it will eventually get around full circle.

Precision Nutrition Certification

Taking about a month to train and study after World Championships, I finally got around to doing my Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification. I signed up in March, but really didn’t get around to anything until September. I said I would start after my classes ended, then I decided after my summer tournament schedule, and then… I set a hard deadline and met it. September 30^th was the deadline, so I pretty much crammed as much info as I could into the 5 days before my deadline (procrastinator at heart). Fortunately, I’ve covered a lot of the material in University courses at UBC. The certification is very good because it combines half nutrition and half coaching. What good is information if you don’t know how to communicate it? I wonder if people are still reading my blog… Anyway, it’s nice to get a bit of nutrition information and I can always do some more research or find an expert if I need to go deeper into a certain concept. Additionally, now I have a better idea how I should eat!

Lesson: A little knowledge about nutrition can go a long way, especially when I have a family of my own. Coming up from a Chinese background, it took a long time to throw away the idea of multiple bowls of rice each meal. Maybe I also threw away a greater risk of diabetes as well.

Pan Am Championship (Pan Am Tour)

(Source: John Lei)

The tournament started really rocky, with losses to two teams in the Team Event. Fortunately, Michelle and Rachel pulled off an amazing win in the WD for Canada to take the Team Gold against the top Pan Am WD team. Not that Michelle’s WS and Adrian/Derrick’s MD wins are worth any less, it’s just that the odds were probably in favour of USA for that deciding match. Continuing into the individual tournament, I’m glad I didn’t give up. It was depressing and I was trying really hard to understand what was happening, but it felt like everything I tried didn’t work. I asked many people for their feedback and I got a lot of great feedback from everyone, and fortunately it was just enough for that week to get us through to reclaim our title. However, even though we won, I still learned from our mistakes and it was in Orlando the week after that really changed everything.

Lesson: Sometimes, all you can do is to try and initiate the process. Getting started and waiting to see if someone will meet you halfway is all you can do, because you can’t always do everything yourself. But if you never initiate the process, maybe things will never get started. If you really want something to happen, you gotta take that chance. You gotta open the box; curiosity killing a cat is better than inaction. At least you know.

Europe Tour

6 of us went to compete at the Scottish and Welsh Internationals at the end of November and we ended up using AirBnB for accommodations, and I would recommend the service as an alternative to hotels. We booked an entire town house in Scotland, and a couple of rooms in Wales. The tournaments went well and Alex and I were able to continue training as much as we could before, during, and between tournaments. Sometimes you just have to make the most of the situation, and in the end, I think we did fairly well with our results, making a quarterfinal in Scotland, and a semifinal in Wales.

Lesson: Taken from Dan John, who took it from Dan Gable: “If it’s important, do it every day. If it isn’t, don’t do it at all.” We didn’t have much time to train and practice, so we just kept honing the most important skills we needed for the tournament.

Selling Supplements

Being certified with Precision Nutrition had an additional perk of getting the change to be and affiliate with ThorneFX. They have some really high quality supplements geared more toward fitness people and I’ve had the opportunity to sample most of their products. Additionally, I recently got enrolled with USANA, a network marketing supplement company through an old friend, who has been quite successful with USANA. I took the opportunity to see if I can make some extra income as an athlete, and selling supplements seemed like a reasonable thing to do, with a small background in nutrition. I like USANA because they don’t make any crazy claims to their supplements, and they offer a wide variety of products for one to ‘supplement’ their health. Additionally, learning to sell is a huge skill to have. However, I don’t want to oversell anything to anyone. I stand by my product because I use it as well. Not to enhance performance, but for general health.

Lesson: If we ate healthy, exercised regularly, slept enough, and drank enough water, would we need supplements? Maybe not. But be honest, how often do you eat well enough, exercise enough, sleep enough, or drink enough water? I won’t lie to myself, that’s why I use supplements.

Coaching in Winnipeg

I was offered an opportunity to coach in Winnipeg for Badminton Manitoba and I jumped at the chance, despite the cold weather and increased chance of getting sick. Despite the amount of people falling to sickness, I think the camp went pretty well. It was nice to get to meet new people and I would like to thank those who helped to organize the camp and billet me. The exhibition was pretty fun as well, and it was nice to see so many people come and support the event! It’s always nice to get a chance to coach a good group of motivated players, and I wish them all the best with their new knowledge and skills.

Lesson: I did the camp 2 years ago, and I have changed the way I view certain things. I probably will have a different stance on other things in the future as well. With that said, it’s okay to take information and use it if it’s useful, but be sure not to hold onto it forever, especially if there is a need for change.

Live, learn, and pass it on. As we begin another year, I wish you all success in your goals. I know I have mine…

4 Elements of Badminton

I like to look at 4 elements to badminton, with each sub-section being just as important as another, but different. There may be temporary advantages in focusing attention to one, but with many things, we get diminishing returns. Think of it as a video game and you are trying to level up your stats. Each person will be different, especially if we throw in both environmental and genetic factors, so individuality becomes quite important, as no two players are exactly the same. I will make a better attempt to go into each one at length, but that will be for another day.

PHYSICAL: This is the Attack/Strength stat in most role playing games, or like any superhero that has any enhanced physical attribute, like Superman, the Hulk, Juggernaut, and I will even include the Flash and Spiderman, as speed and movement ability are included as well. If we include genetics, those with the right genes would have the ability to maximize this stat more than the other groups.

Juggernaut vs Hulk (via Google Images)

Marvel vs DC Comics (via Google Images)

  

TECHNICAL: This is not so much a stat in a role-playing game, but more or less acquiring new techniques to use. It would be more similar to acquiring special abilities to use instead of an overall stat. Superheroes that come to mind would be Batman, Ironman, or the Green Lantern as they would need accessories to assist them in their battles. Environmental factors are much heavier due to what is accessible in the area. For example, in Canada, living in the major badminton hubs in BC or Ontario would give greater accessibility, more diverse coaching, and better competition that most other places. Additionally, having resources (i.e. money) would help as well.

Ironman - Proton Cannon in Marvel Super Heroes (via Google Images)

Batman Arkham Origins (via Google Images)

TACTICAL: Again, I’m not too sure how this would be a stat, but it would be simply your choice of strategy. Take Pokemon, for instance, where each Pokemon type may have a weakness (e.g. grass Pokemon are weak to fire attacks). By taking advantage or particular strategies, no matter how simple or complicated, this element is highly glorified in movies because that’s usually how the hero wins in the end: they make a plan, they execute it, they win… most of the time. Practically all superheroes will resort to some kind of tactical plan, because that’s what happens near the end of almost every movie. They may not be successful at the beginning, but after a change of tactics, they succeed. Everyone is happy (except for the bad guys). I would attribute those at a genetic disadvantage to use more tactics because they do not have the same physical capacity as those who do.

Who would win? Batman or Superman? (via Google Images)

Batman looks less comfortable in Tennis. He should try badminton :P

MENTAL: This would be like the magic stat, but I suppose it depends how your look at this element. It can be very broad and it is different for everyone. I like to think of it as the magic stat, because most magic attacks also require MP (Mind/Magic Points). Once those are exhausted, then you cannot use those attacks anymore. I would attribute this to those with genetic and or environmental disadvantages, simply because the more one struggles, the better one gets at overcoming adversity. Those who do not struggle, do not understand the struggle. Most superheroes will encounter this as well, usually near the beginning or midpoint of the movie. Something bad happens, or they fail at something, and they spend a while struggling to continue. No matter how they pull through, they get back on their feet and usually it leads to an amazing plan (TACTICAL) which will lead to end of the movie when they win. 

*SPOILER ALERT*
If you have not watched The Amazing Spiderman 2, then watch the movie first! There is no better way to sum this up than Gwen Stacy's Graduation Speech for The Amazing Spiderman 2 (click for link). Well, maybe that and Eminem's "8 Mile". I know there are mixed reviews about both movies, but ultimately, I go by the way they make me feel after. It always gives me a bit of hope :)

2014 World Championships and Moving Forward

http://instagram.com/towbsss

I’m writing this while streaming the finals of the 2014 World Championships, and I’ve already come across a few thoughts. It’s before the Men’s Singles final, in which I hope Lee Chong Wei will finally take the match, and that is also the time limit I’m setting for the blog so I don’t ramble on for too long. I woke up to watch the ending of the Men’s Doubles final, and (*spoiler alert*) I was very surprised to see that Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Cheol won over Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong. I would think that not having to play a semi-final would have been a significant advantage for Ko/Shin, and I would still count on Lee/Yoo as being an overall stronger team. I suppose it was just that one tournament that didn’t work out the way you wanted and it happened to be World Championships. We can probably say the same for the Women’s Singles (*spoiler alert*). It was pleasant to see a European World Champion and I hope it will help further opportunities for Spain. I know it must be disappointing to Li Xuerui, but I think it’s nice for the sport to have at least some depth in at least a few events. Hopefully, Carolina Marin’s victory will inspire our top badminton player, Michelle Li, to rise to some more amazing results of her own!

Tournament bus... often times without enough seats for everyone.
(Source: Me)

Looking back at my performance this tournament, it wasn’t the best (match can be found HERE). I was trying to play things that I am not very comfortable doing, especially when I was under the impression that things needed to be done this way for the best chance to win. I suppose I second guessed myself and opted for a team strategy, which was not comfortable to begin with. I understand that people see the game differently, and tactics are generally a way to approach a match because physical and technical attributes cannot really be changed right before, or even during the tournament (e.g. ‘you need to jump higher’ or ‘you need to angle your racquet more’, etc.).


Let’s step away from the actual performance for a moment and address a way of looking at things. Let’s talk perspective. On the one hand, we have different coaches working with different players. We have Jeff White, the National Team coach for Canada, coming in to coach us for the World Championships. He has seen us play at various events, but he does not address training issues; he only observes. Alex’s coach at the moment, Andrew Dabeka, is working with Alex in Ottawa, and is one of the best Canadian Men’s Singles players in his time. However, I do not know of his Mixed Doubles ability and I cannot comment on that. I was working with Ronne Runtulalao at ClearOne briefly before the tournament, as he works with us at ClearOne and has watched my matches at Canada Open with Alex. So we have been fortunate to have 3 coaches working with us, but unfortunately, they did not collaborate. We ended up with a very interesting mix of tactics to consider.

Main Venue (Source: Me)

Let’s begin with looking at how we view performance: I believe it is very training oriented, whereas it seems that Alex takes on a tactical approach. For the sake of the discussion, let’s assume that we are on the extreme ends of our performance beliefs. For myself, I believe performance will be a slight degradation of optimal practice. Any tactics or strategies need to be performed in practice, and new tactics and strategies should not be simply ‘inserted’ into tournament play. There is little room to ‘improvise’, unless it has been performed in practice. Over time, many aspects of the game will eventually be covered, which leads to a stronger and more mature player with a diverse set of skills. However, technical ability and physical capacity must be addressed IN training. It must be developed first, because they are fundamentals to badminton, and also in many other sports as well. The tactical approach (as I am biased to the other approach) seems less realistic. It has worked for people before, but it seems more like the things you see in movies (or the rare real life events that end up being turned into movies). With a solid “system” in place, you would minimize the problems you would face if you opt for this approach, as you can make small adjustments because they are a part of your arsenal, or at least a similar ‘lateralization’.

Ballerup Super Arena (Source: Me)

I like to think of this as studying for a very difficult test. Ideally, studying the right material the right way would be best, but most of the time, we either don’t prepare enough, or maybe we over-prepare the wrong material. So, who would do better on the test? It’s really hard to say: it depends. If we go back to our match, we had a mix of tactics to attempt, based on our match against our opponents at Commonwealth Games. On Alex’s side, they believed that we gave up the attack too much, and we had to challenge them more at the net. On my side, Ronne simply tried to give me strategies to mix up my shots and do a few things differently on defense. Ultimately, we decided on trying to challenge the net more in the match, which I was not terribly comfortable with and I could already foresee various counter-measures that I needed to adopt. Not lifting is not easy for me in Mixed, because it also increases the speed of the game we need to play at. If you cannot read the game well enough, then everything becomes fast and furious and turns into something like Men’s Doubles.

From my own perspective, I take a systematic approach to my game. I like to use high lifts to open up the court, instead of trying to play blocks and challenge a very confined space. I don’t like playing floaty mid-court shots to try to hit over the player at the front, because it doesn’t work very well at the higher levels (and World Championships is pretty much one of the highest levels I can play at). I like to vary up things based on what is happening in the game, although I do tend to be a bit too predictable at times. However, I can also tough it out and continue a standard way of playing until a better chance opens up, because that’s what I think the best players can do: play a good pace in a rally until they get a good chance to attack, then make the most of their opportunity. I usually don’t like to gamble. However, the strategy to adopt for this match seemed like a heavy gamble, and perhaps I didn’t understand what the coaches wanted, but it appeared that I had to play the tactic of ‘blocking more’ so that Alex could take the net. It seems like a great idea, and anyone watching my Commonwealth Games match would probably agree, but there is one limiting factor: execution.

Denmark... beautiful! (Source: Me)

How many of you have heard of the strategy: block and move in? How many have practiced it? Now, the question I propose is, “How many of you practiced it in a match situation, where your training partner can kill your shuttle if it’s too high, or play it over your head if you run in blindly without watching your opponent?” I know we should move in, but is it the appropriate time to? So, this would be a great concept to consider in training, but not when you’re in the middle of a match. I felt that the blocks could have been a good strategy, but I didn’t believe we could really execute it. And we didn’t.

I had trouble getting Heather away from the net, and I tried to play some shots over her head to the mid-court, but they didn’t really work out so well, because it’s honestly a terrible shot that unfortunately works in Canada, but the rest of the world will punish you on it. Playing to the net also proved difficult because I would then have to cover a side in case Alex couldn’t make it in time. I felt Alex needed to creep forward as well to minimize the distance she had to move, but now that opened up lifts/clears over her head, which I also had to cover in case she was gambling forward too much. The tactic COULD have worked, but I don’t think we had the ability to execute it. I would have opted for a more casual defensive strategy to open up the court to give ‘holes’ to exploit. Additionally we lost heavily on the first 3 shots. Knowing it needs to be better is easy, but ‘how’ to make it better, and ‘what’ to do to make it better becomes much more difficult.

Training at Gentofte Badminton Club, led by Thomas Stavngaard! (Source: Me)

The real difficulty lies in how we move on from this, as we don’t even train together. In fact, we are 5 hours away by plane. Fortunately, we had a meeting with Jeff White after the tournament and it was good because we got to the heart of certain problems and we have at least a few actionable items we can address for the upcoming Pan American Championships in October. However, with Alex playing the Guatemala International, it eliminates at least a week of training, which gives much less time to prepare. Although the Pan Am Champs may not be at a very high level, there are still many upcoming Canadian teams which will be looking to take the title, in addition to other Pan Am countries, like Brazil and USA. The fact that I have to be nervous about a tournament I have won 5 times is troubling… but I’d rather over prepare than to under prepare. It will be a tournament which counts toward the Pan Am Games qualification, so I cannot take things lightly.


But when have I taken things too lightly?

September will be a key month for preparing, as I will be preparing not just for one, but for 3 tournaments back to back to back (Pan Am Champs, USA International, and Brazil International). I’ve won 2 of these tournaments before, and made a semi-final in the last one. I’ll be taking new measures to improve my game, including keeping communications with Alex, but this time, I will make sure that I lead. I will consider tactical suggestions, but I will play the way I need to play to win, instead of following orders which did not involve prior preparations. I’m all for following plans that have been practiced in training, but I’m not about to adapt different strategies or tactics that the team hasn’t performed before. 

I will lose on my terms. I can also win on my terms. And it’s time to start winning again…

Always seek to improve. How can you say
you've tried your best, if you haven't tried everything?
(http://instagram.com/towbsss)

2014 Commonwealth Games Overview

The 2014 Commonwealth Games have been an amazing event, especially for Michelle Li, who was undefeated the entire tournament in Women’s Singles. She is definitely the star of Canadian badminton this tournament, but I would like to also congratulate some stellar performances by some of the other Canadians, with Andrew D’Souza performing well in the Men’s Singles, and the spectacular win by Rachel Honderich and Michelle Li in the Women’s Doubles against Australia, which won us the tie, and gave us a chance against India. Derrick and Adrian also put up a valiant effort in their matches, and I can see them growing as a team. 

Michelle Li (Source: BadmintonPhoto)

In terms of staffing, we had both Jeff and Ram, who always do a great job to make sure everything works out for us during these big events, and finds answers to any problems we encounter. This allows us to focus on our badminton, which is nice when you don’t have to worry about the little nuances that we have to deal with ourselves in other events (i.e. transportation, etc.). We also had Marc Rizzardo as our physiotherapist, who helped us with warm ups, cool downs, recovery, and injury management. I personally had my ankle put back in place twice, my hip capsule loosened up a bit, in addition to other back manipulations which kept me in pretty good shape for the duration of the event. A big thank you to the badminton staff, and a special thank you to the Canadian medical staff as well, especially Erin Reid, RMT, for working on some of us during these games! Last but not least, I'd like to thank Yan Huckendubler for taking some awesome photos of us during the Games!

Emirates Arena (Source: Me)

I went through a long training process to prepare for the tournaments this summer, spending a good more than $1000 on physical preparation since after Nationals. I still look back and reflect on that match, and I really took it hard on myself because I lost funding for the year. I have decided to upload the match, because I think people who follow my progress deserve to see how things went. I know the camera angle isn’t the best, but it is what it is. You can find the links here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9it4vZAQjFY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYhGbvz9u_s

Looking back on my progress from Nationals, I’m actually content. I’m fairly hard on myself because I always want to do better, but if I can’t get results, then how accurate of a reflection is it? If I cannot win, are my performance perceptions accurate? I am still far from playing a perfect game, but I feel that my efforts are not matching the benefit in performance. For example, if I trained very hard for 4 months, I would hope to have some kind change, and change is best measured by results at tournaments. But, after all the training, the results are still the same. I lost to Australia in the pool play, lost to India in the pool play, lost to England in the individual event. The only matches I won were against Wales, Barbados, and Northern Ireland. Could I have won those matches without training hard? I would think so, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

So the biggest question I have right now is: “What MORE can I do?”

And we need to be honest, because I have to ask: “Is it worth it then?” How much more do I have to toil and how much more money do I have to spend? I believe in doing things well, because I get involved. I learn as much as I can and I try to evolve. I think I’ve changed tremendously over the years, and it’s because I have learned to adapt and accept that I may not always be right. That way, I am open to feedback; hence, open to change. Perhaps the common misconception is that people think I know everything. That is completely false. I would say a good quarter to one third of the things I say may not be true, or I will change my belief about it in the future, even in this post. I definitely don’t know anything, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to learn as much as I can. I have unique interests as well, especially anything related to badminton. I’m just looking to find more efficient ways to do things, because we don’t have the resources. I’m not in it just for “the experience”; I’m “in it to win it”.

With all that said, I don’t want to critique other people, because I cannot be 100% certain that they are wrong. For example, Michelle won the tournament, but there are things that she does that I wouldn’t do, and vice versa. We all train differently, and there are different ways to do it to get that win. BUT, it doesn’t mean that every way is right. So, let’s talk about concepts and ideas, because I don’t want to talk about events, and I certainly don’t need to talk about people. That way nobody needs to take things personally, and we may all benefit from the idea. Take it, expand it, make it better… and if you do, please let me know. I want to learn as well.

(Source: Yan Huckendubler)

1.) Practice:

We need to train, but what if we are tired? What if we are sore? What if we are injured? So, perhaps the best question is to ask, “What do you mean by ‘training’ or ‘practice’?” I think it’s a very broad concept and I think people make too many assumptions, especially if they are tired, sore, or injured. Injury is probably the most difficult, because pain is different for everyone. I’m not one to push to train under an injury, but if you’re in a tournament and you’re going to play anyway, then that kind of changes everything. I would not train the affected part, but there may be ways to train the rest of the body that isn’t injured. For competition, I would highly recommend training around the injured area, because you will go compete anyway; but I am not sure where I would stand if it was post-competition.

For example, a shoulder injury would be best not to do anything overhead depending on the type of injury, if it aggravates the shoulder, but your legs are fine, so do footwork, move around the court, or do light underhand strokes if it doesn’t cause any pain. If an ankle is injured, then move less, but  do movements that don’t involve the ankle. Going to the gym to do kettlebell swings or the rowing machine are possible things to stay in shape without killing the ankle. Any type of kneeling or quadruped exercises could work as well. So there are a lot of possibilities, even like… working on a serve for doubles/mixed.

(Source: Me)

2.) Recovery:

Warm up and cool downs are important, and Marc pointed it out right away on our first practice as most of us just went on court and started to hit. I can’t do that anymore because I physically can’t, but I’m guilty of doing that when I was younger for sure. Cool downs are also interesting, because stretching is so casual, and people always stretch the things they are better at. Or, people do ‘extra exercise’ because it’s really going to make a difference if you do some crunches? Just because it ‘burns’ you’re getting better at it? Well, it burns when I do rotator cuff external rotations with a band, but I don’t think I’m making it stronger. I would use it as a warm up, but doing ab exercises which involve spinal flexion ‘as fast as you can’ (or, I guess AMRAP) after training doesn’t seem particularly effective to me. Why not try the RKC plank instead? Again, this simply comes from asking 2 questions: 1) What is the purpose of doing this? 2) Is there a better or more effective way to accomplish that task?

We had to try the ice baths on one of the first days, but I didn’t like it. It was so cold that I actually cramped up in my bicep later on. I have no idea why, but if I had to guess, I was very tense during the duration of the ice bath, and tension usually involves flexion, so hence, huge tension in my biceps which probably is excessive for 6 minutes. The next day, I didn’t feel particularly better, so I decided that the ice bath didn’t really help (and for a nerd bonus, I looked up a Cochrane Collaboration meta-analysis on ice baths in 2012 and read through the study, not just the abstract). Some people “drank the kool-aid” and continued doing the ice bath, which is totally fine with me. I felt protein supplementation after a hard practice, foam rolling, and the odd massage worked better for me. And it may work for you as well, or it might not. Maybe you could ice bath and massage and feel great the next day. I would totally continue if I were you. However, the question I propose is: is it really working for you? I’m not against people who find things that work for them, but I’m against the people that just go through the motions. (‘It’s not really doing anything, but I’ll just do it anyway because I always do it’). That’s a great way to get stale. How will you improve then?

(Source: Me)

3.) Performance

Here’s an interesting thought: would you play better if you didn’t worry about a thing, or if you were worried about the outcome of the match? Or worse, how do you think you play if you are worried what other people think of you? Let’s start with myself: when I compete, I don’t care if people are cheering for me, or against me. I’m the one on court, so I’m in charge. It doesn’t matter what other people who aren’t competing think during the competition. Afterwards, it’s a bit different, because I’d like feedback from those who understand the game. Casual observations are considered, but I’m not going to watch a hockey game and go tell a hockey player what they need to do.

I stopped worrying about the outcome. I try not to worry about the score. I’m just here to play a single rally, and I hope to reset my feelings each time. Win the moment, then the rally, then the match. Thinking too little isn’t too productive for me, but thinking too much is also a hazard. Instead of telling myself, “I can win the rally”, I try to tell myself “I can get it back”. This prevents me from trying to hit winners, which may work at a certain level, but at the level I want to compete at, it’s not enough. So, that’s why I changed it.

However, my greatest weakness is the partnership. I find it hard to interact excessively with my partners. I know we have to work together, but I don’t like having to feel like I’m doing everything. If I’m not playing well, I do NOT expect my partner to make it better; I don’t expect anything from them. If I don’t play well, it has nothing to do with my partner, it is MY problem. They can try to help out, but at the same time, I’m sure you’ve all experienced too much compensation, and your partner tries to do too much, and then you are totally sunk. If I don’t play well, I try to minimize what I’m not doing well, and maximize what I’m doing right. So my partner can step in to help, but it’s important that I work very hard to get myself back into the game.

Encouragement is also difficult to me, because my mixed partners (past and present) have said this to me at some point in the match: “You need to encourage me more”. It bothers me, because I believe that you need internal motivation, not external motivation. Asking for help would be a much better way of communication: e.g. “My defense isn’t so great right now. Can you lift higher or lift a little less?” or “I’m going to give you the middle as well, so I can focus on just one side on defense”. That is true communication. Think of it this way, if you did a group project and the person who didn’t finish their portion in time asks for “more encouragement”, how would you feel? Granted, maybe it’s a different perspective if you don’t care what mark you get, but if you wanted to get the highest grade possible because your medical school application depends on it, I think it’ll be a different feeling.

However, I understand that ‘encouragement’ is very individual, and this is only my opinion. I have no problems encouraging people when they make an honest attempt at something and fall short, as I like to encourage effort over flattery or ‘sugar-coating’ things. In the context of high performance sport, I don’t think it is necessary for the external motivation because I believe the best athletes have that internal driving force. Athletes that need reassurance have a long way to go, or shouldn’t be competing in high performance sport.

(Source: Me - Actual Footage)

Different perspective (via Yan Huckendubler)

Final Thoughts:

Michelle made history, and I think it’s great that someone is finally getting some results for Canada. I wanted to be someone to do that, and maybe I still have a chance, but I’m happy that at least Michelle is paving the way. I hope that inspires people to do well in the future, which is also what I hope to achieve. I would like to get as far as I can, and I’d like to leave a path for someone in the next generation to follow. Maybe that’s why I’m trying to write and record what I do. We all know we have to train hard and train as much as you can, but I’d like to give you a better picture of things, so that the future generation can learn through my mistakes, instead of having to make them all over again. That’s how we get better as a country, because if we all simply leave, then the new generation has to figure it out all over again. Canada has a unique system, and understanding the system gives someone an edge against someone who doesn’t, or has to figure it out on their own. I only hope to share what I have learned so far, because there have been others before my generation that have helped me along. Not everyone gives back, but I would like to be someone who does… because I’m also someone who can.

And all I hope is that one day, my results can match my performance potential, but until then, I gotta keep working hard, one rally at a time.

(Source: Yan Huckendubler)

"The Talent Code"- Book Review

“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.” – Bruce Lee

“The Talent Code”, by Daniel Coyle, has been on my wishlist for a while, and I finally got a chance to get a copy when a local Chapters (bookstore) was closing and offered 50% off all books! Out of the 17 books I bought, I started with this one and I finished it in a day. It was a simple read, with quite a few stories to explain the concepts, so for me it worked out because they repeated a few key points over and over and I simply glossed over the stories. My goal is to give a recap of the book and try to take some points that I can take over to badminton.

One of the main concepts of the book was “deep practice”. This kind of practice, also known as “deliberate practice” by others, is the type of practice that is not fun. You are really grinding out the details and making a large effort to take a concept, analyze and break it down into pieces, then putting it back together. Mistakes are expected, and many of them as well. A reference to ‘futsal’ was made, in which Brazilian football (soccer) players used this game to develop their actual football game. With the higher restrictions and difficulty of the game, they had to find new ways of adapting to the game and hence, improving their overall technical skills.

This would be a strong reason for playing modified games, such as “Box Game”, or even 2 vs 1 Singles, or 3 vs 2 Doubles. Any type of modified game which restricts boundaries or certain shots (i.e. doubles with no lifting) should enhance technical skills based on those restrictions. However, from a coaching perspective, it may be helpful to inform players what their focus should be, or at least have the players discuss the best way to approach the modified game. I have often seen players seem confused and frustrated over a modified game because they cannot do what they can do typically (I’ve been here many times), and there is a lack of effort towards the game.

“Skill is myelin insulation that wraps neural circuits and that grows according to certain signals” (Coyle, 2009). This is the science behind deep practice, in that you are essentially adding myelin in your brain to optimize neural circuits, without getting too technical into neuroscience (out of my scope of practice, although motor learning does interest me). The ’10 000 hour’ rule is addressed here, but it is expanded to ‘10 000 hours of deep practice’, which gives world-class skill.

From a badminton standpoint, it would be interesting to see how much we overestimate our abilities because 10 000 hours of badminton does not equal 10 000 hours of deep practice, at least in Canada. I can only wonder if I have reached 10 000 hours of deep practice in badminton myself…

Coyle gives the 3 rules of deep practice: 1) Chunk up, 2) Repeat it, and 3) Learn to feel it. The first rule looks at taking the process as a whole, and dividing it up into its smallest possible parts. An example would be to look at an overhand stroke, but start out extremely slowly, as to ensure perfect technique before speeding it up. One of the quotes from the book was: “It’s not how fast you can do it. It’s how slow you can do it correctly.” The second rule involves repetition of the task (obviously!) but he talks about limits of practice. While he says that 3-5 hours/day is recommended, it may be best to stop once you get out of the ‘deep practice zone’. The final rule involves making mistakes, and that they should bother you; hence, you learn to “feel it”. As he discusses practice and not performance, corrections should be addressed immediately.

There are many takeaways from these 3 simple rules. I have already addressed slowing a stroke down to ensure perfect technique, but I’m not sure how often this strategy is used. I typically break down the stroke into parts, but I try to minimize the amount of steps for ease of memory. I typically would like to have students trying to hit a shuttle as soon as possible, as most of them feel the same way about it. However, this strategy would likely involve slowing down the stroke to perfection, then gradually building up speed until it reaches normal speed with perfect technique. I suppose this is like trying to improve your badminton game by playing more games, vs. breaking the game into smaller parts, practicing and perfecting each part, then putting it back together into a complete game.

The second rule makes a lot of sense, because I have come across research about motor learning where it is best not to practice fine motor skills under fatigue. However, it is definitely up to debate. I would say a complex skill like a jump smash would be better with perfect technique and execution, and by practicing jump smashes when you are tired will affect your overall technique because of small tweaks in posture or force development. The quality of smash is affected, and constantly practicing tired jump smashes may make small adjustments in the overall quality of your jump smash. However, I would say it is context dependent, because some will argue that you need to jump smash when you are tired, but I will ask if a jump smash is the right shot selection at that point (i.e. why not a regular smash)?

The final rule is essential for practice, and I think it’s important (in practice only) to understand whether shots you hit are good or bad, or whether the shot is going as you intended. Sometimes we hit drives or smashes too high, and they magically float and land on the back line. Often times I see players celebrating or assuming they did well because they won the rally, but the execution was not correct. Personally, I’m the opposite and I’m overly critical when that happens, even in matches (where it is good to note for later, but not dwell on the fact. Next rally, go!). Shot quality is quite important and I feel that we neglect it as long as the shot goes over the net (e.g. during multi-shuttle drills). Or, we take the opposite approach and only focus on shot quality and neglect proper movement to the shuttle. In the concept of deep practice, both are necessary in optimizing neural circuits.

Coyle’s next major insight in “The Talent Code” is the concept of ‘ignition’, which is really just his word for passion, drive, motivation or will to succeed. He talks about having a sustained motivation, which is an important concept because many of us can be motivated, but only a few of us STAY motivated. In his research, he found that people who have a high commitment will tend to stay motivated and practice more than those with lower commitment.

The simplest way to look at this in badminton are those who are looking to pursue the Olympics for Canada. Who took a 4 year commitment to train and compete? Who took less (i.e.2 or 3 years)? Perhaps I should look to extend my commitment to the 2016 Olympics, instead of the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Coyle also describes what he calls “Primal Cues” which may drive us to pursue our tasks. Two primal cues include ‘You Are Not Safe’, which speaks about the will and drive to succeed for children who have lost a parent (although possibly debilitating for some), and ‘You’re Behind – Keep Up’ which gives success to younger children in the family. However, Coyle acknowledges that the concept of ‘ignition’ doesn’t necessarily follow normal rules, which means that motivation can sometimes come from the most unlikely of sources.

Upon reflection, perhaps my ‘ignition’ came from wanting to win a junior national title so badly, until I found international badminton, and realized that there was so much more than a Canadian Junior National Title (not to take that away from anyone, because I never won one :P ). My new ignition came from a hope for future success, owing to the opportunity of a lifetime to train with Kim Dong Moon in Canada, and now, the new ignition is a new approach to training and competition, a new partnership, and a new start. Challenges do exist and I’m still at the beginning of an uphill battle, but finding new ways to overcome hurdles may be my own ignition. Find what motivates you and achieve your personal best!

Additional pointers from the book that I found useful include having a continued ignition as the key to success, praise efforts over intelligence, and pay attention to details. As these pointers are quite self-explanatory, I will address the final key to success according to Coyle, after deep practice and ignition: master coaching. Coyle talks about master coaches having “extraordinary sensitivity to the person they’re teaching, customizing each message to each student’s personality” (2009). Although coaching may be more art than science, he also addressed that average-skilled teachers or coaches may offer continuous ignition for those and help them to progress.

This concept hit hard, because it differed from Geoff Colvin’s definition of an expert. Colvin speaks of deliberate practice, but includes world-class coaching. Looking back at my career, I would think I was fortunate to have both at some point. To prevent this discussion from going too long, I think both players and coaches need to work together in addressing individual needs. I think the player should learn to make the most with their coach and understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, but the coach should also treat each player individually, instead of the typical group mentality that most players get. All we would need is a little effort, trust, and lots more deep practice! We can learn from everyone… but first, we need to be open-minded.

Post Game Re-Cap with Coach Darryl Yung:
DY: "Why do you still play singles?"
TN: "... Good point."
(Photo Credit: Joseph Yeung)

Coyle speaks about the 4 Virtues of a Master Coach: 1) The Matrix, 2) Perceptiveness, 3) GPS Reflex, and 4) Theatrical Honesty. The first virtue speaks about a master coach being able to take it to a deeper level (hence, ‘The Matrix’, i.e. red pill or blue pill?). Master coaches may have been former talents who may not have reached their potential success, but tried to figure out where they went wrong. They can offer genuine information because there is no survivorship bias, because they will tell you what went wrong, and at least how to avoid making their mistake. The second virtue is the ability of the coach to gather information about individual players and treat them individually. Knowing when athletes are tired is important to prevent overtraining and also to optimize an individual’s performance. For example, some players need a pep talk, some need time alone, while some may just need a simple nod or pat on the back to encourage them to perform. The ‘GPS Reflex’ refers to how direct and simple GPS commands are (i.e. turn left, you have arrived at your destination, etc.). Coaching should be simple and direct, so information is given and understood with as little ambiguity or filler as necessary (e.g. “I think you should maybe try hitting a bit harder next time”). The final virtue, ‘theatrical honesty’ is a means of keeping your athletes guessing; have a different personality for a different player. For example, a coach to be enthusiastic and cheerful to players who also exert that same energy, or being quiet and patient for different player, is part of being a master coach. In conclusion, athlete should not be looking to do things by themselves: find a master coach!

I think we have many great coaches, but perhaps there are a few virtues that each coach may be missing. In our system, coaches simply continue to coach, but most do not have any way of continuing their education. How can we expect anyone to make a change if they are not aware of it? Perhaps feedback and trust should go both ways: a player cannot develop as well if they do not get feedback from the coach, but can this go the other way? A coach will likely not be as good of a coach if they have no students, but we never give coaches feedback like we give our teachers a student evaluation. Coaches can practice these virtues as well, and in the end, everybody will benefit, because they will understand how to develop their players, and their players will perform better.

Celebrating a win with Coach Ronne Runtulalao at the 2013 Canada Open
(Photo Credit: Joseph Yeung)

Overall, I highly recommend the book and to give it a read. It’s only about 200 pages and it’s not too long. The stories are enriching and there are some other good points that I have not shared. I think the book is great for both players and coaches, and I think it will definitely give some new ‘ignition’ for both, as well as the ability to take practice to a ‘deeper’ level!

Visit the website here: http://thetalentcode.com/

2014 Junior Nationals Speech

I was asked to do a little speech last minute at the 2014 Junior Nationals to add a bit more depth to the opening ceremonies, so I wrote up a 5 minute presentation and based it on my own junior career. I've included the contents of the speech as I drafted it earlier, and I was more-or-less able to include all the material into the speech (minus the cool pictures). For those who missed it or those who were not able to attend (e.g. the entire province of Quebec), here it is:


Thank you all for taking the time to come here and support another Junior Nationals. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Toby, current National Team member and I’m partnered with Alex Bruce, and also with Philippe Charron. I train out of this wonderful facility, and I had the great fortune of competing at the 2012 London Olympics. I’d like to wish all of you the best of luck in competing to become this year’s national champion, much like the other players as listed on the website (www.badmintonnationals.com), including current National team members, like... Alex Bruce, Michelle Li, Joycelyn Ko from Ontario (*cheer after each Province*), Philippe Charron from Quebec, Grace Gao from Alberta, and Phyllis Chan, Christin Tsai, and Derrick Ng, who they've left out, from BC. Honorable mention: Dave Snider of Manitoba, but we’ll say Prairies, so that includes Saskatchewan! Many of our top players have performed well as juniors, and it is helping them extend their badminton careers. 

But, every year, there are only 4-8 winners per age group. Sometimes we come up a bit short, despite all of our training goals and all the sacrifices we put into the year for this one tournament. I knew that feeling well. I didn't make that list for a reason, because I never won a junior national title. I think I was seeded first in doubles for my last year of U19, and 2 years of U23, when they started U23s in 2006, and 2007. I had a freak loss in U19 in the semifinal and I vowed to quit badminton and become a bboy instead (well, look how that turned out), and in the 2 years of U23, I played 4 events and won 4 silver medals.

#throwback U19 Nationals in Saskatoon 2004
(L to R:) Kyle Holoboff, Richard Liang, Alvin Lau, & myself

#throwback U23 Nationals in Montreal #bboystance
(L to R:) Ronnie Runtulalao (coach), myself, & Adrian Liu

#throwback U23 Nationals in Montreal #bboystance
(L to R:) Ronnie Runtulalao (coach), Adrian Liu,
myself, Luke Kuroko, & Kevin So

It was tough, but I was given that opportunity to look a little bit further. Instead of continuing to chase that National title, I took the opportunity to compete internationally (for the record, I never played World Juniors either, but I volunteered for one, which totally doesn’t count). I ended up skipping my last year of U23 Nationals, my final chance to win a title, but for Thomas Cup team finals. I suppose if your focus is so narrow, you’ll miss the big picture. As Bruce Lee quotes, “It’s like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”

So I finally won my National title in 2009. It was a Senior National title, and the feeling was bittersweet. I mean, sure I finally met my goal, but I had actually won the 2008 Pan Am Championships a few months before, so I was technically continental champion before I was National champion… all that 20 months since my last U23 Nationals. Sweeeeet…

For those who have won before, it’s also a lesson in consistency. When you are the front runner, everyone is chasing you. So you have 2 options, fend off your spot from challengers, or find someone else to chase. Aiming higher may make things easier, but sometimes aiming too high may be harmful as well if it becomes too unrealistic. I would say that I've lost at the 2010 Nationals because I was aiming too high, and I lost this year because I wasn't aiming high enough. Tragic, but it’s a wake-up call. I hope you can learn from my mistake instead of making your own. Regardless, I’ve picked myself up and I’m training hard for my next series of tournaments in the summer, including the World Championships. I’d be foolish to train really hard just to win Nationals again because I have confident in my abilities. Often times, I find if you play a player/team 10 times, you can win 80% of the time. That means you’ll lose to them 1 in 5 times, for whatever the reason. Sometimes, it will be at that most important tournament of the year, but don’t take it personally. Over time, your average will work itself out. 

Don’t give up, no matter what happens this week… and keep playing. It’s often not realistic to be the best all the time, but if you work hard, you can be best most of the time. Take that as a trade secret.
For some, this may be your first badminton Nationals; but for all of you, I hope this won’t be your last one.

Thank you, and have a great week!