As the days went by, I realise I needed to make Badminton more fun for my students, because what we’ve done have been just training and playing matches, I felt it could much better…
This is an important issue, especially for recreational players that train or play once a week. Problem is, after a week, they’ll forget techniques taught in the previous lessons, making me repeat or craft similar programs and that makes it kind of boring after a while. (At least I think they feel bored!)
I desperately wanted to make them burn with passion, or at least have fun and a good laugh training. And thus I started trying various methods to try and make badminton more fun like finding appropriate playing groups for them to get involved, competitions for them to compete and feel the excitement in the sport, adding a lot of variations to the program and more.
Still.. after much testing, I still felt training could be way more interesting. I clearly remember that I had a lot of fun in my good old training days, I just couldn’t figure out what was missing…
Finally I resort to asking my students themselves “How should training be? Like how can I make it really fun for you?”
And I’ve got some Really interesting answers that I absolutely have to share with you all!
Some students told me
“I like everything the way it is”
Some said
“Don’t worry, leave the fun part for us to find”
Others joked
“We can think about fun after I’ve lost X pounds/ inches off my waist”
And then there’s this student that said
“I think cheap thrills would be nice”
Bingo! I needed games with a little more thrill in them. I had been teaching for years and somehow over time I had forgetten these little games and challenges that gets everyone screaming their lungs out and cheering their teammates on. Basically games that are both fun while still meeting training objectives.
How could I have missed out?! Yes i know it’s bad for me to openly spell out my mistake but I really hope you don’t make the same mistake like I did, by being overly focused on improvement and neglect the joy & fun of the sport! Sure enough competing can be really fun, but sometimes we too need a mental break or just a good laugh to relieve stress from work/school/etc.
After reading this I really hope you don’t forget to add some cheap thrills into your trainings to make it way more fun.
Some examples are
E.g loser treats everyone drinks
– Any funny(but not dangerous) sorts of forfeits
– 5 versus 5
– touch & go
– Who can smashes the box most number of time wins
– Mimic the player opposite doing footwork
And the list goes on and on!
I really hope this list has benefitted you in some way and Please do share with me what are some of your favorite Cheap Thrills! I’d totally love to hear and try them out too.