Circumstances
When I moved to Lymm to live, I wanted to discover local clubs just for turning up and playing to preserve fitness and socializing a bit.
However, the level of English I spoke at that time was not sufficient to get into conversations easily or maintain them effectively. The recognition of words did not work, I had to collect voice samples of nearly every one of them in the group for months to understand what they wanted to say to me.
This was a mixed age group from people in their 30’s to their 60’s, men and women together. They have played in the old scoring system (15 points) and seemed to enjoy the games, most traditionally.
I fell in love with that, as I could play again in a system where it is easier to control these scores, the game is more about stamina and that is why it was exciting in a different way. Most people say that it was boring to play, I say the better stamina and a more effective technique could only win that game. And that situation provided the chance to uncover a phenomenon.
A non-linguistic way of teaching/learning movement patterns, tactics and fighting spirit, even at their ages.
All adults, who – in theory – have their closed skills and it is considered as it is near to impossible to change that. The first time we played together, they felt that it was a very different level of control from what they were used to see. They were not sure if that was control or continuous luck.
I have not made smashes, I kept my playing style nice. Have moved them around, they could just reach the shuttle and the return most likely was without interest. We had good laughs, and they all enjoyed it.
After a couple of weeks, I saw a move from one chap, let’s call him Albus, which I couldn’t believe. I am good at doubles, I can read the game, can control the moves of the opponents by scanning them and playing with their balance. I know my stuff. And on his level, it was astonishing.
He has not only delivered a shot with good quality, but he prepared it properly couple of rallies before, so it was absolutely unexpected from him.
I was wondering how is it possible that I haven’t seen that level of consciousness here before, but I do now?
Most amateurs do not follow up the shuttle to the net if they make a net shot. And he mostly did not. But I have continuously done my net shots while I was following them up. A net shot while you move forward. And one night Albus did it. He changed his habit because he recognized a more effective way to do it. And he won more points, sometimes against me.
Mark, in his 40’s, had good power generation and easily won games over most of the group with no struggle. When I arrived, he finally got challenged properly and had to play smarter. He developed a good net game and quicker reactions with shots he didn’t usually do. In 4 months he got sharper at the net and could finish rallies more effectively against me.
Katie played quite smart at that time, I thought that she could not change a lot. Despite that her power generation was weak, she seemed to enjoy games against other women. I do not think that she changed any of her techniques, but she has seen how we play faster and more intense games and it developed her vision significantly. Her net shots were accurate and difficult to take advantage of them.
The most exciting part of doubles happens at the net and on the mid court. These are situations involving quick solutions with precision.
So the effectiveness of the shot delivery was reduced for a while, but hey, they tried to change their habits as their regular solutions seemed not to fit into the new environment.
I could not explain to them what to do, I did not speak at that level back then. All in all, without telling them a word about what I do, how I do it or why, they have become sharper and developed technical solutions they haven’t done before. They become eager at the net and vicious at their finishes. They have become richer by playing a more developed player.
I am no longer visiting them but follow them and would like to help the people in the area who are landing on one of my pages or live locally. I have loved playing with them and if I get some time, I will visit again. Great people, great atmosphere.
Wrap up
So why it is an important finding and what we can do about it? All those findings are very important
to understand how children learn:
- Foremost, it is a proof of many things. For instance, language is an addition for learning of movement and behaviour, but not the most essential part of it. What the learner see, as an example, is more important. If someone extraordinary plays next to them, it might be enough for them to imagine themselves, while they do those incredible shots.
- Based on the above, you can learn and use a movement/behaviour without having a thorough understanding of it or of its consequences.
- Dopamine is making the best basic memories of moves through joy, it helps the child to remember what it was like. They will be more able to recall the move, even when they have no consistency (muscle memories). If their successful moves resulting winner rallies in games, they will learn faster. Therefore, they must play a lot with their own levels, at the beginning.
- Visual training is a vast topic and it is so important. There are 10 different skills your eyes should have if you would like to be great in badminton. The eyes/vision also needs focus for children. If they see it more, they will learn the shuttle’s trajectories and speed abilities faster.
- We often not talk about how important the hearing is in this equation.