“Breaking shuttles since day 1.”

– Rashmi Bopitiya

With just a week more to go, us badminton players have been working our hands off, staying back later than the required time to get that extra bit of practice, for the upcoming SAISA tournament.

This may sound a bit strange but truly, there is no greater pride nor a greater honor than to be the captain of the SAISA Badminton Varsity Team for 2019. Not only because the team itself is brilliant but also because I know I have done everything in my capability to ensure that our team stays a team. From giving moral support and cheering on players to advising them and shouting at them when they are not taking practice seriously, I have truly given it my all this year.

My biggest concern probably is my mixed doubles matches, given how my partner is very new to the sport. We haven’t had as much practice as I would’ve liked but other than that, everything else seems good to go.

Areas I’ve been trying to improve upon are my footwork, speed and backhand shots. I have seen some improvement in my backhand shots and even in footwork but my speed is still lacking. I still make some errors that cost me points when playing a match.

To improve my speed, I plan to do sprints and some Hight Intensive Interval Training during the course of this week. I will avoid jogging as it slows my overall speed down. I have planned a raining schedule starting from the 28^th of January to the 4^th of February 2019. This schedule is aimed at keeping my fitness at its optimum and leaving enough room for muscle recovery prior to match day 1.

My schedule goes as follows:

28th Mon	29th Tue	30th Wed	31st Thurs	1st Fri	2nd Sat	3rd Sun	4th Mon	5th Tue
Practice, 1.5 hours	Sprinting, 1.5 hours	Match CIS, 2 hours	Shadow Practice, 1.5 hours	Training, 1.5 hour	Practice, 2 hours	Sprinting, 1.5 hours	Practice, 1.5 hours	Swim, 1.5 hours

 

For the next week, I am going to push myself to my limit because all of the above, I’ve handled before, but I will be cautious as to not injure myself in the process.

I really do want this year matches to go well as we have a reputation to hold and this will be the last year I play with this team, so I want to make this one as memorable as possible.

Well, wish us luck!

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New Update: 30/01/2019

Today we played against the Colombo International School, CIS, and I played 5 matches, of which I won 4. The first two matches were girls’ singles, the next two were against two males and I won one and lost the other.

The final match was a girls’ doubles where we won with a significant score difference which was great, considering that Chelsea and I haven’t played together in a while due to a leg injury she sustained. From these matches, I can say that I can see an improvement in my shots due to better footwork and speed but not much.

My backhand shots are much better but my clear still needs working. In order to improve, I will be doing shadow practice and rallies with my heavy weight racket. Heavy weight rackets are heavier rackets and are aimed at improving muscle strength. I will also do more shadow practice and improve my speed on court by doing more sprinting as planned.