are you making this mistake

What you want more than anything is to become better atbadminton, and start winning matches, right?Certainly that is most likely why you signed up for theBadminton Secrets Newsletter.And it's why I think you'll find this tip particularly useful.It's going to seem counter-intuitive.And it's going to seem quite difficult to grasp.But bear with me, as it could make a massive difference to yourgame.When you think about winning, in what way do you think aboutyour opponent?Maybe you want to beat them into the ground?Perhaps you want to really make them suffer?Well, here's a tip from me:DON'T!!!You see Deepak, if you approach your badminton with theattitude that you winning is going to make someone else 'lose'something, then you will not improve half as much as you could.But if you see each game as a chance for you both to improveyour play, regardless of the score, then you will find that thepath will be opened for you to get even better.And, ultimately, for you to win a LOT more.To put it simply, if you are trying to win by taking away youropponent's power, then you are only ever going to get the valueof your opponent's game.But there is plenty of ability to improve out there.A game isn't about (psychologically at least) being a race towin the points against someone else.Which is what a lot of people view it as.But if you can see it as a game where no one loses, and eachperson gains in their badminton, you will find that suddenlyyour whole game opens up and improvement will come a lotquicker.Which of course means that you will start winning a lot more!Ironic really...In a nutshell, if you stop thinking of there being a limitedamount of badminton ability (ie you have to make youropponent(s) lose something for you to win), and start seeingeach game as there being infinite chance of both of you gettingbetter, your game will skyrocket.

excitement,tension........

This can be a very frustrating area for a coach. You've done everything you can to prepare your players for a tournament, and then they get too nervous to play, or get carried away with the moment.There are two things that you need to concentrate on.Obviously, one is what you do and say during the tournament, and I'll come onto that later.The other is when the tournament is finished, and the time before the tournament.Emotions such as nerves, tension or excitement get out of control when players internalise feelings that they get naturally. Your job as a coach is to get the players to talk about what they are feeling in as honest a way as possible.When they know that there is a safe, non-judgemental, non-critical person that they can openly describe how they are feeling to, they are a lot less likely to get the same feelings next time.It is important that they do say how they are feeling, but not see it as a problem, merely a hurdle to be overcome. The negative feelings spiral out of control when they feel a problem, then worry ABOUT the problem, and then worry about that, and so on. By cutting off the spiral at the top, you can prevent a number of problems.Often, just by admitting what is happening, this will open the way for it not to happen next time. If you can get them just to say "yes, I get over-excited and miss the shuttle" and LAUGH about it (but still want to fix it), you are already half way there.So what do you say DURING a tournament?Of course with all the exercises that you get in the Badminton Secrets Audio Course, hopefully they will be well prepared, because being prepared is key to banishing worries and nerves.But on the day, it is important that you do a number of things:1) Praise your players. If a player is getting worried or nervous, they are focussing on the negatives of their game. By reminding them of the good things that they are doing, you will bring their mind back to what they need to be concentrating on.2) Get them to concentrate on one point at a time.It's a cliché, but if you can remind them to take each game point by point, instead of thinking of whether they are going to win the game, or the fact that everyone is watching them. Repetitively say 'point at a time' to them, again to keep them focussed. Many's a time I've come back from scores like 7-14 down, or 12-20 down by doing this (and saying it to my partner after EVERY point!).3) Remind them to breathe.This is true for both sides of the coin - if they have too much adrenalin, or too many nerves! It has been proven that just by taking a couple of long, deep breaths in and out, your body slows down and is more in control of its actions. And this will only help their badminton.4) Don't criticise, or complain!The worst thing that someone who is in a less-than-perfect state of mind wants to hear is criticism, or someone telling them off about something. This is often like a red rag to a bull, however well-intentioned the comments may be. So even though you may be despairing, don't let it show!5) Remind them to focus.'Focus' is an important word in badminton. It is like a telescope, we focus in on what we want to look at, then see something else and go onto that, then something else in the corner of our eye. By having someone there simply saying the word 'focus', we jolt out of this random thinking, back to the job in hand, remembering what we are there to do. So even if you feel you are saying this to your kids and they aren't taking any notice, the message will be getting across and being implanted into their brains so that it comes naturally while they are playing.

Vaughan the Last Man Standing for Worlds

Wales’s Richard Vaughan heads out as the sole Welsh competitor for the Proton BWF World Badminton Championships in KL, Malaysia 13^th-19^th August. Despite 5 Welsh players qualifying, Martyn Lewis, Matthew Hughes, Joe Morgan and James Phillips namely the other 4, a funding crisis has seen all support withdrawn for all 5 with only Richard deciding to take on the ominous task of self funding to Asia for badminton’s most prestigious event.

In the draw Richard has been drawn to meet in the first round French No1 Erwin Kehlhoffner . World No48 Kehlhoffner last week’s winner of the North Shore City International in New Zealand has been in good form of late and will be looking to carry forward this momentum into next weeks World Championships.

Vaughan said “Erwin will be a tough game; I have a played two, won two record with him this year, but I am well aware of his recent good results and will be taking nothing for granted. He’s a proven dangerous opponent.”

Richard has recently been drawn into a personal dilemma over the funding crisis which has struck WelshBadminton, a situation that has seen the Sports Council for Wales freeze all financial support towards the Welsh Badminton Team and could effect Richard critically as he sets his aim on a third successive Olympic Games in Beijing next year.

“The funding situation is disappointing and the decision making seems to lack logic especially when I am compared to other players within the GB structure who are receiving support. The timing of it all couldn’t be worse. The situation has never been an easy one as an athlete coming from Wales, and I am used to having to compete through difficult financial circumstances. I have done well in the past and I remain committed to qualification for Beijing 2008 for which I see no reason that I could not qualify for. One would think that Government directed money should be better aimed at Olympic athletes who are proven medal winners at major championships.”

“Additionally there seems to be parties within WelshBadminton who are unrelenting in their efforts to submit destructive comments in regards to my situation. Criticism is always something I have openly welcomed if it comes from a source that can be respected, but when it’s made with no constructive intent and from persons who really hold no position to comment, it can only ever serve a negative purpose not least to me but to Badminton in Wales as a whole. “

“At the moment Badminton in Wales seems to be reaching a desperate meltdown structurally and financially. There has been no National coach for the past year, funding has dried up, and the senior team are struggling for results. I would like to help find the answers as we work together for a long term solution for the future of Welsh Badminton”

“Thankfully there are those who remain strong and committed to me on the road to Beijing. My sponsors Memory Lane Cakes, and Head are the main financial contributors but there are numerous people and parties from all round the UK that continue to help me immensely on a daily basis.”

Good Philippines effort from Smith

Andrew Smith beat Korea's Lee Hyun-ll to reach the last 16 of the Philippines Open before losing to Malaysian second seed Lee Chong Wei.

Smith beat the Korean 22-24 21-19 21-13 in the second round before going down to Lee 21-12 21-16. Smith (Hants) was the only English player in the tournament.

The Malaysian took the title by beating top seed Chen Hong of China 21-19 21-15 having benefited from a semi-final walkover.

Other winners:

Women's singles: Zhou Mi (Chn)

Men's doubles Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong (Mas)

Women's doubles: Yu Chin Chien & Wen Hsing Cheng (Tpe)

Mixed doubles: Nova Widianto & Lilyana Natsir (Ina)

Clark and Kellogg go down bravely in China Masters

Sunday

World silver medallists Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg missed out in the mixed doubles final of the China Masters. The England pair lost to Zheng Bo and Gao Ling, just as they had in the Yonex All England final in March.

Clark and Kellogg, who lost in three games in the Birmingham final, went down in two games today, losing 21-16 21-17.

Zheng and Gao had beaten world champions Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms in the semi-finals to follow up their quarter-final win over them in Birmingham.

China won four of the five titles in Chengdu with only the women's doubles eluding them.

Saturday

Hopes of an all-English mixed doubles final at the China Masters in Chengdu were dashed today. But instead there is a revenge match between the Yonex All England finalists.

World champions and top seeds Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms lost their contest against a third consecutive Chinese pair when they went down to Zheng Bo and Gao Ling 21-18 21-12.

But seventh seeds Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg, the world runners-up and national champions, beat 2005 world champions and fourth seeds Lilyana Natsir and Nova Widianto of Indonesia 21-18 21-18.

That sets up a Sunday final against Zheng and Gao, the pair who beat them in the Yonex All England final in March.

England's hopes of another pair in the finals day action were dashed when seventh seeds Emms and Kellogg, the European champions, lost to fifth seeds Zhao Tingting and Yang Wei of China 21-9 21-16.

Friday

WORLD champions Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms and national title-holders Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg are through to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles at the China Masters in Chengdu.

In today’s quarter-finals top seeds and world No 1s Robertson and Emms beat sixth seeds He Hanbin and Yu Yang 21-18 20-22 21-14. They now meet a third consecutive Chinese pair in Yonex All England champions Zheng Bo and Gao Ling.

The Athens silver medalists beat Olympic rival Zhang Jun in the second round. They now meet his Olympic gold medal partner Gao Ling in the semi-finals.

Seventh seeds Clark and Kellogg had to come from a game down against second seeds Xie Xhongbo and Zhang Yawen before winning their quarter-final 10-21 21-18 21-17. They now face fourth seeds and 2005 world champions Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir in tomorrow’s semi-finals.

England are still in contention in the women’s doubles where Emms and Kellogg won their quarter-final against Lena Frier Kristiansen and Kamilla Juhl of Denmark 21-23 21-16 21-14.

And the big news on the singles front is the return of Commonwealth champion Tracey Hallam to the world's top 20 for the first time since her autumn ankle operation. She is back in at No 18.

Mixed doubles quarter-finals:

{1} Nathan Robertson & Gail Emms (Eng) bt (6) He Hanbin & Yu Yang (Chn) 21-18 20-22 21-14

{3} Zheng Bo & Gao Ling (Chn) bt {8} Thomas Laybourn & Kamilla Juhl (Den) 22-20 21-19

{4) Nova Widianto & Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt {5} Sudket Prapakamol & Saralee Thoungthongkam (Tha) 21-17 21-16

{7} Anthony Clark & Donna Kellogg (Eng) bt {2} Xie Xhongbo & Zhang Yawen (Chn} 10-21 21-18 21-17

Thursday

Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms were again among the early winners as the China Masters moved into day two.

The world No 1s beat old Olympic rival Zhang Jun and new partner Zhao Tingting 21-16 21-6 to sweep into the quarter-finals. There they will face Chinese sixth seeds He Hanbin and Yu Yang - and to win the title there is a possibility of Chinese opposition for the rest of the tournament with Yonex All England champions Zheng Bo and Gao Ling possible semi-final opponents and second seeds Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen bidding to come through from the bottom half of the draw.

But world runners-up Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg will have something to say about that.

They are very much in contention in the bottom half, although they had to survive a nail-biter against Polish pair Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiucyk before winning 21-10 15-21 24-22 in today's second round.

Emms and Kellogg are also through to the quarter-finals in the women's doubles after beating Indonesia's Endang Nurusgianti and Rani Mundiasti in straight games.

They will play the winner of the second-round clash between Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa and Xie and Zhang.

A repeat of Clark and Kellogg's All-England form could well see them coming through from the bottom half.

England had a third pair through to the second round in Kristian Roebuck and Natalie Munt, who put up a spirited display in the first game against eighth seeds Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl before the Danes pulled away to win 21-17 21-11.

Wednesday

WORLD champions Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms were taken to three games in the opening round of the China Masters today before avenging their European Championship defeat by German pair Kristof Hopp and Birgit Overzier.

The England pair, back on top of the world rankings, came back to win 15-21 21-11 21-7 on day one proper of this seventh Super Series event.

Emms and European championship winning partner Donna Kellogg benefited from a walkover in the women's doubles first round.

But there was disappointment for England's world top 20 star Andrew Smith (pictured), who fell in straight games to third seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

And there was double disappointment for world silver medallist Robert Blair. He and Anthony Clark fell in the men's doubles first round against China's double Olympic mixed champion Zhang Jun and partner Zheng Bo.

Then Blair and Scotland's Imogen Bankier lost in three tight games to Kristian Roebuck and Blair's former partner Natalie Munt, falling 22-20 in the decider.

Commonwealth women's singles champion Tracey Hallam was among the England squad members playing matches later in the evening on day one but she was unlucky enough to run up against China's eighth seed Lu Lan and went down in a tough three-setter 21-13 19-21 21-14.

Another big evening clash was the contest between seventh seeds and world runners-up Clark and Kellogg against team-mates David Lindley and Suzanne Rayappan. The national champions won in straight games but it was close in the second with Clark and Kellogg going through 21-14 23-21.

Confidence

Confidence.

According to my dictionary's definition, it means either:

"The state or quality of being certain"

or

"A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance."

So in fact, it is merely a 'state' or a 'feeling'.

Now that is good news!

All we have to do is to change our state and we will
become confident!

And that is the BIG secret.

Being confident has nothing to do with our real life
chances of succeeding, but rather it is how we feel at any
one time.

So it's "the state or quality of being certain". But what
shall we be certain of?

Let's say you have a singles match against someone who is
miles better than you.

Are you certain that you are going to win?

No siree, not in the least!!

Are you certain that you are going to give your best in
the game and try and win as many points as possible?

Now we're getting somewhere!

Let's take the opposite, a game against someone who is a
lot weaker than you, a game that you really should win.

Are you certain that you are going to win?

Weeell, pretty much, but there's never any certainty that
you will win any game.

Are you certain that you are going to give your best in
the game and try and win as many points as possible?

Snap! Yes, you are, and from that certainty will come
unstoppable confidence.

Lets take the other definition now...

-- "A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance."

OK, back to the dictionary!!

Self assurance:

"freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your
abilities."

Sooo, confidence is not so much about how sure you are
about winning, rather it is the amount of belief that you
have in your abilities.

Putting both of these together, we can define confidence
as "believing for certain that you will try as hard as you
possibly can".

Now that is a much easier kind of confidence to get!!

If you can go into every game having decided that whatever
happens, you will keep going and play your own game to the
best of your abilities, you can relax and not have to
worry about the outcome.

Your confidence will come from knowing that no one can
stop you from trying your hardest, no bad score can stop
you from fighting and giving your all.

You won't look across at your opponent and feel fear,
because you have that inner confidence that whatever they
throw (or hit!) at you, you can only give back what you
have, and that if that is not enough, then you will learn
from that and be stronger for next time.

Remember when you next go on court that confidence comes
from within, and nothing can take it away from you without
your permission.

How To Achieve Anything

There are five words that I would like to share with you
that should be written down, memorised, in fact etched
onto your brain, as the best, most rewarding way of
achieving anything.

Anything?

Yes, anything.

These five words haved formed the basis for the wealth of
the richest men in the world, from John D. Rockefeller to
Bill Gates.

They have provided people with more love than they could
possibly have imagined, more success and more happiness.

These five words have been handed down from generation to
generation and not only make a significant difference to
whoever heeds them, but affect the rest of the world too.

The words are as follows:

"Give and ye shall receive".

It is one of the mysteries of the world.

The more you give, the more you will receive.

But (and there's always a 'but'!), you must give in the
correct way.

It's no good giving some money to charity and then
expecting to win the lottery next week.

The important thing is that you must give WITHOUT ANY
THOUGHT OF GETTING ANYTHING IN RETURN.

So am I saying to get something, you have to give it, but
without expecting to get it back in any way?

Yes, I suppose I am really!

It isn't so much a badminton secret, as a life secret
(hmm, there's an idea for a website...) although we will
be looking at how to apply it to badminton in just a
second.

It could almost be described as a universal truth, that
that which you give with a grateful heart, will come back
to you tenfold.

Not always immediately, and not usually even from the
place that you originally gave, but the way that the world
works means that you will always end up with more than you
give.

It changes your thinking from things coming into you, to
things going out from you. This then makes you ready to
receive what it is that you desire! Simple really...

I tell you this not because I'm a particularly spiritual
or religious person, but because as your new badminton
life coach, I want to tell you what works and can make
your life and game a whole lot better!!

Speaking of which, how CAN this help your badminton game?

How indeed!

Now's the time to switch the thinking from 'how can I play
better badminton' to 'how can I give to other people in
badminton'.

Obviously you know your own situation better than I do, so
here are a few examples to be going on with.

- Someone gives their time by staying behind and coaching
some juniors free of charge. The juniors tell their
regular coach, and he invites that person to a session
where they pick up a whole host of tips and techniques.

- Someone does a sponsored event to fund their badminton,
and manage to get twice as much as they had planned and
decide to give half to charity. One of the charity's
biggest donors hears of this, and donates twice as much to
the player's fund than they originally made.

- One too many people have been booked to play in a match.
The player who offers to stand down is then included in
the next match, against the league leaders that helps take
that person's game to a new level.

Now these are all totally made up scenarios, written not
to show you how you can benefit from giving, but hopefully
to give you different ideas of the ways that you can give
in badminton.

Not only, according to this universal law, will you get
more back than you ever give, but other people will
immeasurably benefit from your kindness!

Think of the possibilities!

So never (not that I'm sure you do) give bad line calls on
purpose.

Encourage other players, even if they might be your
nearest rivals.

When you notice your rival has a tell-tale sign that they
are going to play a certain shot, TELL THEM!

What is this crazy man telling me to do, I hear you ask!

Tell my rival where their faults are?

YES! Because, the universal truth will reward you with
more than you ever give.

You have to trust it, if you want to allow for everything
that you wish to achieve.

Now I'll leave you to go out and test this new principle,
and have fun doing it!

Remember, giving with no thought for getting anything back
is the quickest way to receiving more than you can ever
dream of.