Among the best memories of life, there were always the days of the Badminton, something which I started in detail in the year 2001 with the first Badminton bat I ever had – Kamachi, a sporting season which improved further in 2002 and carried on with no real training and finding one weird way or the other to play the sport. Now, with almost no chance to play Badminton anymore, I take a look at those memories. The Badminton had somehow survived until 2014 first half for me; even now it is not dead, but is close to it.
The first season of the Badminton Days was the Kamachi season – it was a racquet that survived only to make way for the next one – Wish. 2001-2004 was rather my learning season, and it was the time when I tried my best to work on a certain style for my game, and was hoping to get at least a few smashes right (as long as I could keep getting the shuttle to the other side :D). Except for getting the drop-shots right rarely, I could only come up with some very rare surprises against those power-smashers.
You see the former racquet with a shuttle (pack is empty :P) a pole and the court too 😀
2004-2006 was my next season, finding the smashes with the new racquet, and somehow able to return some of those smashes, but still having almost no backhand. It was only during the 2006-2008 season with the next racquet Kennex that I somehow discovered that backhand shots could be played, and for that I can only thank my love for Roger Federer reaching new heights. Even as I liked him much earlier, the imitation of that classic backhand was coming to me this time, and there were the good-looking wrist bands and elbow supports to inspire 😀
2008-2011 with my next Wish racquet was my best season ever, and this was also the time of having best energy. With a ban on cricket, football and any sport which required a ball by our association, Badminton thrived at that time, and it is to be noted that there were so many people to play the game from 2001-2011, these ten years being awesome for the sport. I perfected the tennis shots during that season, and could do the tennis backhands too; and there was my tribute to Roger Federer 😀
A racquet to remember, as I would like to talk about it and those lost Badminton days 😀
2011-2015 is the time of the next racquet, the fifth in the list, the Silvers blue one which is continuing its journey even as there is no Badminton anymore, as my hope to find a place to play has failed miserably. This is my best bat so far and has lasted more than any other considering the years, but if we consider the time spent playing, this one is yet to see enough of the court. I have still managed to damage it enough already by diving on the court with it in the beginning stages itself 😀
Badminton has been so much of a fun game, and I miss it so much nowadays. I even miss that wind which helped me to get the shuttle in even after it was hit outside. Among the things that I really wish to do and bring back to my life, Badminton should come first. Our Badminton group used to be at its best at that time, and during a golden age, there would be about twelve people around just trying to get a game, and having tea or lime juice after the game was priceless. I wonder why there is not much Badminton around these days – lazy people all around!
The present Silvers racquet and the cute little kitty who wanted to join the game at night 😉
I miss playing those weird shots – those tennis backhands to the corners, the hook shot drops, the tweener drop shots, the surprise tennis forehands, the leg glance drop shots, the surprise slice drop shot, the diving sweep shot – all variety inventions which have a lot of chance not to succeed, but there is always that awesome day at the court when things work 😀 You can guess that this kind of strange nonsense shots are not going to work against a good, trained player – but there is the happiness that you get once some of these work and use the surprise elements to win against a player of your same level 😉
*All photos used in this blog post were taken on my Nokia N95 and Sony Cybershot DSC-W310.
TeNy
The Tea Cerebrations 