Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see.–Muhammad Ali
You may now call me the badminator. I recently caught the badminton fever. Badminton is a more practical sport for us Asians, compared to our favorite, basketball, where height is might. It is a big jump for me. I used to prefer bedminton on Sunday mornings, but now I badger friends for a badminton game before going to church.
It’s fun, inexpensive, wholesome, thrilling, family-oriented and world-famous, too. ESPN said badminton is the second most popular participatory sport in the world behind soccer, and it’s considered the fastest racket sport. More than 1.1 billion people watched badminton’s Olympic debut in 1996, making it the most-watched sport at those Games. It’s also the only Olympic sport where women and men play against each other.
Badminton is no longer a backyard game. Like Crouching Tiger martial artists, I’ve seen badminton players leap vertically three to four feet high in the air for a smash. The average rally of tennis is only three hits, compared to over 10 hits for badminton. The average distance traveled by a badminton player in a singles game is 3.7 miles, while the average distance traveled by a tennis player is only 1.8 miles. The fastest smash of the badminton shuttlecock listed in the Guinness Book of World Records occurred in 1997, when British player Simon Archer smashed a badminton shuttlecock at 260 kilometers per hour!
Archer told the British media: "A smash in badminton is more like a punch in boxing than a smash in tennis. You need to generate a lot of power through a short range very, very quickly… Some days, you feel you could smash through a brick wall; on others, you think you couldn’t hit a shuttle out of a wet paper bag. But for the best players in the world, it’s not just about hitting hard. You need the whole package of skills. Hitting hard is just one weapon in your armory."
Once at an interview with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the Rizal Room of Malacañang Palace, I asked her what’s her secret for looking so fit despite the stress of politics. GMA said that she either does the treadmill or plays badminton every night. Recently after lunch at the Tower Club in Makati, I asked PLDT big boss Manuel "Manny" Pangilinan how he maintains his robust health. He said he plays badminton daily at around midnight after all his office work! Former President Fidel V. Ramos, the golfer, reminded me that former first Lady Amelita "Ming" Ramos has been a staunch badminton advocate for years.
I signed up for the recent Grace Christian High School alumni badminton tournament organized by the older batch of 1980. The leveling sessions had classified me in the lowest Class F, while my more experienced teammates in the Fuji YKL team, such as world shooting champion Jethro Tan Dionisio and Noel Tiulok, were in Class A.
I told my doubles partner that I felt like Genghis Khan about to battle the Philippine Boy Scouts, that I would now know how it feels to commit the unconscionable crime of massacre. I wish my opponents were the despicable Abu Sayyaf criminal pests whom I would love to pulverize, not these hapless and defenseless kids being fed to the lion! Did Genghis Khan also feel this tinge of last-minute guilt combined with lusty excitement before he commenced his bloodthirsty slaughter of the innocents?
My first few hits seemed flawless and powerful. Early on, I was lucky to hit one spectacular smash that I thought had startled and shaken the earnest-looking kids. This is just a game, have no mercy, finish them off fast and clean, I kept telling myself. I kept hitting harder and faster, as part of the psychological warfare to annihilate the Boy Scouts. After the end of the exciting and vigorous two games, our scores were very lopsided at 3-15 and 5-15. It was indeed a bloody and shameful massacre of tragic Greek proportions – but it was we who were massacred!
After the loss, my face turned red with inexplicable feverish feelings. I felt like the arrogant conquistador Ferdinand Magellan with his firepower losing to the primitive tribal warriors of Lapu-Lapu in Mactan 484 years ago! I’m sure I saw the two kids conferring with what looked like a professional trainer, and I also saw their proud parents cheering at their victory.
What lessons have I learned from my stormy but passionate new love affair with badminton and after the recent catastrophic loss in my first tournament?
Whatever we do in life, have fun, always be humble, do things with passion. Jump high, dare to dream and smash all your giant fears away! Persevere. Always be of good cheer. Never lose hope, never give up in the face of defeat. Never be too arrogant to learn from others. The great secret to success is still old-fashioned hard work. Last but not the least, never ever underestimate your opponents!