Why We Only Teach Professional Badminton Training
If you’re not in the badminton coaching industry in Malaysia, this page might seem long to you. However, for parents who are actively seeking good badminton training or a coach to teach their kids, this page can be extremely helpful.
We will now break down our ST Badminton Academy topic into several subtopics “Why only teach professional badminton training“.
What is the Singapore and Malaysia current Scene of badminton Coaching?
In 2022, when a Singaporean badminton player achieves good results internationally and makes headlines in local newspapers like Zaobao, Straits Times, and on social media platforms, it motivates parents and kids to play badminton and enroll in training classes. This is a positive sign for Singapore and Malaysia as badminton has become more popular in recent years than it was in the past.
However, with the increasing number of badminton coaches and academies in the industry, many parents are unsure of how to choose the right coach or training class for their kids. While we appreciate every coach who sets up a badminton academy with the intention of helping the Singapore and Malaysia badminton community and who puts in time and effort to teach their students with proper planning and structured classes, there is still a high ratio of badminton academies and coaches not doing things the proper way.
Therefore, we aim to help all parents by sharing our coaching experiences and ensuring that the young generation receives high-quality coaching to become better players, just as Singapore and Malaysia keeps moving forward. Additionally, in recent years, the majority of Singapore Badminton National Team or Squad players are local players, which is an impressive improvement compared to five years ago.
How is our current Singapore Badminton National Team Quality?
In recent years, the majority of players in the Singapore Badminton National Team or Squad are locals, which is an impressive improvement compared to five years ago. This is not an easy feat for the Singapore Badminton Association, and we appreciate their hard work and new look. As parents, we all share the same vision and hope that our kids can represent our country one day. However, as badminton’s popularity in Singapore continues to rise, so does the risk of coaches and training classes that prioritize profit over helping the community.
Therefore, as parents, we need to put in some effort to find a coach and structured lessons that will not waste the effort put in by the Singapore Badminton Association. By doing so, we can help the Association in their efforts to produce high-quality local players, which will help raise the standard of badminton in Singapore. The success of the Men Mix Double, Men’s Doubles, and Men’s Singles is a testament to this. Despite Singapore’s small size and the focus on earning a living, sports can still thrive and produce quality players. We believe that building a proper foundation for badminton in Singapore is just a matter of time.
Why we only teach Professional Badminton Classes?
As coaches, we believe that badminton training should not be seen as just a means to earn income. Instead, if we use coaching time to help kids improve faster and gain the best coaching experiences from our students, we can be called experienced coaches. It’s not responsible for coaches to just pass the time coaching without caring about their students’ foundation and progress. Unfortunately, this kind of coaching is not unique to Singapore but happens in many countries.
However, the benefit of living in a small country like Singapore is that it is easier to control such incidents. This is why the Singapore Sports produces many accreditations to help develop coaches for all sports and assist parents in finding an accredited badminton coach. While Sport Singapore and SBA cannot do much as they have to handle numerous responsibilities for the National Team, many unprofessional badminton classes can still be found in sports halls and community clubs.
The Only Thing We Can do Now
The only thing we can do as coaches is to provide real professional badminton training to our students, especially in terms of foundation development. We must do the right thing and keep learning and exploring every aspect of badminton knowledge to improve the quality of our students.
We cannot help all kids in Singapore, given our yearly intake limit of 20 students. Therefore, our main vision is to help every one of our students develop the perfect professional foundation, rather than just focusing on the business aspect.
How to determine that is Professional Badminton Coaching?
Determining whether a coach is professional or unprofessional is actually quite easy. Just take a closer look at a few little things:
1. Class size of the training
Determining whether a badminton training classes can produce good or bad results is pretty straightforward when considering the class size. If there are more than 4 to 5 students in a single badminton lesson for two hours, don’t expect significant improvements for your kids in just one or two years. It’s also not realistic to expect consistent play. This is because the coach cannot dedicate enough time to teach every single tactic and correct each student’s technique. If parents are looking for a class just for exercise, this kind of badminton lesson may be sufficient. However, our coach recommends a class size of not more than five students for optimal training results.
2. Training structure
The training structure is a key factor that can help students improve very quickly, depending on the coach’s experience. For example, if a coach does not start by teaching students how to hold the proper grip or correct them when they hold the wrong grip, bad habits can form, which can harm the student’s entire career in badminton. This is because muscle memory is firm and difficult to change back to the right grip. It all starts with holding the proper grip, so the best badminton coach knows where to start the training and how to structure the lessons for the kids.
3. Training style of the badminton coach
Some badminton coaches fail to correct their students when they make mistakes on the court, or only offer a few words of correction without ensuring that the student has corrected the mistake. This type of coach is like a shuttlecock machine, and is not a good choice because they cannot help your kids develop a professional foundation in badminton. Improvement can be slow with this type of coach. You must look for a coach who is very concerned about your kids’ mistakes and corrects them on the spot, just like our coach, whom every parent of the student knows. This way, your kids can receive a good foundation from the coach. In badminton, it is crucial to keep practicing and receiving guidance from an experienced coach to improve faster. Remember to take the time to monitor the coach’s training style.
4. Which coach teaching your kids
In Singapore’s badminton training culture, some coaches advertise a team of experienced coaches, but when parents bring their kids to the academy for training, an assistant coach ends up teaching their kids instead of the experienced coaches. Some parents and even some inexperienced coaches think that badminton coaching should be level against level, which means that a national player coach will only teach higher-level students, and that beginner students should go to an assistant coach. However, the quality and improvement results can be hugely different when it comes down to the facts. Because we are asking for foundational training, not sparring, parents must clarify this with the academy. This is why many parents complain that some academies only use part-time coaches or teenage coaches. Remember, if the beginner classes are taught by an assistant coach, there will be a higher risk, so parents must closely monitor their child’s improvement results.
5. Misunderstanding of Badminton Coaching Qualification
Many parents misunderstand that if a coach has coaching qualifications or related coaching certificates, it means they are good. This is not true. Coaching qualifications are just a guide for people who want to pursue coaching as a career, and a stepping stone for them to become good coaches. The qualifications are not awarded because the coach is good. Parents who are also coaches and have the qualifications will understand this meaning. The exam is not very difficult to pass, including basic sports science and skills tests. Sport Singapore’s intention is to establish a foundation standard for people who want to be coaches, not for PhDs or other advanced degrees. As parents, you may have seen many badminton coaches conducting badminton classes at sports halls and community clubs, and the quality may be subpar even if they have coaching qualifications. Therefore, the best way for parents to assess a coach’s abilities is to monitor their child’s training progress closely, especially how much the coach helps your child during training. Remember, coaching qualifications do not mean everything.
6. The level of the Badminton Classes
One common issue that can cause bad quality training is having inconsistent levels of students in a single class. For example, if there are five students in a class, perhaps three of them are good and can play consistently, while the other two are still at a beginner level and cannot even play. No matter how good the badminton coach is at teaching, the improvement will still be slow in this type of class. This is a poor arrangement of badminton classes and the students will not improve. If the coach focuses on the good students, the beginners will learn nothing. Conversely, if the coach focuses on the beginners, the good students cannot continue to improve. There is no way to help both different levels improve in the same class. Parents, please look for classes that have the same level of students so that the coach and the kids can learn more in the badminton lesson.
7. Badminton coach level and background
Many parents have a misconception about a coach’s background and level, believing that a professional badminton training depends on the coach’s level or if they are an ex-national or ex-Olympic player. However, the term “professional” refers to how much time the coach is willing to invest in their students. Attaching your child to a coach based solely on their playing background can have both positive and negative outcomes. There are many “ex-national player” academies out there using this label to attract parents, but after joining, assistant coaches often end up teaching the students, and the head coach hires more assistants instead of sharing their own experience.
These academies often have large class sizes of 100 students or more, with only 10 of them having good skills and a solid foundation, while the rest are left behind. A good coach should make an effort to teach and guide every one of their students, regardless of their level of talent. Parents should monitor the progress and ensure the coach pays equal attention to all of their students to achieve consistent improvement results.
Final Conclusion of Choosing a Professional Badminton Class in Singapore
After considering all the explanations above, we believe that parents can easily find the right coach for their kids. Although we are unable to take on more students, we hope we can still assist parents who genuinely want their kids to excel in badminton. As our badminton coach, Mr. Eric also has a child here in Singapore, so he understands the concerns of parents. Lastly, we wish you all the best in finding a good coach and wish your kids the best of luck in the future. Thank you for taking the time to read this!
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