11/16/15
Badminton- Monday Wellness Reflection
The link to our presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jxGNnl3QXgFR4DUQmyNDLBhFFEllql230xZ2y5CEi38/edit#slide=id.p
The topic that Jennifer and I chose our Monday Wellness was badminton.
After weeks debating over what our topic should be from coffee to exercise
videos to freezer meals, we finally decided on the idea of recreational sports.
One sport that we both have in common is badminton, since we both play on the
school badminton team. Jennifer plays varsity singles while I play varsity
doubles and singles (depending on the slotting).
Badminton is a great form of exercise. During the
season we play 2 hours a day and I train twice a week outside as well. It's an
intense game due to all the running and sudden direction changes; it engages
all your muscles when you have to propel yourself across the court in about 3
steps every direction. With all that movement, the respiratory system gets a
great workout and increases in function to improve the exchange between carbon dioxide
and oxygen in the lungs. However, the most interesting fact that I learned was
that badminton burns 480 Calories per hour, which was a lot more than 398 from
jogging.
One other thing I learned was that badminton is the
most played sport that is not an NCAA sport. Tons of people play badminton;
it’s a lifelong sport that creates lifelong friends. A benefit to badminton is
its social aspect. It requires more than one person to play, whether it be a
singles opponent or a doubles team. Personally, when I switched over to doubles
the most challenging part was communicating with my partner. You need to know
who gets what shots and when, otherwise you end up colliding in the middle of a
rallying by going for the same shot. My partner and I have to practice
constantly in order to perfect that form of connection between partners, and we’ve
become extremely close due to all the hours practice that we’ve been through
together. But after you get the hang of understanding how the other moves and
thinks, there is an extremely close bond between you and your partner because
of the almost telepathic form of communication developed between the two of
you.
A stereotype that surrounds badminton is the lack
of physical exertion. However, I get the most tired from playing badminton
compared to some of my other activities such as dance and marching band; within
the first few minutes of footwork and warm up I am normally winded and perspiring.
Badminton requires constant, high-energy movement throughout the entire game,
since getting the point relies on how fast you can react to your opponent’s
shots. It’s also mentally exhausting because you have to be laser- focused on
your opponent: how they play, what shot they make, where to hit the bird to win
the point. Each type of game requires a different technique and shot placement,
which takes hours of practice to perfect. Now imagine that on top of sprinting
around a court and the physical exertion of hitting the shots. Tiring, right?
Our topic was not just to show the benefits of
badminton but rather the benefits to any sport that might be overlooked due to
the “easy” nature of the game. While some recreational activities might seem
easy, there is a lot of underlying skills and work that are necessary to be at
least a decent player, which we hope we exposed during our presentation and
class activity. We also hope that we disproved some myths about badminton and
encouraged more people to try the sport. Getting everyone involved proved to be
difficult; however, I think we did pretty well with providing the basics to
keep everyone engaged. It seemed like everyone enjoyed the activity and getting
to hit around with friends.
