When I was younger, badminton was a big part of my life. My father was a badminton coach, my brother was a big time badminton player….me and my sister, we could beat the shit out of grown men when we’re older.
Now that we’re old, I don’t think I can beat the shit out of little men.
But that’s beside the point. For the first time in a decade or so, we had a badminton gathering….of sorts. We played badminton together as a family…along with my kids and all….in a secluded ulu-ulu place in Damansara Perdana. Only two courts, splendid lighting, if you get my drift.
But it was absolutely so fun.
After the initial stage of the shuttle hitting the metal, missing shots, diving for shots that you cannot reach unless you move your feet, things got into a swing.
I can’t believe my brother can still send a shuttle spearing through the air with his backhand. He didn’t even have to swing, bloody hell. All he had to do was flick his blardie wrist. I would have broken my back and arm to do that…provided I don’t miss the shot first.
And believe you me, at his age, my dad can still make me run for my life on court….with my big backside and all. It’s all in the technique. I lost my tech-nique in exchange for ‘tech’.
My sis is the same old person…same ol same ol. But she’s better than me now, without the big backside.
Josh and Jared were there too…complaining about sweating. And missing shots. I touched a chord in me watching my dad coach my kids in badminton because that’s what he did with us when we were younger. Me and my sister weren’t, like, potential Uber Cub players or anything but we went through the drill along with my brother. So, this time, it really brought back the memories.
My dad struggling with the coaching of small kids with badminton. He waking us up at insane hours for jogging and eating half-boiled eggs, Shadow-play that drove us nuts. The likes.
Badminton is a huge part of my childhood. The last time I played, it was with a bunch of friends and it was ridiculous….I was ridiculous. I did a Foo-Kok-Keong. But this time, it was so fun and brought back lots of memories.
I won’t be kissing the racquet any time soon but if my kids can pick up the sport just for the heck of it, I would be happy enough.
When asked what’s my one single favorite thing to do in the world, I would usually name a whole list of things that I love to do when my work is not screaming at me. Something that takes my mind COMPLETELY off of everyday tasks and relaxes me. Take a guess what it is…. If you say ‘ reading ’, yes, I love reading (especially soppy love stories with lots of sex scenes, please. Hee hee hee ….) and I also love mystery novels but it’s not the first on the list. If you say ‘ playing the piano ’; yes, I love playing the piano. Creating forms a huge part of my life and whenever I play the piano (as inept at it as I am), there’s this tiny little girl inside of me jumping up and down with glee, clapping her hands. It’s my childhood dream to be able to play the piano! And thumping on the keys gives me a sense of satisfaction when I hear the music. If you say ‘ writing ’; You’ve got to be kidding me! You mean I don’t write enough as it is? Case closed. If you say ‘ playing with my kids ’; Yea...
Comments
I am thankful for the metal gate in between us as it lessened the many bruises that could have resulted from the smashes.
Any piece of open space, streets, back alleys, car porch + gate is a court. Draw a line down the centre and that'll be the net.
Crazy days... heheh :)
By the time you joined us, I was too busy with TVB series liao lor. And also learning how to khow-chai by then lah...where got time for badminton liao? :-)
Talking about playing everywhere, I think my mother still shivers when we remember the time my sister play so whole-heartedly that she fell into the nearby drain....her head going right in the middle and into the longkang.
Surprisingly...there are many kids there too. It's no secret that many parents here realise that Malaysia still produces world class Badminton players today....and they harbour hope that their kids will also represent Malaysia.
FOr me...whether or not my son is as good as Lee Chong Wei when he's all grown up does not matter. What matters is that he enjoys Badminton more than his Playstation 2.
Kids nowadays spend so much time on the PC and Playstation unlike my peers who spent most of the time playing Badminton, hide and seek,guli, catching, police and thief etc.
The old days are still better than now.
Killer