A Lesson to Behold

If you wish to learn and be trained, life will find its way in the most surprising ways and fashion. This is a blog about the shaman’s path and walking it, how in the world could badminton play a role in it?
 
I began playing badminton when I was already in my late teens. Ulrike Gönitzer, one of our sports teachers at school, had invited a friend of mine, Karin, and me to one of the training sessions of our hometown team, ATSV Wolfsberg, after watching the both of us play during a PE lesson. We had fun playing and whilst I decided to continue with it, Karin called it quits after a few times.

I was a licensed player from 1998 - 2000. You needed to have a license to be allowed to play official ranking list tournaments and for your team. Yes, I still have it. It is part of a time of my life that taught me a lot.

​Ulrike was one of our coaches, the other one was Peter Moritz, a seasoned veteran player and Austrian champion who had decided to join the club and train with us. One of the first things Ulrike told me was that if I wanted to become a good player I needed to go running and work on my conditioning. Suffice to say, I did not and relied solely on my talent and the reflexes I had trained up by playing video games and table tennis. 
 
Ulrike had won the Austrian Championships in her time as an active player and let me put it like this: If a veteran is taking their time and gives you an advice, you better listen, listen and when you are done listening, you listen some more. Time is the most precious gift someone can give you. It is finite.  
 
The reckoning came after doing well in tournaments, coming in second place in the Carinthian youth championships and suiting up for ATSV once after the injury bug had hit the team. A tournament was to be played in Wolfsberg, I was dead set on dominating and winning it and friends and family would witness it.

​Boy, did I get my behind handed to me. After doing well in the first few matches, I met my mentor and teacher for the day, another player from Carinthia. I had told her – quite  enthusiastically - about my service being my best asset and all about what I had perceived as strengths in my game. She listened patiently, smiling and nodding. ​

​She put on a clinic.

Keep mementos of both your wins and your losses, because in the end both win and loss are a victory over yourself if you turn them into growth and learning. Here are some things I kept from my badminton days.

I did not score a single point that match. I am not entirely sure, but I think I was actually able to return some of the shuttle cocks, albeit my attempts to play were either answered with a lightning fast smash or a casual drop. I lost that match in spectacular fashion, rightfully so and I am grateful for the lesson. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

Practise, practise, practise. Being good at something does not come out of thin air. 

​And yes, if there is a chance to put a cherry on top of something, it will be put on top. Did you know that when tournaments take place there is an audience? And that one who is very – let us call it - confident in their skills and talents usually invites people to watch the fray? So no, not only was there an audience, no, my mother was watching the lesson unfold in its entirety as well. 
 
My opponent did not gloat, she did not say one unfriendly word, instead we shook hands after the match, she gave me advice and I realized that talent alone will get you some place, but if you combined it with training and working on yourself – yes, yourself – you slowly but surely acquire the skills, tenacity and resilience to go wherever you want to go and not where someone else decides to take you. 
 
Listen, listen, listen and then listen some more. Practise, practise, practise and when you are done with your training – practise some more. After that? Play, play, play and enjoy the game. Never gloat, never belittle but be the gentle teacher and mentor you always have wished for yourself - yourself! - and no matter what you do, do not poke the bear. Not with a stick or a badminton racket like in this instance. No matter, how fluffy a bear seems to be, if it decides to stand up and come out of hibernation, you are in for an experience. What kind? That solely depends on the bear in question. 
 
When I started playing floorball everything changed. I also met Ulrike once more. I had asked her if I were allowed to do floorball goalie drills in one part of the gym while the badminton team was having their trainings whenever I visited my home valley. She said yes immediately. 
 
Practise, practise, practise. Being good at something does not come out of thin air.