It’s 1 am Sydney time. No idea what time it is in Montreal, but I just finished a video conference with my grandmother. Thank you Skype, and hospitals with wifi. 

 

She’s not likely to make it until I even get to the end of this semester. Maybe not even the end of this week. 

 

I’m so tired. She barely recognised me. 

 

Is this what it’s like, to be really exhausted ? What’s going on in her head right now ?

 

i need to focus on these damn assignments. 

• Fill out aplication form for Law Society administrative position, Editor of “The Brief” [done]
• Do groceries [... sometime soon, since there's nothing to eat]
• Wash Laundries [... sometime soon too, since there's nothing to wear]
• Finish Litigation Motions Assessment Review, due Tuesday [Probably halfway done]
• Prepare for Litigation presentation, due Tuesday [10% done??]
• Finish Advanced Legal Research take-home exam, due on Wednesday [slooooow progress....]
• Stretch / recovery exercises in preparation for badminton tomorrow [arg! ]
• Fill out application for Law Society secretarial position [haven't even looked at it yet...]
• Finish Taser Research paper, due… very soon! [shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit]
• Think of something to report at the Go Club AGM for induction of new executives [I'll just wing it, whatever!]
• Judo, thursday [we'll see if I have time to go...]
• Start preparations for Litigation and Criminal Laws exam, due in 1 month [0% progress]
• Find an article for Property 2 take-home exam, due in 1 month [spent 3 hours, but still 0% progress...]

On a side note, I find it amusing that basic Ubuntu / Mint “print to PDF” functions basically break anti-printing protections on “protected” PDFs by default. 

 

[CM] is doing some volunteer work for St. John’s ambulance nearby at a farmer’s market.  I came with her, because the location is right next to my workplace.  Figure I’d ride out with her, and get to work early to do homework.  It’s now 7:34 AM, and my shift starts at 1PM.  Lets see how much I actually get done. Yawwwwwn.

I’m trying to figure out a formula.

Results – Effort = Fun ?

It’s 11:30 AM when I begin writing this– I went to bed at about midnight.  Though I spent about two hours reading online before actually falling asleep, so I probably went to bed at around 2AM.  That means I took a total of about 9.5 hours of sleep.

Which is abnormal for me– normally I do about 7 or so, and then I”m good to go.  The factor that accounts for it: judo.

 

I went to my third judo lesson yesterday night.

 

I’ve managed to isolate in my own brain that I enjoy judo.  But that requires clarification.  I enjoy the idea of being able to send people sailing through the air, and slamming to the ground.  I enjoy the idea of games of footwork and balance.  I enjoy the technical details that determine the difference between a sloppy, power intensive technique, versus one with good mechanical leverage, efficient torque, and a high input:output ratio.

 

But this is all in theory.  The truth is, I’m not good at it.  And how could I be– this is only my third lesson.

 

This morning, I had trouble getting out of bed because frankly, my body is completely exhausted. I don’t even have enough core strength left to sit up in bed, so I had to roll out.  Yesterday, the events of the evening turned eventually to randori.  I’m still very lost with most of the japanese terms, but I think it probably means something like sparring.

I’ve barely learned the basics of breakfalls and rolls, and I only know one throw (o soto gari) to a very low level.  Going against brown belts and black belts?  A bit daunting.  The first partner I was paried with grabbed me by the right collar with his left hand.  From there… I couldn’t do anything with him.  I was unable to establish a grip with my left hand because he always managed to keep me away somehow.  I don’t really know any throws that I can do with only one collar hold of my own.  Meanwhile, he was twirling me around, and sweeping me whenever I was even slightly off balanced.

 

This process more or less repeated itself for the second half of the class with me being passed from partner to partner.  I mostly spent that time catching air time, before landing on my back wondering, often, “how in the HELL did that just happen?”

 

Of course, I’ve been keeping my eyes open so by the end of the class, I was putting up a bit more resistence, but my body was definately starting to acumulate damage.  The amount of time it took me to get up after each successive projection was starting to get longer and longer.  MY breathing was becoming more and more laboured.  I was strating to get those twitches in my calf and foot that tell you a cramp is coming on, and that you need to slow down.

Thanks to my MMA history, I did much better on the groundwork, and was not tapped out by anyone who I partnered with, but even so, I wasn’t able to tap anyone out.  And I could feel that people were going easy.

 

 

I guess this is all to say that I like the idea of being good at judo– however, I don’t know if I like the effort involved in getting good judo results. 

 

To put it simply, I enjoy being good at things.  THe things I am good at, they are my comfort zone.  They are the things where, frankly, I can feel good about myself because I understand and appreciate the medium.  I will also admit– I enjoy the benefit of being better than others in some cases.  To be absolutely cynical of myself, teaching others, and in some cases, toying with others, brings me pleasure on some levels because I’m a narcissist in that way.  There are more noble side effects to the passions which I share with others, but they’re just that: side effects.  The benefits that others and the world get from me pursuing my passions is because I’ve chosen specific paths where we can all mutually benefit from my passions.  But, I can’t say that I naturally extend good-will to others just for the sake of it if there’s nothing in it for me.

To put it bluntly, in my view of the world, I’m actuallly quite selfish.  It’s just that the world happens to be lucky enough that I’m selfish in such a way that side effects of my selfish pusuits tend to benefit others with a pretty good ratio.

I guess that’s the way that I’ve managed to craft myself  a morally sustainable philosophy of life.  I’ve taken care to get good at things where, knowing myself, I believe it would be good for others to get good at as well.  I’ve been selective of my hobbies.  So, for example, you might notice I’m not into driving (in fact, I don’t have a license) and that goes along with everything I believe about single-occupant cars being one of the banes of urban development.  INstead, I’m in to bicycles.  But it’s not that I like bicycles for bicycles.  If you’ve read all my road-rage stories of drag racing with other random cyclists since I arrived at Sydney, you’ll see I’m not a nice guy.  However, I think the more people who get passionate and personal about cycling, the better– projecting my passion for cycling outwards, even for my own selfish reasons, is likely to be of more benefit for the world at large than other things.

While the moral, social, and cultural implications of my choices have more depth than that, and I’m oversimplifying a bit to villify myself to make a point, the basic idea is that I look at activity, and I ask myself– what if everyone did that?  It doesn’t matter how obscure or popular the thing is.  That’s my way of changing the world, I think.  The payoff in the long term is this great world where everyone can share in some activity that is great because of this factor, X, which I thought was so attractive and essential to life.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

However, short term payoffs in unfamiliar territory are total shit.

 

I’m not like Makunouchi Ippo, or Uzumaki Naruto, or Kurosaki Ichigo.  At my stage in life, I have no reason to fight.

 

Judo.  Back to that.  I’m terrible at judo, and that’s to be expected after just 3 lessons.  I’m not saying anything along the lines of surprise, in the sense that, man, that shit is so simple, I don’t see why I can’t get it.  Not at all– I’m very recognisant of the basic equations between dues versus results.  I know i haven’t yet paid my dues to feel that I ought to be better at this.

 

It’s just that it’s been a long time since I tried something that is totally out of my experiences.  When I took up taekwondo, for example, there was a marked similarlity to all my previous experiences in kickboxing and Jeet Kune Do.  SO there was always some way to feel good about myself for improving in ways that I could measure, and for adding extra depth to an understanding of the human body that I had already begun to develop.

 

Judo? I’m not certain how to even evaluate my progress just yet. Everything is unfamiliar to me, and I”m at the bottom of the food chain.  There are no short term benefits. I think in the long term, I will enjoy being able to get through these workouts, and I will enjoy helping other people cultivate a further appreciation for it.  But in the short term? I gain nothing.  I just hurt.  All over.

 

So how, really, does one define what’s fun?  Why does anyone stick to something?  Do we stick to things because we think they’re fun?  And if that’s the case… doesn’t the amount of effort I’m putting in right now, versus the amount of results I feel are showing, tell me that this clearly is not fun?  I reiterate: I spent the second half of yesterday’s class being treated like a crash test dummy.

[Zanshin]‘s analysis is that it was probably a hazing.

 

Now, if I were any other shonen protagonist, there’d be some reason why I was doing this.  The typical story of activity mastery in a shonen manga is that the guy wants to be recognised, he wants revenge, he wants the girl, or he just wants to stop being bullied.  That might have been me ten years ago, but I don’t need that anymore.  Like I said, right now, I don’t have a reason to fight.  I’ve come to terms with my inner demons.  I’ve got [CM], who completes my life.  I’m no longer bullied the way I was decades ago.  And I am a respected person by friends and family.

 

So why then?  Why do this?

I have decided that I am going to continue.  Judo, that is.  I don’t enjoy it right now on any basic level.  Like– it’s not fun.  There’s so much uncertainty about what’s going to happen.  Nobody is spoon feeding me and making it easy.  If I don’t ask questions, I don’t learn– and I don’t like asking people questions.  I guess the way I’m justifying to myself is that this is what I’m getting out of it.  THe way this class is taught is forcing me to be someone different.  It’s forcing me not only to submit myself to absolute uncertainty, outside of my comfort zones, but it also forcing me to learn things that I don’t know how to learn yet.  I keep watching from the sidelines.  In sports that I enjoy, like badminton, and MMA, I have a sharingan eye for things– I can analyse and predict situations based on body movements.  At the moment, the judo techniques are things that I simply can’t copy, and can’t understand.

 

The real question I asked myself was, should I continue getting better at things I know?

 

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

I’ve been having conversations with people about relationships lately.  Yes, this ties in.  It has to do with how some people have basically given up on certain types of relationships, or relationships altogether.  There’s a parallel here– it has to do with that outside of comfort zone feeling.  People panic and they want to grab for their lifelines.

 

We’ve had two guests at my apartment from Canada over the last year.  One of them was [Mayida], and the other was a second cousin of mine.  Both of them came to Sydney for adventure, they wanted to see what life could be like away from home– but for both of them, the shock of being suddenly away from their home situations was too much, I think.  They both, very quickly, reverted to attempting to recreate their homes here in Sydney, rather than trying to live in the ways over here.  It’s a comfort zone thing. 

 

As I get older, the bulky number of experiences I’ve had makes it very easy to never leave my comfort zone, because frankly, it’s quite large.  I have lots of experiences across a number of life’s aspects, so I almost always have an entry point.  This is good.

50

It’s also bad, because when I’m faced with something like judo, which comes out of my blind spot, the jarring realisation that I am lost is absolutely fightening.  I’m not just technically lost, but it shakes my philosophies of passion down to their very core.  It’s almost like a challenge to my very way of life.  Basically, I don’t like not being able to do something. I don’t like quitting something when I’ll feel that I quit because I couldn’t put up with it.  It’s one thing to quit because you think the activity is stupid or fruitless– it’s another when you’re quit because you don’t have it in you.  The latter type, I can’t abide by. 

 

I don’t expect that I’ll become a judo champion in my lifetime– but I need to earn my own respect by seeing if, truly, I can commit myself to something that scares me.  I want to see if I can do something where I do not have the luxury of being the teacher, or the bully.  I want to see if I still have the youth in me to remember what it was like to be the me before I am who I am now: the underdog.  I could just walk away from it, and nobody would ever know– because nobody except myself ever put an expectation to go through with it.  But I wouldn’t be satisfied– my own egomania would not abide it.

I’m 30 years old this year.  It’s just a number, sure.  I have a lot in my life to be proud of.   But I have always based my sense of achivement on passion, not on results.  In that sense, what’s more important is not a history of things I’ve done, but the story of how it was done.

 

Doing this is a return to a nature of myself that, until now, I’d almost forgotten: that of the underdog.  When I was young, starting kickboxing at age 18, I was an underdog.  Same goes for badminton.  WHen I was in band?  By the time I was invited into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Wing 306 Concert Band, I was 16– where the median age of the other musicians was about 50. 

 

The problem is, those and other aceivements are all in the past.  The question is: is who I am a resume of acheivements, or a side effect of my character?  I’d like to think it’s the latter.  But in order to verify that, I need to keep striving for more, and not surf simply on the past.

 

My life has always been most interesting when I have been the underdog.  So, this is me, living out my shonen tale.

This is a case that the legal centre I work with was involved with, that I’m now looking into.

 

It’s a pretty easy read even for non-law students– give it a go.  Brings up some interesting ideas.

---

 

 

 

 

Family Court of Australia at Melbourne

 

FILE NUMBER: MLC 7406  of 2010

 

MS KREET

Applicant

 

And

 

MR SAMPIR

Respondent

 

 

 

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

1. Ms Kreet (the wife) married Mr Sampir (the husband) on … June 2009 in India.
2. The wife now applies for an annulment of the marriage and in the alternative that it is not recognized as a marriage under Australian law. 
3. The application first came before the court on 12 October 2010, at which time service had not been attempted. It was adjourned for service to be attempted.
4. A Registrar made orders for substituted service.
5. On 15 December 2010, I was satisfied that service on the respondent had been effected.
6. The respondent did not respond to the application but he did send to the wife’s lawyer some divorce papers issued out of an Indian court which must be taken as an acknowledgement of the proceedings in this Court because he would not have otherwise known of the wife’s lawyer.
7. Having been satisfied that the husband has had an opportunity to participate and chosen not to, it is appropriate to allow the wife to pursue her application.
8. I have read carefully the wife’s evidence and that of her current partner. I have no evidence to challenge that and I accept it.
9. The wife was born in Australia. Her parents were born in India and remained closely connected to their former country’s culture. The parents were strict in that regard and were strongly against much of Australian culture. The wife was not allowed to cut her hair or wear skirts or dresses unless they were part of her school uniform.
10. In July 2007, the wife electronically met Mr U but the relationship remained a secret, he being in Melbourne and she in Sydney.
11. In June and July of 2008, the wife told her parents of the relationship and they were unhappy about it.
12. The parents told her she could not marry Mr U and demanded she cease the relationship. They threatened her that if it did not cease, they would take her to India and arrange a marriage for her to someone else. It would appear that their objection related to Mr U’s “caste”. In the midst of this family turmoil, the wife’s father kept her away from school for a week, confiscated her telephone and her internet access.
13. Despite that, the wife continued the relationship. In approximately October 2008, when the wife was still 17, her father told her that when she turned 18, they would go to India and find her an appropriate husband. The father said that he had been considering some of the wedding proposals from the wife’s Indian uncle.
14. The wife completed her Year 12 exams in November 2008 and without informing her parents, and clearly against her wishes, moved to Melbourne to live with Mr U.  The parents then called her repeatedly, endeavouring to convince her to return to Sydney. She was reported to the police as missing and an investigation ended with her signing a statutory declaration for police that she was fine and living in Melbourne of her own free will. The parents travelled to Melbourne on 22 November 2008 in an attempt to convince her to return. They told her that she could marry Mr U once she turned 18 and the following day, the wife and Mr U went through an “engagement ceremony” in the presence of the parents.
15. I accept the wife’s understanding that this was a “proclamation in front of God” that she and Mr U would get married.
16. The wife returned to Sydney with her parents but they resumed their attempts to convince her to end the relationship with Mr U.
17. The father made direct threats to Mr U to kidnap and rape his mother and sisters.
18. In January 2009, the wife’s father slapped her across the face on two separate occasions and hit her on the back.
19. The wife then moved back to Melbourne to live with Mr U on 8 January 2009 and again attended a police station to declare that she was living in Melbourne of her own free will.
20. On 31 March 2009, the parents again came to Melbourne to persuade her to move back to Sydney. They apologised to her and asked her to forgive them and offering as an enticement a “proper wedding” for her 18^th birthday.
21. The parents suggested that they get married in India and the wife went back to Sydney. On 4 April Mr U came to Sydney and the wedding was discussed in detail.
22. The wife was convinced by her parents to do things traditionally and in India but there was no doubt that her marriage was to be to Mr U.
23. On 24 April 2009, the wife and her mother flew to India and were later joined by her father.
24. Upon their arrival in India, discussions began about an appropriate suitor and the wife’s passport was taken from her. She was refused permission to speak to Mr U by telephone.  The wife’s parents then introduced the man who was to become her husband.
25. The respondent attended at the house of the wife’s uncle with a number of other relatives and was asked publicly if he wanted to marry the wife. He agreed without meeting her.
26. The wife was then asked if she wished to marry the respondent but she did not respond. Her father told her that he would have Mr U’s sisters and mother kidnapped and raped. I accept that the wife believed at this time that if she refused, her father would carry out the threat, and that she would not be able to leave India until she had complied with any marriage arranged by her parents. When asked again publicly if she would consent to the marriage, she agreed.
27. I accept also that the wife begged her parents not to force her to go through with the marriage and her father’s response was to continue to threaten harm to Mr U’s family. The wife said, and I accept, she contemplated suicide.
28. The wife was not required to speak at any time during the marriage ceremony but simply to walk four times around the altar.
29. Following the marriage ceremony, the parents returned to Australia and the wife moved to the respondent’s house where he lived with his parents. The wife there refused the respondent’s attempts at physical intimacy which culminated in assaults.
30. In late July or August 2009, the wife submitted the respondent’s Australian Visa application to the authorities and eventually flew to Sydney on 11 October 2009. She stayed with her parents for several weeks before returning to Melbourne on 11 November 2009 to live with Mr U. She then withdrew her sponsorship of the respondent’s visa application.   Thus, the husband did not have the opportunity to come to Australia.
31. The relationship of the wife with the parents has declined to such an extent that there is now an indefinite Intervention Order against the wife’s father. 
32. For recognition purposes, marriages that take place outside Australia are covered by Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth). Sections 88B and 88C provide that a marriage solemnised in a foreign country is recognised as valid under the local law of that country and Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961 applies.
33. The marriage in this case falls within that provision. Section 88D concerns the validity of marriages, and relevantly states:

(1)  Subject to this section, a marriage to which this Part applies shall be recognized in Australia as valid.

(2)  A marriage to which this Part applies shall not be recognized as valid in accordance with subsection (1) if:

            (a)       either of the parties was, at the time of the marriage, a party to a marriage with some other person and the last‑mentioned marriage was, at that time, recognized in Australia as valid;

            (b)       where one of the parties was, at the time of the marriage, domiciled in Australia – either of the parties was not of marriageable age within the meaning of Part II;

            (c)       the parties are within a prohibited relationship within the meaning of section 23B; or

            (d)       the consent of either of the parties was not a real consent for a reason set out in subparagraph 23B(1)(d)(i), (ii) or (iii).

1. Section 23B of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) relevantly states:

(1)       A marriage to which this Division applies that takes place after the commencement of section 13 of the Marriage Amendment Act 1985 is void where:

            (a)       either of the parties is, at the time of the marriage, lawfully married to some other person;

            (b)       the parties are within a prohibited relationship;

            (c)       by reason of section 48 the marriage is not a valid marriage;

            (d)       the consent of either of the parties is not a real consent because:

                        (i)        it was obtained by duress or fraud;

                       (ii)       that party is mistaken as to the identity of the other party or as to the nature of the ceremony performed; or

                       (iii)      that party is mentally incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony; or

            (e)       either of the parties is not of marriageable age;

            and not otherwise.

1. The legislation does not define duress in the context of a marriage.
2. In Scott (falsely called Sebright) v Sebright (1886) 12 PD 21Butt J said:

Public policy requires that marriages should not be lightly set aside, and there is in some cases the strongest temptation to the parties more immediately interested to act in collusion in obtaining a dissolution of the marriage tie. These reasons necessitate great care and circumspection on the part of the tribunal, but they in no wise alter the principle or the grounds on which this, like any other contract may be avoided. … Whenever from natural weakness of intellect or from fear – whether reasonably entertained or not – either party is actually in a state of mental incompetence to resist pressure improperly brought to bear, there is no more consent than in the case of a person of stronger intellect and more robust courage yielding to a more serious danger.[1]

1. In Cooper v Crane [1891] P 369 Collins J warned that very clear and cogent evidence must be given before the presumption of consent can be rebutted and the marriage annulled if an adult went through a public ceremony giving all of the indications of consent.
2. In Teves & Campomayer [1995] FLC 92-578 Linenmayer J said:

…it is duress at the time of the marriage ceremony that is critical. Clearly this can be induced by events prior to it, but in the end it is for the applicant to show that at the time she gave her consent at the ceremony, some overbearing force was operating. In this, evidence about the ceremony, and events occurring during and immediately before or after it, can be extremely important.[2]  

1. As I pointed out, duress is not defined in the Act but there is no reason to give it any other meaning than that which is normally known to the law. It must be oppression or coercion to such a degree that consent vanishes. (see In the Marriage of S (1980) FLC 90-820)
2. In several English cases, coercion by parents arising from cultural issues has given rise to a finding of lack of consent (see Parojcic (otherwise Ivetic) v Parojcic [1959] All ER 1, Hirani v Hirani [1982] EWCA Civ 1; 4 FLR (Eng) 232)
3. Cultural practices are sensitive issues but in respect of this application, the law to be applied is that of Australia. If a cultural practice relating to a marriage gives rise to the overbearing of a mind and will so that it is not a true consent, the cultural practice must give way. Arranged marriages such as would appear to have been the parents’ intent, must not carry with them lack of consent.
4. I am satisfied that the parents adopted a position which may have been based upon a cultural practice which is unacceptable to Australian law.
5. I am satisfied that the wife’s physical state at the time of the ceremony was such that she was physically and mentally overborne. Her consent was not real because it was obtained by duress.
6. I am satisfied the marriage did take place as alleged but that the consent of the wife was not real, it having been obtained under duress.
7. To the extent that there may be any dispute about what provision I am applying here, as the marriage cannot be recognized in Australia because the wife’s consent was infected by duress, the provisions of s 51 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (“the Act”) apply in any event
8. Section 51 of the Act provides:

An application under this Act for a decree of nullity of marriage shall be based on the ground that the marriage is void.

1. The wife’s application sought relief in the alternative.  I am satisfied that because the marriage was conducted overseas, it cannot be recognized under Australian law for the reasons outlined above and to the extent that it is necessary to say so, it was a void marriage.

 

 

 

Associate: 

 

Date:  18 January 2011

 

 

 

 

I went to play badminton with some of [CM]‘s classmates on Sunday. Some observations on things that people could do to improve their game, that they don’t really think about when they’re just starting out playing:

 

Move your feet.

The biggest single thing that most people can improve about their game, including beginners, is footwork.

 

Often, players resort to overextending (reaching) or jumping to hit a bird that’s just out of their reach.  Instead of overreaching, get your body into the proper position on the court, and have as good posture as possible to hit the appropriate shot. There’s several reasons for this.

 

If you’re late, and your body is out of position because you’re overreaching, you probably will be forced to power through a shot by using extra wrist or shoulder action (which could also lead to injury). In contrast, if you’re in the right place and have a good posture for hitting, you can spread the power requirements of a shot across all the muscles used in a proper technique. Using your body’s rotation and abs are important multipliers for power, for example.

 

If you’re late, the mental stress is going to affect your accuracy. Accuracy will also be affected because of the limited muscle groups you can use to generate the power necessary to deliver the technique.

 

Further, your recovery time will be poor because your body is probably leaning and you still have a lot of momentum. This means that after you hit the bird, you’re probably going to still have a lot of kinetic energy going. One of the easiest things for more advanced players to exploit about beginners is the exessive momentum they have after they perform a shot– one of the most damaging counter that an opponent can use against someone who has excessive momentum is to fire a shot in the direction they were coming from. This is called wrongfooting.

 

This is actually what leads to a lot of frustration in beginners– because they’re wrongfooted, they’ll increasingly be late to get to birds. If they’re late for birds, then they’ll hit from disadvantaged positions– and that’s when people hit bad shots, into the net, out, or too high, or too weak, etc.

 

Move sooner, not necessarily faster.

There’s something to be said about grace. But you don’t need to necessarily be faster in your movement speed. As in, in most cases, your ability to travel X metres per second does not have to increase. What you need to do, actually, is decrease the amount of time it takes for you to START moving after the opponent hits the bird. What I’m saying is, oftentimes, the opopnent hits a bird, and then you just kinda stare for a moment before deciding to start running to where it’s heading (assuming it’s not coming straight at you). Reduce this time, move sooner, and you won’t need to move as quickly.

 

This is largely about concentration, as in, simply, you need to learn to concentrate. However, there are also physical cues you can use to ‘jump start’ your reaction time. The simples of which is…

 

Ready Position

Like martial arts, you wouldn’t face your opponent who was imminently going to clash with you without having your guard up. In the same way, when you’re playing badminton, you need a ready position that allows you a range of possible movements to respond to your opponent’s actions. The two simplest things you can do as part of a good ready position are: keep your racket up; and keep your knees bent.

 

Keeping your racket up doesn’t necessarily mean over your head, it depends on the situation. However, it should never be limp and hanging idly by your side. Again, this follows the previously mentioned philosophy of moving sooner, not necessarily faster. If someone is going to punch you in the face, even if you’re not fast enough to parry it, you have a higher chance of a useful result if your hands were high and generally protective than if they were down and scratching your ass. Same goes for badminton.

 

Keeping your knees bent is a generalisation, but it follows the same concept– you’re more likely to be able to get somewhere if you’re posture is half-cocked than if you’re standing perfectly straight. Standing straight means that when your opponent hits the bird, it’ll take you an extra beat to bend your knees, load your weight, and spring. Ideally, you’ve done the loading just as your opponent is winding up, and at the moment of his/her racket contact, you’re already in mid-spring, and just have to chose a direction.

 

Stop smashing / hitting hard shots (with the exception of clears).

I mostly say this because, first of all, most beginners are pretty bad at smashing to begin with. I don’t just mean raw power– they’re also probably not hitting the right angles, or the right targets. But most significantly, most people are smashing when they’re vulnerable.

 

By vulnerable, I mean again what I said about being out of posture, or reaching, or having leftover momentum. Vulnerability means your susceptability to counter attacks. If you hit a bird hard, the bird will travel very quickly to it’s destination, which means that the return will come fast as well. If you’re vulnerable, you will have a harder time getting to that return.

 

I’m not saying that you should never smash– but, many beginners have smashes that are easily countered (often even by other beginners, in a technical sense) but lead more to being countered or losing advantage than success.

 

In the beginning, especially guys, badminton is hard to get better at because there is too much reliance on hitting harder and out-physiquing the opponent. The truth is, it’s hard to get physically stronger and faster in a way that translates to badminton in a noticeable way.

 

Instead of using your upgrade points in Strength (hitting harder) or Agility / Dexterity (Increasing your speed, or flexibility of hitting positions), put it in Intelligence. Slow down. Think about what you’re doing. Don’t ADD to your bad habits– reduce them.

 

Initially, you’re at a great time in your badminton career– your learning curve will be amazing. You don’t need to become stronger or faster to progress to intermediate play level. You don’t need to “add” things, in most cases. Mostly, what you need to do, is “reduce” bad things. Don’t become faster– just stop doing the things that slow you down. Don’t hit harder– put yourself in a position to hit more effiiciently. Don’t scramble to get to those birds that are just out of your reach– slow down your own shots, so the returns will come to you slower.

 

Get in the habit of shouting.

Especially if you play doubles.  Call out birds that you think are yours, that you think are your partners.  Call it out when you think the opponent’s shot is going to go out.  Call out “YES” or “GOOD SHOT” when your partner does something good.  Fighting spirit is one of the most important things that you can train.  Your effectiveness in a pinch will severely degrade if your morale is down, and shouting (appropriately) is one way of generating spirit.  (It also saves you and your partner the embarassement of breaking eachothers’ rackets by hitting them together, or missing a bird because neither of you went for it)