Badminton at Hampton

By Manav Krishna Kallamvelli Vasanth

Badminton is a sport that plays an active role at Hampton, alongside cricket, rugby, and football. There are many clubs available that encourage pupils to engage in the sport, which can have positive effects both mentally and physically. I met with Badminton coach (Hamsa Srikhantha) who teaches at the Badminton and Table Tennis squad trainings on Mondays to discuss her experience in the game.

Why do you enjoy watching/playing badminton?

Watching Badminton

When you watch a game, you can analyse the players’ abilities and their placement of shuttles. This can help you develop strategies to implement in your games when you play to hopefully become stronger.

Playing Badminton

• It’s a good way to meet likeminded people and to socialize.
• I like to be competitive as it helps me to be motivated in life and have ambitions.
• It helps to keep my mind active and focused on all aspects of life.
• It helps me to keep fit.

What are the most important skills you need in this sport?

Badminton is one of the fastest racket sports. Therefore, you need to be able to move quickly yet effortlessly around the court to be able to sustain your energy and stamina throughout the game. Therefore, correct footwork to navigate around the court is one of the important skills. Your mindset should be a winning mindset even before you step on the court to face the opponent. Some athletes visualize the winning moment prior to starting the game to help them focus on the victory regardless of the setbacks during the game. 

How important do you think fitness is in badminton?

Fitness is very important in badminton because it’s a combination of rapid movements in rallies and therefore a player’s ability to sustain performance in a game is highly dependable on his or her fitness level.

What inspired you to become a badminton coach?

I have always been passionate about teaching and coaching not only in badminton, but I also teach children GCSE mathematics. It gives me a great sense of achievement when a student comes to me without any knowledge and to see them developing their skills through my teachings/coaching. 

Do you think playing badminton as a young player could not only help you to become a better badminton player, but also could help you with life in general?

Playing badminton or any sport can help with team working skills, hand eye coordination, being driven and goal oriented in life.

To players who want to play to a high standard, what tip do you have for them?

Players who want to play to a high standard – sign up for group/one to one coaching and join a well reputable badminton club to practice playing with other likeminded people. From those clubs, if you are a high performer, you will be selected to participate in league matches where you play against other clubs in the country. We also run tournaments on a regular basis which can give you added exposure to a variety of players from the country. 

In your opinion, do you think badminton is more of a team game or a single-show game?

Badminton is a team game when you play doubles as you must support each other to cover the court area. When you play singles then of course it’s a single-show game.

What advice would you give to people who haven’t started playing badminton yet but maybe would perhaps try it out?

People who haven’t started playing badminton can for example watch badminton rallies/games on TV and see if they like it. Arrange with your friends to have friendly and fun games in the back garden. In terms of improving fitness, start jogging, doing lunging exercises daily and practise contacting the shuttle with your racket.