CAS Activity-6 Reflection

I've played almost every popular sport known to man. Football, basketball, cricket, baseball, you name it. But, there has always been one sport that has always left me bemused, badminton. In the spirit of CAS, I alongside a few classmates decided to try our hand at the game. We approached our school's badminton coach and arranged three weeks worth of training sessions.

When we arrived to our first session, we were astonished when it came to our attention that we would not be stepping on the badminton court for the first week of training. What we were not aware of was the work ethic and core athletic values that this would instill in us. Little did we know that with every lap we ran, push-up we completed, or drop of sweat we perspired; that it would be slowly, but surely making us better competitors as a whole. Patience, reach and stamina are key components of any badminton player's game and improving our overall athletic ability on aided us in this quest.

How hard could badminton honestly be, come on; all you need to do is run around a court and smash a little conical object across the air, sound easy, doesn't it? Wrong! The single biggest regret I had during my three week period of badminton enlightenment was underestimating the difficulty of the sport, ultimately leading to my eventual downfall. My footwork was correct, I had incredible range and had supreme power on my shots, but when it really came down to it, I often became arrogant, in turn developing irreversible bad habits.

All, in all, my experience with badminton was an incredible one. Maybe I wasn't the most naturally gifted player to ever walk the planet, but my game gradually improved, as evidenced by my ability being leaps and bounds greater than I first started. This course also allowed me to bond with some rather unfamiliar classmates, which is always enjoyable. The biggest takeaway I have from learning to play badminton, is to never take anything for granted, a lot can change very quickly in the world of sports.