The Badminton Secrets Blog

Overcoming Nervousness?

2005-12-21T03:15:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing that people say to me causes the most problems with their badminton, it's nervousness.

You might be playing really well in practice, and your confidence levels going into an important match of tournament might be really high.

But then on the day, you start worrying about what's going to happen, your palms get sweaty and the mere prospect of going on court starts you wishing you were somewhere else!

Well fear not, for I have a simple tip that I hope will help with this.

Now, think for a mintue about what happens when you get nervous.

You might get the sweaty hands, the 'butterflies in the stomach' that we all (even the very best players) get from time to time.

But THEN what happens?

You think 'oh no, I'm so nervous, I'm never going to be able to win this game' and you try to relax and stop feeling nervous.

Which makes a lot of sense.

It's only natural that the first thing we think of when we get nervous is how we can stop getting nervous!!

But it isn't the being nervous that causes the problems, but the worrying about what being nervous might lead to.

And so what we need to do is to cut off the step from being nervous to worrying about being nervous, and we will as a result stop the negative things that are happening, such as not playing as well as we could do.

But how does this happen?

Simply by changing the thoughts that you get when you feel the first signs of nervousness.

The 'butterflies' in the stomach happen, and normally that would be seen as a bad thing. But there is no reason to do this - the butterflies (and all other means of being nervous!) are there to protect you, to warn your body that what is going to happen is something that is out of your 'comfort zone'.

It is when we decide to ignore them or try to stop them that the trouble begins.

If you simply acknowledge that they are there, be thankful that they are there to protect you, and view them as a good thing, you will be well on the way to combatting the nervousness.

Because nervousness is OK.

I like to think of nervousness as a sign that you are really living your life (and more importantly your game!).

Your badminton isn't going to improve if you're not going to put yourself into situations that scare you, that make you nervous and give you the butterflies.

So if that is happening, it means you are doing just what you need to do to take your badminton to the next level.

And that HAS to be a good thing!

So, whenever you next get nervous when you are playing badminton, remember that it is simply your body reminding you that you are doing just what you need to do to get better!

Next time we look at turning this nervous energy into a positive, badminton-improving energy that will take your game even higher.

New Website Is Up!

2005-08-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

The new website has been up a couple of weeks, and it's been getting some great feedback.

There's certainly a lot more to read, and will be added to as time progresses.

I'm also going to be working on some new bonuses for the Badminton Secrets Course that will all be added at no extra cost - and of course emailed for free to existing purchasers.

And I have also added a new forum to the site -- http://badmintonsecs.proboards49.com/ . It is very much in a trial stage, to see if anyone finds it useful, but I figured that seeing as we've got over 2700 subscribers to the Newsletter, it might be nice for some of them to get to know each other!

Let me know what you think of the new site by clicking the 'comments' button below!

In badminton,

Robert
http://www.badmintonsecrets.com

Subscribers From 7 More Countries - 49 In Total!!

2005-06-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to subscribers to the Badminton Secrets mini course from 7 new countries:

Taiwan, Greece, Cyprus, Georgia, Egypt, Vietnam and Cambodia!

That brings the total to 49 different countries, and we're just getting up to 1600 subscribers.

And I still get wonderful emails from people saying how it has helped their badminton.

Such as this one, from AD:

"In the past few weeks, I have received your Free Badminton Secret Mini-Course.

To tell you frankly the said course helps me a lot in improving my game and my lifestyle.

Last week i joined a tournament where I played above my game.

Then my friends ask me how I did it.

Then I mentioned about you and your secrets to achieve it."

If you like too like what I'm doing, how about checking out two of my other sites?

One gives away a free self help book, a book by Samuel Smiles called 'Self Help'.

Or, if you want a self help book that is slightly different, try Mornington Crescent Books.

With this site, I'm trying to raise some money for charity by giving away a unique little book that I wrote.

It's going well so far; there is even a Mornington Crescent Books Blog, just like this one!

A Few Badminton Articles

2005-06-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Here for your delectation are a few articles on the very basics of badminton - the rules, the history of badminton, one about badminton rackets, and another all about the badminton court.

Badminton Articles:

Badminton Rules
History of Badminton
Badminton Rackets
Badminton Court

Hope they are of some use to people!

Subscribers In 42 Countries And Counting!

2005-03-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

I fancied a little break during writing today, so I decided to count up how many different countries the subscribers to the Badminton Secrets Mini-course were from.

I was amazed - 42!! Badminton truly is a global sport, and I feel humbled that what I write goes out to so many different nations.

The 42 are, in no particular order:

UK, US, Canada, Phillipines, Croatia, Poland, Fiji, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, China, Belgium, Malaysia, Iceland, Singapore, Japan, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, India, Ireland, Australia, Slovenia, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Argentina, Qatar, Brazil, Hong Kong, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Sweden, Romania, New Zealand, South Africa, Luxembourg, Bahrain, Bulgaria and ... Kenya!!

PHEW!! I am truly humbled.

If you are a subscriber and your country's not on the list, please email me and I'll add it, so we can prove that badminton really has covered the globe!

Is This As Good As It Gets?

2005-03-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

I recently received a question from a subscriber of the Badminton Secrets Mini-course, and I think the answer is worth sharing with you (my reply is below).

It's from Weer, via hotmail:

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Dear Robert,

I've had a little bit of training now, and am feeling that my badminton skills are improving.

But now I feel that I can't get any better than this. Do you think this is my limit?

Please have some advice.

Rgds, Weer

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My reply:

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Dear Weer,

Congratulations on getting to the stage where your skills are improving!

What you are experiencing at the moment is a 'consolidation period' that the brain goes through whenever we learn anything new.

Everything that you have learnt so far has lead to your game improving bit by bit. Now your brain is sitting on what it has learnt and making sure that it understands whathas happened, and how it all fits in with everything else it knows.

It is even possible that your game will go down a little (or even a lot!) - this happens to every player at some stage, and is nothing to worry about.

It is all the natural process of learning.

There are two important things that you must do now.

1) Don't give up! If you give up there is a 100% chance that you won't get any better :) Perseverance is one of the key attributes of successful players, for the exact reason that every successful player has to go through these 'consolidation periods'.

2) DON'T think that this is the best you will ever play. As long as you keep going, keep learning and persevering,you will get better as your brain gets ready to take in more and more information.

This is covered in more detail in Chapter 6 of the Badminton Secrets book, when we look at the steps the brain goes through when we learn any new task.

The main thing to remember is that it is perfectly natural to NOT improve every time you play, but that overall you WILL keep going in the right direction.

Regards in badminton,

Robert

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I hope this reply can help in YOUR game, it is the ability to recognise that bad patches are all part of getting better that can make real differences to your badminton.

1000 Subscribers!

2005-02-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

I have just noticed on my stat counters that the Badminton Secrets Mini-Course has now gone past the 1000 subscriber mark!

Considering we have been live for only 3 months, this is a phenomenal achievement, and I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has subscribed and stayed with it.

There has been such excellent feedback that it feels just like being in one big family.

So to all in the Badminton Secrets Family - I salute you!

If The Audio Doesn't Play On The Badminton Secrets Audio Course

2004-12-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone else gets the same problems trying to listen to the Badminton Secrets Bonus Audio Course, here's a question I received recently...

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Dear Robert

The Badminton Secrets Bonus Audio Course would not play when I pressed play.

Can you help?

CJ
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My reply:

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Hi CJ,

Thanks for your question.

There could be a few reasons for you not being able to hear the audio.

I am assuming that the play button comes up when you go to the web page.

There is a slight pause before the music comes on, so if you press play and then wait a moment, it should appear.

It is also worth making sure that your speakers are turned up high - and making sure that they are turned on. Can you hear other sounds on your computer OK?

Hope this helps, please get back to me if you still have problems.

Regards in badminton,

Robert

Why I Created Badminton Secrets

2004-12-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

You know when you see two quite different things, and you think that there really should be a link between them?

That was what compelled me to produce the Badminton Secrets product and market it to the world.

Let me explain...

On the one hand I had a deep love of badminton, a deep love of self help, and a deep desire to help people.

On the other hand, there were a lot of people out there playing badminton who didn't know anything about how what you think can make a significant difference to how well you play.

Badminton Secrets, I hope, is the link between the two.

It's like you have two players of similar physique and natural ability, yet one goes on to become a champion whereas the other one, despite their best efforts, doesn't. The difference is what they think, how their minds process what is going on with their game and then respond.

It's the difference between players at 14-14.

It's the difference between you being able to go out on court and win, and not.

Badminton Secrets has evolved, or rather is evolving, to help people find a way of getting that edge to their game that can make the difference in getting you to where you want to go.

What Should I Do To Get Back My Confidence?

2004-12-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

Below is an email from a Badminton Secrets Mini-course subscriber, and my reply that I hope will be of some help to people.

It's from Von, who is 13 and from Singapore:

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Dear Robert G. Johns,

I believe in the things that you have said, and I agree with them.

However, something that keeps bothering me is my confidence.

I lose confidence easily and always miss my shots. Sometimes I lose my temper and throw my racket and want to break it.

What should I do to get back my confidence?

Yours sincerely,
Von, 13, Singapore

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My reply:
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Dear Von,

Thanks for your question!

This is a very common problem in badminton, when one or two shots go wrong, causing someone to start playing badly and get angry with themselves.

Remember that you ALWAYS have lots of confidence within you.

It never actually goes away, all that happens is that something comes along (like a bad shot) that triggers an emotional response, such as anger, that then takes over.

What we need to do is to stop that response from causing us to play badly.

The way to do this is to follow this 4 step process:

1) When you feel like you are going to lose your temper, stop, take a couple of deep breaths and count to 5.

2) Resist the urge to SAY anything out loud.

3) Try to replay the bad shot in your mind, imagining it going right.

4) Actually physically do the action of the shot going correctly.

The reason for each step is...

By breathing deeply we are slowing down the negative emotions, so that they are less pronounced and won't interfere with the next shots.

Counting to 5 uses a different part of the brain (the left, logical side) to the one that causes the anger (the right, where emotions come from). So again, it stops you from feeling the anger as much, because the brain can only do one of these at once.

By not saying anything out loud, you will be stopping the little voice that is in your mind and keeps 'reminding' you of all your bad shots, and how it went wrong last time, and how you'll miss the next shot.

Replaying the shot first in your mind (which may take a bit of practice!) and then physically, causes your mind to associate the correct actions to the bad shot that you actually played.

So next time you do a bad shot, your mind will start toautomatically think about how it should have been played, instead of focussing on what went wrong.

This stops the self doubt from coming back, and hopefully stop you from wanting to break your racket!

But above all else, remember that it isn't a bad thing to make a mistake. If you can treat all mistakes or bad shots as neither a good or a bad thing, just another step along the learning process, you'll find yourself not losing confidence when they happen.

I hope that helps, and the best of luck!

Regards in badminton,

Robert
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A Quick Word On Failure

2004-12-02T11:03:00.000-08:00

One of the underlying themes running through Badminton Secrets is that of there being no such thing as failure.

There is no such thing as failure - there are purely 'events' that happen.

How you label those 'events' are entirely up to you; you can choose to label them as failures and get disheartened, or you can label them as, say, 'learning opportunities' and use them as a springboard to greater achievements.

Just by changing one simple thing like that can make significant difference to how well you do in badminton.

Remember, the winner is only the person who gets the last point.

What Is Badminton Secrets?

2004-11-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

As it stands at the moment, Badminton Secrets is an ebook called 'Badminton Secrets - 7 Steps To Getting The Edge Over Your Opponents', another ebook called 'How To Get 92% Of Your Badminton Serves In ...Guaranteed!' and a 7 day Audio Course called, er, 'Badminton Secrets Audio Course'.

There is also the Badminton Secrets Mini-Course, which is delivered via email and contains some totally free tips and techniques to help you play better badminton.

These all help you to play better, not by telling you how to play strokes, or how to be fitter, nor even what tactics to play in a match.

What they do is help you with the real area that can make significant differences in your game - the psychological side.

How good you are at badminton is directly related to what you are thinking, and at Badminton Secrets we help you start to think in the same way as champions.

There are plenty of books and coaches out there who can show you how to play a backhand clear, or set you off on numerous bleep tests or circuit training.

But this is the only place where you can receive information on the bit that is so often overlooked, but can make the biggest difference - your brain!

You can sign up for the free mini-course in the box on the homepage (www.badmintonsecrets.com) and it will be sent to you completely free of charge, along with many other freebies and goodies, all compliments of me here at Badminton Secrets!

When you are ready to purchase the full version, you can instantly download the two ebooks and the Audio course from the same page by clicking on any of the 'purchase now' links and filling in your credit card details.

Our credit card processor is one of the securest on the internet, and everything is backed by a 90 day money-back guarantee, which means that if you put in to practice the methods and your badminton doesn't significantly improve, you can get your money back, no questions asked!

And at the bottom of every page is the email address so that if you have any questions at all you can always contact us.

Badminton Secrets Goes Live

2004-11-24T13:04:00.000-08:00

I am delighted to say that Badminton Secrets is now live.

This blog is a chance for me to answer the many questions that I get asked so that more people can benefit from the answers.

It's also a chance for people to get a bit more background on the project, why it was started and most importantly how it can help you play better badminton!

Because Badminton Secrets is something totally different to everything out there, there is a lot of confusion as to what it is and what it does. Hopefully by the power of blog, this can all be answered!