KUALA LUMPUR – Following Malaysia’s disappointing loss to India in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will look into the national players’ training regime to identify areas of weaknesses.
“I don’t want to wait till we get to one of these big events (again) to suddenly realise we are lacking in a particular area.
“How can we look to adapt to the pressure? How can we adjust our training situations so that our players become more ready for the next time?
“Although we couldn’t recreate the same situation, I’m sure there are things we can do that will help them manage the situations better,” said BAM high-performance director Dr Tim Jones.
The Briton added that training hard may not be the only solution if the players fail to be emotionally and mentally prepared.
He observed that while the players are passionate and committed to the sport, the problem arises when their hearts and minds are not aligned.
“The commitment is there, but it’s not always about training harder, instead it’s being more clever.
“Everyone in the world is going to be training hard, but how can we make sure we’re better than them. Maybe we need to improve our sports science or its connection with the coaching art.
“You can see sometimes that when things don’t go well, they would lose 3, 4, or 5 points in a row.
“We need to find a way so they could mentally stop, reset, change and move on. It’s very difficult in a high-pressure situation,” Jones added.
Jones, who was the badminton team leader at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, explained that if the players lose their emotions, they would struggle to perform well.
As such, he shared that the players need to be trained to control those emotions, in order to be better prepared for high-intensity tournaments such as the prestigious Thomas and Uber Cup. – The Vibes, May 14, 2022
