Importance of understanding arch of your feet

A common problem in running is foot injury. 

Badminton like running can leave one susceptible to foot injuries. 

In particular, the arch of your feet is an area prone to injury. 

Human feet can be categorized into 3 types: neutral, high arch and flat foot (or no arch). 

The arch on your feet can affect the biomechanics of motion and how much stress is placed on your joints particularly the plantar fascia and the various ligaments/muscles/tendons at the ankle area. 

As badminton involves a lot of standing on the balls of your feet and landing on high impact via lunges and jumps, the joints are in constant dynamic motion. 

To mitigate risk of acute injury or chronic (overused) injury, proper footwear is important. 

A high arch can cause underpronation but can be mitigated by shoes with a lot of cushioning to avoid strong impact. See below:

A flat feet type can cause overpronation but can be mitigated by shoes with structured or cushioning shoes. Reference: Here 

Another thing that can mitigate the risk of injury is the lacing pattern as can be seen here: Lacing guide

As always, happy playing badminton and keeping your feet happy.

Badminton grassroots in Indonesia

Ever wonder why Indonesia is so good in badminton? 

Well, it starts at the grassroots, kids motivated to play competitively.

At this clip by KompasTV, kids from various cities from all over Java & other islands of Indonesia taking part for the audition in the city of Kudus... 

The selected kids from the audition gets the scholarship to train in badminton sponsored by the cigarette company, Djarum.

The large pool of young players and interest to better their lives ensures Indonesia remains a badminton powerhouse.

In part, Indonesia has a great badminton tradition and interest from all layers of Indonesian society in badminton.

Having visited Indonesia many times and played with the locals, Indonesia is a great badminton country to watch competitive badminton and play badminton.

There are many private clubs in Indonesia and the support and participation is very high. 

Post Covid-19 badminton

The year 2020 is the great lockdown.

Badminton social games, competition and tournaments are put on hold...

Many changes are included in competition, particularly greetings like hand shake.

More to follow...

Singapore Open 2019 Press Conference and earlier rounds

Managed to get a ticket for 11th Thursday game, cheapest seat, costing SGD21.

After coming back from Malaysia Open 2019, I find the price a bit high.

The sponsors of the tournament is Li-Ning.

This year, the security are pretty strict with video, selfie and professional photographers.

Perhaps, too many fans were taking selfies with the players in the stadium...

There's also a meet and greet session or press conference at the Wisma Atria, featuring the following players.

The world number 1, Kento Momota is one of the biggest name that made it to Singapore Open. The host asked him a few questions.

The media people were are videoing and shooting photos.

PV Sindhu mentioned she likes Singapore, because there are many Indians here in Singapore.

The training venue for the players is the OCBC Arena, where players can walk to the Kallang stadium right after training. Hence the OCBC Arena is closed to amateur players like me.

Here the Chinese National team heading back to the hotel after training at the OCBC arena.

Singapore Open 2019

This week is the Singapore Open and the venue is the Kallang indoor stadium.

I may drop in for the earlier rounds.

May have a badminton burnout after watching Malaysia Open the week before.

Anyhow, this year's Singapore Open is arranged right after Malaysia Open which is different from the previous years.

The ticket prices are pretty high, but this year many to players are participating.

More updates to come.

Malaysia Open 2019 Holiday.

I attended the Malaysia Open 2019.

It was an awesome experience, with money well spent for short vacation from Singapore.

In addition, I met many fans from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Europe, Japan and China.

This time, I stayed at Bukit Bintang where I can take the monorail and transfer to one of the LRT direct to Bukit Jalil, which cost about RM5 one way.

The player hotel is the Istana hotel which is located near the Pavilion Mall/Changkat Bukit Bintang area.

The 3rd round and quarter finals are the best bang for the buck where 4 courts are in action.

The spectator area is blacked out and it can be dangerous walking around in the dark to find a seat.

Some of the national team jerseys are sold in the stadium. 

I must say Victor have very nicely design shirts. Of course, I bought a few.

I bought the cheaper exclusive Malaysia Open shirt. 

Pretty nice souvenir, nice looking shirt.

The racquets sold at the stadium. It is a bit pricey that I didn't buy any.

The best part was I get to get my items autographed by the players.

Ticket prices are reasonable before the semi-finals. I paid cash at the ticket booth at the stadium.

Fan engagement at the stadium.

Funny thing is at the player hotels, at the lobby there were many fans camping outside to take selfie with the players and getting their autographs. 

I managed to take a lot of pictures, but the low light makes it challenging to get a nice money shot.

All and all, an enjoyable experience for my 4th Malaysia Open. A memorable badminton holiday.

badminton injuries - part 1

Last year, I experienced my first calf strain injury which resulted in a severe pain and an audible snapping sound of a breaking rope.

It happen when I lunged to lift/pickup a drop shot from center court. It's my first time experiencing this injury. I bought a calf sleeve with compression to ease the pain. I guess you see those professional players wearing compression on their legs, it's with a purpose, i.e. to warm the muscles/tendons so that the muscle stay active when contracting.

I now see the value of calf compression and do warm ups properly before each games.

Another nagging injury I experienced recently is heel pad pain.

After playing about 3-4 times of tennis/badminton per week, I started to develop pain on my left heel pad. The pain occurs wherever I wear sandals but goes away when I wear sneakers.

A gel pad can mitigate the pain after trying out a gel insert underneath the heel pad.

Keep playing badminton and stay injury free!