corners of the globe

in the next 30 minutes we feature players who wish to earn their coaching

badge

once they escape from the glare of the spotlight, and a former world champion

who has

earned his badge plus the latest world rankings and results

only on Badminton World

A coach is the guiding light for any athlete

he or she is the tactician, mentor, confidante and organizer all rolled into

one.

In short a coach is the fountain of knowledge. Any athlete wouldn't want to

squander the opportunity

to have someone who had been in their shoes to act as the teacher.

It's no wonder that an actual step for shuttler to take when he or she calls

it a day to become a coach.

...exemplified by the likes of Lee Yongbo,

Park Joo-bong, Rexy Mainaky, Pullela Gopichand,

Kenneth Jonassen, Misbun Sidek, Hendrawan and Joko Suprianto, just to name a few.

Earlier there was Christian Hadinata, Han Jian, Yang Yang,

and Chen Changjie. If you turn the clock further back, you would have discovered the era of Tang Xian-,

hu, Fang Kai Xiang, and Hou Jia Chang,

all players of repute who made the smooth transition from player to coach.

Hadinata remains an influential coaching figure in Indonesia

having been one of the architects of his country's most successful

era in the nineties, which yielded a return of eight World Championship

titles,

and four Olympic gold medals. Hadinata

a men's doubles world champion alongside Ade Chandra in 1980

before carving out a reputation as a coach credits his success to the

previous generation of coaching.

"When you see the founding fathers of

badminton in Indonesia, there were plenty of them.

......

They were the ones who elevated Indonesia

into a prestigious badminton powerhouse."

Hadinata too has spawned a legacy that he can be proud of.

Among his charges was Rexy Mainaky, a men's doubles Olympic-gold-medalist-

turned-coach.

I made the decision to become a coach just before I retired from badminton.

I was constantly consulting Christian Hadinata,

asking him what does it take to become a coach. Sometimes I would follow him to

his training sessions.

Also at that time we had a physical trainer — the late Tahir Djide

He gave me a lot of advice on coaching. In the beginning

I used to have a hard time trying to contain my emotions.

When we were players we had no problems letting those emotions out.

But as a coach we have to be in control of everything,

especially our emotions. That was the hardest part for me."

Countries outside China

and Indonesia are also looking at creating a bigger pool of coaches.

Players who have gone through it are all of course the preferred choice.

England's doubles specialist Alexandra Langley has no qualms of making the

switch one day.

"I would like to go into coaching. I'd like to coach some young

players and bring them on and hopefully inspire them to play badminton

especially in England." All work and no play makes Jane

a dull girl, so Alex is hoping to be a coach who is able to be tough

and occasionally laugh. "Well my coaches are very good,

and they are very strict but they can also have a laugh

I think I'd like to be fun but also

be quite strict as well to make sure that everyone stays

in line." With former All-England champ Pullela

Gopichand as the benchmark, India's Anand Pawar is

eager to develop his coaching genes inherited from father Uday

"I think for sure

coaching as my father is also a coach right now and

he has his own

training centre so I think maybe I will take over at my own but I'm not sure

but I think I'm gonna coach for sure." The trick in establishing a successful relationship between coach and

player

is to create a balance between being a friend and the teacher.

"I think it's important to have the right mix of being strict and also

not being friends exactly but also being a

fun coach, it's important to have a good mix if you wanna be a good coach and

a successful coach so I think I will try my best to have

both" Having played at the highest level is a bonus for Pawar

with the extra insight knowledge Pawar will be able to impart his skills

in what could well be the difference between winning and losing for his

players.

"I think it makes a lot of difference if the coaches also played

at a high level

you know you can make a lot of difference in a match

with small changes

and tactics

and things like that so I think being a former player

will be quite helpful

you know quite helpful to have played a lot of badminton before being a coach."

For Irish shuttler Sam Magee who comes from the famous Magee family in Donegal,

he intends to give back to the game as a coach. "Yeah definitely that's what I wanted to do,

I want to give back in trying to coach if I can find the job

I think I need to start doing some coaching degrees

as I am still playing to try to educate myself more. I've seen a lot I'm gonna think I can help

the younger players coming through in Ireland. It's definitely the passion for me."

And Sam has a specific area that he would like to develop further when he

becomes a coach.

"I think the technique side of it. I think it

really needs to be improved in Ireland. I think if at the lower level if the kids are starting if they

can have a better technique then they will stand themselves a lot better

to be better senior players." He doesn't want to be regarded neither as a hard taskmaster

nor a lenient coach. "I think I'm

I think I'm in between I don't think I'm too strict down

I think I'd like to find a middle ground between both."

Badminton

No sport comes close.

"I was like.. Carsten Mogensen from Denmark

he has a really great style

else like Koo Kien Keat from Malaysia I think he has a really nice style

Definitely it'd be Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli from China we say that they are almost

two boys playing because they are so strong in the ladies' doubles

so it will be the toughest couple to beat

The best net player.. from Denmark I think Christinna Pedersen is very good

I think again Koo Kien Keat is one of the best net player in the world

I cannot say myself.. no just kidding I think Carsten

Mogensen has the biggest smash on the tour

I think we have chances to take medals to Denmark

I hope Denmark can bring home the medal" Coming up next what would be the most important criteria for

a player to become a coach.

Stay tuned to find out!

"Hi everyone. I am Chen Jin. We are now watching Badminton World"

Welcome back to Badminton World

Malaysian badminton players are spoilt for choice when it comes to getting good

training

as that many infrastructures as well as training academies set up in order to

nurture budding talents.

In fact in every school's community hall and playground in Malaysia

you'll find badminton courts. BAM which is the sport's governing body

in Malaysia trains the current squad at the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara,

Kuala Lumpur.

Plans are underway to redevelop this existing location into a

state-of-the-art training center.

Malaysian players will not only benefit from this but it will become a badminton hub for

the region.

Besides the national badminton academy there are many other independent

academies

that have either been opened by our previous badminton players

or opened by multinational companies that have the same aim in mind

to turn our badminton players into international superstars.

There is no denying that Malaysia is truly committed in ensuring that they

produce world-class players.

With plans and progress made for the benefit of these players

one cannot deny the fact that one day Malaysia might be a hub for badminton

players from

all over the world to train. The possibilities are endless for this

badminton-crazy nation.

Back to the issue of players turning to coaching

A fine example of a world champion taking up the challenge of producing champions

is Rexy Mainaky.

The 1996 Olympic Games gold medallist is now back

in Indonesia as Head of Development, having journeyed to England,

Malaysia, and the Philippines as a coach. But it was not

all the better roses for Rexy. Here he offers his advice.

"If possible before they retire and decide to become a coach

they must study a lot of things especially every aspect of coaching

plus they must update the current knowledge on other methods

which is implying sports science in their training.

We must understand that because if you talk about eating skills and techniques

that is not a problem anymore. But now the main aim is to elevate player's

performance through sports science.

Half of the battle in creating a champion is one

if the player is committed to the cause therein lays the challenge

It takes two to tango. A coach's task is made easier if his players

are determined to succeed.

"It all boils down to our desire and commitment

but if you lose the desire then we wouldn't have

any commitment. I really emphasize on that.

If we talk about skills, yeah it's important but the main thing that I stress

on

is their attitude. Firstly of course it's discipline.

If there is discipline automatically the attitude

will be positive.

If there's no discipline it's not worth talking about the attitude.

So that part is important to me."

Rexy's sentiment is shared by 1992's women's singles

Olympic gold medalist Susi Susanti

For her it is all hard work and more hard work

plus a number of other factors as well.

"Definitely you have to work hard, you must want to work hard

you must want to train harder because there can only be one champion

so in order to be a champion you must train extra hard

If you don't go the extra mile, not willing to fight for it,

not willing to train then you would never achieve good results."

But a champion may not necessarily be cut out to be a champion coach

but for Susi it is a learning curve it's about processes

The process of developing human capital micromanaging individual

and implementing strategic planning and she is game for it.

"For me

everything needs process. It's a constant learning curve

because when we were players everything was done for us

but as coaches we need lead everything out for the players

so it's a process of learning how to manage

each player, learning how to analyze players' style of playing,

and tailoring their training. You must also strategize and plan

Plan their training sessions, focus on their weaknesses

all of which must be analyzed."

An active senior play toying with the idea of coaching is Vita Marissa.

The doubles specialist wants to make a difference as a coach.

"If I have the chance I would like to try other fields

but because it's my hobby I may turn to coaching."

She talks about polo and the need to make her charges feel comfortable with

her the day she decides to be a coach

"If I become a coach

my training methods will be different from other players

For me I want the players to be at ease when I train them

I want to be close to my players."

The process of creating champions is not as simple as ABC

but with an athlete-centred, coach-focused concept

the challenge is much easier to deal with. Having an ex-shuttler sharing his or her

decades of experience

with their charges, it's definitely the way forward. Badminton

No sport comes close.

Sometimes before a match a shuttler's mental state is as taut

as it is fragile. Under the circumstances locker room ritual seems crucial

It's like a great big match sticks structure if every piece is not

symmetrically in place

it can all fall down. We spoke to a few former players on their rituals

ahead of the game. "Right before I went

on if I knew that the crowd was gonna be

tough on me ...... welcome to the jungle

because you know it's you against the crowd and you have to

kinda blank that out so I'll be hearing that while I was playing

and then otherwise it will be probably Metallica

...as a little bit you know

you against everybody else that's the kind of music so it just got me into that