Essays

I love badminton. I play it as often as it can be and with as many different opponents as I can find. With my group of badminton-crazy friends we have formed a team called The Young Terrors'. We are supposed to strike terror in the hearts of our opponents whenever we play a match. Sometimes we succeed, but sometimes it is we who get terror-stricken.

We have a part-time coach. Actually, he is a teacher who used to represent the State in his younger days. He is very good- Though I try my best to give him a fight, he always beats the living daylights out of us. Anyone of us would consider it a great thing if he manages to get five points from our coach.

Our coach trains us on the finer points of playing badminton. He also arranges friendly matches for us. It is during one of these friendly matches that I became a badminton casualty. It was a most unfortunate accident but I learnt a valuable lesson from it.

We were all geared up and ready on the lovely Saturday evening at seven in the evening. The match was to be played away on our opponents' flood-lit outdoor court. When we arrived at the venue, we were impressed by the quality of the hard court. It was indeed a good place to play the game provided the weather permitted.

I was supposed to play the first singles. So I went onto the court to warm up with one of my teammates. After we had some lively exchanges, I felt wonderfully fit and ready. During the first session, I made the mistake of Hinging the shuttle up too high. My friend immediately slammed the shuttle down and as I was standing so near the net, the shuttle hit me forcefully on the right eye. I felt a stab of intense pain and clutched at my eye. For a moment I was disoriented. All 1 saw was blurred flashes of light that seemed to swirl all around me, I went down on my knees with my head in my hands. Teammates and opponents alike came to my did. Everyone was very concerned.

After ten minutes of waiting, our coach decided that I should not play singles. So he rearranged the draw. I was to play in the last doubles of the day. How degraded I felt. I was very upset; upset at the unfortunate accident; upset at the inability to focus my eyes, upset at not being able to play singles and most of all upset at the indignity of being hit by the shuttle. How could I be so stupid as to carelessly stand near the net? The obvious thing to do was to protect one's face by looking away. Nevertheless, I sat there gloomily watching the games with half-focussed eyes wishing that my sight would return to normal.

It did not, anyway, not that night. It took three days before my sight became normal again, so when I took to the court for the last doubles that night, I played like a novice. I kept missing the shuttlecock. Only then I realized the importance of two eyes to judge distance and position. One eye cannot do the job adequately. We lost the last match miserably. On the whole we lost to better opponents that night. I was one of the causes of the loss, I could have beaten their first singles player. This issue was left to the return-match where I am happy to say that I categorically trounced them and restored the lost pride to our team.

From that unfortunate incident, I learned to be careful. Badminton may look soft and harmless to an onlooker. I know better. To be hit on any part of the body by a smashed shuttlecock at dose quarters is a painful experience. The important thing is not to be hit on a sensitive part. That will incapacitate you. A little caution prevents a lot of pain and hurt.