I forgot how fun badminton is
I loved playing badminton growing up. Since 3rd grade, I’ve been playing with my friends on the streets near our houses. I didn’t even try a semi-pro badminton court until middle school. It’s just that much fun, especially when the entire nation seems to be in such a badminton fever. When the football team didn’t give anything, Indonesia’s badminton team continued to deliver again and again.
Then middle school came. At that point, badminton was just something I did to get good grades in P.E. classes. I can’t blame the public school teachers (especially when I learned that they got paid so little) for making the sport feel dead and passionless to me. High school and college weren’t so different.
Then fast-forward to earlier this year, my bandmate Falih invited me to play at this posh, expensive sports center in Kuningan. I forced myself (and my wife) to wake up at 5:30 so we could get there by 6. After playing a game, I was hooked again, as if I were back in primary school. The game felt fun again.
Then he and other middle school friends decided to hold a fun badminton tournament between friends. Then we had the players: 8 guys and 8 girls. But my wife sadly injured her ankle badly, so she couldn’t play, and I almost couldn’t either, to balance out the players.
Luckily, one of our friends was able to invite her officemate to be my partner at the games. And lucky me, she was as passionate as I was about winning the games, lol.
The organizers really put on a total show with the technical meetings, gatherings, and renting out one court for a full day. The place really felt like those villages that hold local badminton championships, surrounded by passionate people cheering on their neighbors.
In the end, we got second place. Falih and Chai played like champions already, and we couldn’t keep up with their energy. Overall, the game was super fun; everybody got to be junior high school kids with badminton fever again, away from the nine-to-fives.
Here are some snapshots I’d like to share:
