For The Love of The Game

I still remember when I was in elementary school, my father often brought me to the badminton hall to play with his friends or our neighbors in the block. After they finished playing and were exhausted, if there were still around 5–10 minutes left on the court booking, my father would play with me, until the lights in the court went out. I’m the third out of four children in my family, but as far as I remember, I was probably the one my dad most often asked to play badminton with during his leisure time. We had this versatile court near our house, a fairly big field beside the community hall. My dad would play with me on Sunday mornings, and I was always happy to be there with him.

Back in those days, if you were a boy born in the late 90s to early 2000s, you would definitely grow up playing different kinds of sports and traditional games. You would play at least one sport, football or badminton (Indonesia’s pride). I played them a lot. Especially football. There was no spare time with my friends that didn’t involve playing football. If school was in the morning, we played in the afternoon. If school was in the afternoon, we played in the morning. It wasn’t always football (we had plenty of choices) but if we gathered a lot of kids, football was the easiest option. I was actually a pretty good player. Most of my friends acknowledged it, maybe because I was one of the only left-footed kids.

As I grew older, I realized my body didn’t really catch up with my friends. In my opinion, to truly enjoy football, you need at least one of these: either a big body to compensate for skill, or great skill to compensate for a smaller body. Unfortunately, I had neither. Yes, I said earlier that I was good, but not good enough to compete with bigger opponents. I think I realized this in high school, that’s why I didn’t continue playing football. I stopped in middle school and rarely touched the ball since.

Badminton, on the other hand, doesn’t require a big or tall body. It’s not a sport where size gives you overwhelming advantage. Of course, being taller helps with steeper and more powerful smashes, but smash is not the only weapon in badminton. In fact, many average-height players rely more on speed and agility. That’s probably the main reason why I stuck with badminton.

My journey with badminton is quite weird, I would say. When I entered middle school and had to choose an extracurricular activity, badminton was the first thing that came to mind. That was the first time I actually trained and drilled seriously. Our coach was also our Sundanese teacher. I remember we only trained for one semester. Then there was an announcement that the hall we used was rented by now one of the most prominent badminton clubs in Indonesia, Exist Badminton Club. After that, there was no certainty about our extracurricular program. At the same time, I got busy with another extracurricular (The Scouts) where I found friendships that have lasted for more than a decade now.

I’m not entirely sure what happened during my high school years, but one thing I know is that I wanted to disassociate myself from so many things. I didn’t want to get involved. I didn’t join the student council. I tried joining a religious club but found it boring and unclear, so I left. I joined the cyber club, but it disbanded a year later. I was very aware that I just wanted to finish high school as soon as possible. I didn’t enjoy that period of my life. Maybe the subjects were too many and I got overwhelmed. I just couldn’t wait to move on to the next chapter (college life). But if there’s one thing I regret not doing in high school, it’s not joining the badminton club.

When I went to college, we had 8 credits that we could use to take classes outside our faculty or join extracurricular activities like sports, arts, or language classes. I didn’t let that opportunity slip. I used 2 credits for badminton. Out of four years in college, that was the only formal badminton I played. I became very active in robotics, worked as a teaching assistant, and got involved in many projects, so much so that I almost forgot how much I loved badminton. Or maybe I just didn’t have close friends who shared the same interest.

I returned to badminton after graduating and landing a job at a manufacturing company in January or February 2022. At that time, I was going through a really rough period at work. Saturday became the only day I looked forward to. I initially got information about playing badminton from my friend Alif. After a few weeks, he told me they actually had a WhatsApp group to coordinate games. It was a group made up of my high school friends from many different classes. So I asked him to invite me. And until today, I’m still playing with the same group every Saturday. It’s been four years now, the longest streak I’ve ever had playing badminton consistently.

In these four years, I’ve changed my racket four times and bought three different pairs of shoes. In the first year, I used my father’s old racket, a Gosen Grapower 350Ti. He bought it when I was at 5th or 6th grade if I’m not mistaken. Yes, I was using a 10+ year-old racket. I didn’t rush to buy a new one because I wanted to make sure that when I did, I would really commit to using it, at least until it broke. So in November 2022, I bought my first racket, the Victor DriveX 888H. It’s an even-balance racket, and I enjoyed it very much, until it broke in October 2023. Then I bought the Victor Thruster K 220H II, a head-heavy racket. I realized head-heavy didn’t really suit my playing style, but I wanted to use it until it broke. And it did, around August 2024. Now I use the Yonex Nanoflare 800 Game, it’s a head-light racket, and I’m still using it today.

As for shoes, I first used Reebok running shoes (which I later realize were not ideal). Then I bought Victor shoes, later switched to Yonex (which eventually broke really quickly), but I already gave the Victor pair to a friend, so I bought another Yonex pair. Hopefully this one lasts longer.

For strings, I experimented quite a bit with tension. I started at 26 lbs, then tried 28 lbs, 29 lbs, 29/27 lbs (cross), and eventually went back to 28 lbs. I also explored different string brands: Li-Ning No.1, Victor VBS-63, Yonex Exbolt 63, 65, BG66, BG66 Ultimax, and now I stick with Yonex Exbolt 68. You don’t get the setup right the first time. You just need to play, a lot, until you know what fits you.

In terms of skill and playing style, I wouldn’t call myself an intermediate player. Maybe I’m somewhere between beginner and intermediate, even after four years. I never trained with a coach or drilled basic techniques. We just play. We just want to play. But I can say we improved. In the first one or two years, when the moms on the next court invited us to play, we were completely outplayed and easily exhausted. Now, in our third and fourth year, we can finally outplay them. I don’t know if they’re getting older or we’re getting better, maybe both. But if you put us against middle school kids who have trained in a club for 3–4 years, we would still get slaughtered.

I always find badminton a joy to play. It’s a pleasant escape from the daily grind of work and everything else. I can scream as loud as I want (and I often do), and no one gets mad. These days, playing badminton is not just a nice-to-have activity. It feels like a need for me, at least once a week. I don’t know whether this group will eventually stop playing. Some have switched to other favorite sports. Some are getting married and becoming busy with family life. Some are continuing their studies. Who knows how long we’ll keep playing together. But I’m truly grateful that I’ve shared the court with them for the past four years. And even if we go separate ways, I will still find people to play with. Hopefully, I can keep playing until I grow old, and one day, teach and play with my own kids on a Sunday morning, just like my father did with me.