Richard Vaughan Badminton Academy - Blogs

my badminton sessions

no@spam.com (Gareth Day) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:00:00 BST

Has been another quiet week for me, haven’t had enough on court time. I had a 2 hour session on Sunday and a 2 hour session on Monday. Have done 2 light weights sessions and a run around the local area. Hopefully now that Richard is back this week he’ll be able to give me a few harder sessions, and I am looking forward to the running on Saturday and Sunday that he has promised me J

Last weeks badminton

no@spam.com (Vikki Jones) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 BST

Last week saw less sessions than I would have liked due to a few uncontrollable issues, that said the training that did take place was of a good quality. I feel that my fitness has improved and I'm playing quite good badminton. There are still a few unforced errors which need to be cut out but the more games i have played, the quality of the games have increased. So I am now looking to my first tournament coming up, along with my first club match.

Club match

no@spam.com (Sarah Thomas) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:00:00 BST

This weekend I played in the first club match of the season against velenta, I was looking forward to playing as this was the first competitive badminton I has played since since May, and knew it would be great match practice for the Belgium Open next week. I started of playing doubles with Beatrice Corrales after a slow start we won the match 21-18 21-14. Next up I was playing first ladies singles, at first I found it hard to control the shuttle and play at the pace I needed to be playing at but after losing the first set 19-21 I got back into control and won the match 19-21 21-15 21-9. My club also won the match 6-1:) I was pleased to be playing and felt that the 2nd two sets I was back to the form I was before I got I'll :) now on to the Belgium OPen

Last Week's Badminton

no@spam.com (David Evans) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:00:00 BST

I had only two hours on court this week, which was quite disappointing :( That was at Holmview Badminton Club. I was told though that I will be playing for them in the Cardiff and District League. Also last week I was asked if I was interested in Line Judging the Norwegian Open in Oslo in November and am now waiting for information about arrangments.

Training

no@spam.com (Gareth Day) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 BST

Hasn't been the best week if training for me, have only done about 3 hours on court and 4 hours of off-court sessions. Am hoping to increase the amount of sessions that I do this week, I have my first tournament coming up soon so will need to train hard to prepare for that. Looking forward to getting back on court this week :)

Last weeks badminton

no@spam.com (Vikki Jones) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 BST

Last weeks badminton seen less than usual training sessions due to cancellations and with working. The sessions that were completed were 2 or 3 v 1 routines followed by plenty of singles games. Just sorted out my first tournament which is 18th september for the Duchy of Cornwall open followed by my first club match in Ibiza on 2nd October.

badminton

no@spam.com (Sarah Thomas) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 BST

For the past week and this week my focuses are for my first club match of this season this weekend. I play for the spanish club Sagel Torrejon which is in Madrid and we play against Veleta this weekend. I am really looking forward to playing for the club again this year as it gave me lots of match practice and experience last year. Then i leave next Wednesday for the Belgium Open

Barcelona Badminton Training Camp

no@spam.com (David Evans) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 BST

I've just got back from a training camp in the Olympic Training Camp in Barcelona (CAR). We had really good weather, nothing else but sun :) Richard was the head coach at it so I knew it was going to be hard! All of the food was great and the rooms were really nice!

The first day wasn't so hard as it was more of a 'get to know day' but the worst thing was the heat! Over the week I got used to it but then the training got harder. On the Tuesday we had Physical in the afternoon and I heard rumors that we were doing the 2000M. Now I knew I was quite a good runner but I didn't know how I would cope as I hadn't done 2K before. But after my short worries I came 3rd which was so annoying as I was leading form the start until the last 90M. Grrrrr... After the running we then had an hour football game which killed my legs and my calves cramped up.

Wednesday seemed even hotter than the days before so it made training even harder in the small sportshall which acted like an oven :( On the day after we did physical again but we did 2400M and that was a lot tougher than the 2K, with Richard on my tail from the start but I knew I wouldn't be first as Rafa, the Spanish coach, was like a race horse and more than half a lap ahead of me and I was second!!! I then came 4th in the last 90M again :(

Friday was a good day with mainly games and a bit of technique work but at lunch Richard said to bring my running shoes which wasn't a good thing. At the end of the day we did hill sprints which creased my legs and I bet Richard did it on purpose. As my flight was that evening my knees were so sore from sitting in the plane! :( We also had trouble at the airport as my badminton bag had to go on a different belt and guess what, the belt broke down, but luckily superman came an hour later and fixed it. We nearly missed the plane!

But the whole week was very good, I really enjoyed it and I fully recomend to anyone to go next year if it's on.

David Evans

Barcelona Badminton Camp

no@spam.com (Richard Vaughan) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 BST

Just back from a good weeks badminton training camp at the Olympic Training centre (CAR) in Barcelona. Great venue for training with excellent facilities, not bad food, and accomodation all in one complex. Badminton hall is the not great but there is a good football pitch so that makes up for it.

Also lovely weather - so so much better than the UK.

The running tests killed me a little more than usual, so I think I need to start running more :)

All the Catalan badminton players have improved which is great, and along with the new coach they will hopefully get some great results this year. We also had a few Welsh badminton players on the camp, and I think everyone enjoyed it despite being tired by the end of the week. All the Welsh contingent were a big help in making the badminton camp work so well.

Next week - prepping Aimee Moran for the UK School Games, and getting Sarah Thomas on track for the Commonwealth Games. Sarah is playing the first match in the Spanish Badminton League for Madrid against Veleta Granada. I am surplus to requirements :( and not needed anymore...I get to play against Ibiza next month :)

badminton!

no@spam.com (Aimee Moran) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 BST

i havent started the season off to badly. Last week played in Langenfeld Under17. Beat the german in first round in 3 hard sets! with the scores being 20-22, 21-19,21-18. I found the win of that match a huge positive as in the second set i was losing 12-17 and managed to keep focus and determination up to come back and win the both sets. Unfortunately in second round came across the number 1 seed girl and lost, she was just to good for me! this weeks training has been hard work involving a lot of singles practise ready for the \UK school games next week in gateshead!