Racquets of Feather!!

Or as Hope would say, "Wackets of Feda!!" Or as you might say, Badminton. It is such a joy to be able to spell that one correctly! And, I should point out to the horse friendly audience out there that I can only spell it because I have been to Badminton, the actual place, where not only does a **** happen every year, but where the game that involves wee shuttlecocks  of which we are meant to be speaking today, apparently originated. Interesting, I do think.

Anyway, Racquets of Feather was what someone on Jeff's team called it once, and we have adopted that phraseology as our own. Call it what you will, it is a hoot and a holler, although much more so when the adults play then when we have to share the court with small racquet wielding children. Ask me about those bruises on my shins. Go ahead and ask.

What Jeff and I try to do is give the children a few other options to play while we bat the shuttlecock back and forth a few times. The game is, of course, much harder than it looks, and can be quite a bit faster than you might think, although clearly a safer game for a husband and wife who love each other very much to play than, say squash. While I can come up smiling from getting smashed in the head with a shuttlecock, the squash ball leaves significantly greater bruises than even wee children wielding racquets. So, we stick to the badminton court.

Tom is taking part in a basketball clinic for a few weekends. He's learning a ton, and Jeff is spending a great deal of time helping him develop his skills. It's a little hard as he is one of the smaller children in the group, but he does have great basketball genes on both Jeff's mom's and my mom's side, so we are encouraging his interest. Not to mention that while he does dribbling drills, Jeff and I get to play.

Hope tries really, really hard, but for a three year old, getting the racquet and shuttlecock to connect requires no small amount of luck.

Tom keeps asking us if we "play like professionals." "Yes!" we say, "Just like professionals!" Professional chess players forced onto the court against their will, maybe, but definitely professionals.

And, drum roll please! I started playing with a friend of mine today. She is actually quite good, so maybe I should qualify "played." We batted the shuttlecock around for a while without actually keeping score. My game is about as good as you would expect from someone who basically (a) is not terribly athletic or co-ordinated (b) has never played a racquet sport and, well, do you really need a (c)? "Tragic" would be good word to describe my skill set. But I am enthusiastic, and my friend was happy to let that be the win for her. She will enjoy watching me improve over the next few weeks. We hope. She, perhaps even more fervently than I.

Say it with me!! Wackets of Feda!!!!

Note: Tuesday night is the Backstreet Boys concert! One can only hope that I will be in good enough shape Wednesday to post about it. It became a bit of a logistic drama, as our regular babysitter had to be out of town this week, but we have resolved the issues, and are really looking forward to it! At the very least, I should be able to post a few photos.

Comments

[Susan (ChocoMare)]

Aha! So you've been introduced to the REAL game of badminton....not the "backyards-of-America" version with a net so high you need a crane to see over it.

I know of real Badminton because I played it competitively in high school. I loved it! Much faster than tennis, much more intense and much more exciting.

[Ann]

I remember the first time we saw badminton being played in Malaysia. Although "played" wasn't really an appropriate description. "Waged" (as in war) might be a better term. Good golly, Miss Molly! Those men (always men, never women, that we saw, anyway) take their badminton seriously. And the vertical leaps on those dudes!! They would put the NBA's best to shame.

[Faith]

i like the Greek athletes in the background. Did they inspire you?