Indian shuttlers should learn to think on their feet, win without a coach around

The well-funded big names are rarely seen without coaches at the Tour events. There are in fact matches where the coach with pinpoint instructions has been the difference between a win and a loss. But if you are still upcoming, a stint independently figuring out how to go about a match – won’t hurt. It will only help.

While Lakshya Sen is seldom seen without a coach, the Bangalore Centre of Excellence tends to encourage players learning to think on their feet. The Hyderabad bunch is comfortable with players sitting for each other’s matches.

It’s not ideal. But there are costs involved in taking along a travelling coach. So, the few times when India’s emerging players are not chaperoned court-side, is an opportunity for them to be prepared for a likelihood that they might not have a coach even at the big events, if the likes of Irwansyah, Park, Tan or Gopichand are occupied with other matches.

There’s a couple of perspectives at play here. One of the major criticisms of Indian shuttlers tends to be that they can appear utterly lost without someone constantly doing the thinking for them. That look of desperately seeking help, over your shoulder at the coach, is for one, poor body language.

Of course a coach is best placed to zoom out and read what tricks the opponent is attacking with. But especially in the 15×3-point system, Indians will need to learn to gauge court drift, shuttle movement patterns, line judgments and varying of pace or strokes by themselves, and quicker too. At 8 points, half of the set is done, and the fast format while easier on injuries will demand plasticity and flexibility of figuring these things without outsourcing all the thinking.

Most Indian coaches have a good read on the game, and are indeed the difference between a medal and none. But Indian shuttlers will need to form at least rudimentary blueprints of a Plan A and B before entering the court, if they want to not be caught out hamstrung because there’s no coach. It might feel like preparing for a worst-case scenario – a medal at stake, and coach needed on another court. But a mental shift is necessary where this situation is not viewed as a worst-case scenario in the first place.

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Players like Canadian Victor Lai who need to head out to Asia for long durations with academy coaches unable to travel alongside, have hired ‘on-site coaches’ – Malaysian Lim Yin Siong in his case – to navigate Asian tournaments. Well aware that travelling with a physio is a bigger priority, Lai who studies kinesiology himself, has linked up with a coach based out of Singapore, keeping an open mind to onboard his ideas. He loves his golf, which he’s been playing since young, and would rather invest in playing at a local course than get an Ontario coach to travel all over leaving the Mandarin academy training behind.

The likes of MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan also sat alongside Coach Tan for Satwik-Chirag matches. (FILE: BAI)

In badminton, travelling coaches are also needed for sparring – another consideration keeping in mind the 15×3 format. Sanjay Mishra, BAI secretary while announcing the introduction of the format at domestic meets, made an important point. “The format could prove tougher for those who start slow. For these players, it would make sense to have extended warm-ups where they play one set even before setting foot on court,” he says. This needs sparring mates, or coaches who can simulate a good workout at any rate.

The likes of MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan also sat alongside Coach Tan for Satwik-Chirag matches, and learnt plenty about strategising. India’s top medal contenders too have benefitted from discussing plans beforehand so they can work out opponents by themselves – though a Top 5 pair is better off with a coach while aiming to win finals.

But the new batch of women’s singles that’s coming up – would benefit big-time from an event or three, where they think for themselves. It’s not utopia, but gritting it out alone out there, might toughen them in ways that spoon-feeding might not.