Fernbaby Auckland International 20-23 June
Li-Ning Sunlight Victorian International 28-30 June
New Caledonia International 12-14 July Nathan Hannam reports from Sofia
This is still very hard but now my body is recovering a lot quicker which is very noticeable. I'm getting a lot fitter and stronger on court which is where I struggled the most at home. Last week I managed 15 on the beep test. We have the final week of testing next week and I am hoping to get in the mid 15s but I will have to push very hard.
My 400m times are averageing 70 seconds over the 8 laps. This test is the most feared by myself and the group. It is so tiring and vomiting is a regular occurrence!!!
The 5km run I'm doing in 20min.
Being at this camp has made me think al ot more as a player and self coach. We are not really provided technique or tactical coaching. This has enabled me to concentrate on the things I know I need to improve on. The greatest difference here for me is the frequency of training. I feel like a proffesional being able to just concentrate on badminton and not having to go to work or worry about other things. It gets really hard sometimes though. I have days when nothing goes right and I "hate" badminton but these days are outweighed by the good ones when everything goes my way and there is nothing else in the world I would rather be doing.
Another hard thing here for me is the food. It's really hard sometimes to get quality training because the food is not that nice - always mash potato and rice. It's OK for one week but now my stomach turns at the sight of lunch and dinner - so my diet consists of yoghurt, chips and juice. I really look foward to Sunday though - I have MCDONALDS -- yay!!!!!
The people here are really nice and we often do things together on Sundays. Today the girl from Canada and I went sightseeing through the city looking at old buildings, churches, monuments etc. Other activities include swimming, ten-pin bowling and shopping. Otherwise we use the day to let our bodies recover...
We had a two day tournament this past Friday and Saturday with the camp players and the Bulgarians. I won my box against the Slovakian guy 21/13;a Bulgarian 21/3 and the No 1 Bulgarian lady 21/6. In the finals I played the Bulgarian No 4 winning 21/12 and the Bulgarian No 2 also winning 21/16 to win the tounament.
Well I had better go now as I have to get some sleep as the next week is going to be really hard. As I said it's the last week of testing so I'm going to need all the rest I can!!!!!!
All the best to everyone
Nathan
My 400m times are averageing 70 seconds over the 8 laps. This test is the most feared by myself and the group. It is so tiring and vomiting is a regular occurrence!!!
The 5km run I'm doing in 20min.
Being at this camp has made me think al ot more as a player and self coach. We are not really provided technique or tactical coaching. This has enabled me to concentrate on the things I know I need to improve on. The greatest difference here for me is the frequency of training. I feel like a proffesional being able to just concentrate on badminton and not having to go to work or worry about other things. It gets really hard sometimes though. I have days when nothing goes right and I "hate" badminton but these days are outweighed by the good ones when everything goes my way and there is nothing else in the world I would rather be doing.
Another hard thing here for me is the food. It's really hard sometimes to get quality training because the food is not that nice - always mash potato and rice. It's OK for one week but now my stomach turns at the sight of lunch and dinner - so my diet consists of yoghurt, chips and juice. I really look foward to Sunday though - I have MCDONALDS -- yay!!!!!
The people here are really nice and we often do things together on Sundays. Today the girl from Canada and I went sightseeing through the city looking at old buildings, churches, monuments etc. Other activities include swimming, ten-pin bowling and shopping. Otherwise we use the day to let our bodies recover...
We had a two day tournament this past Friday and Saturday with the camp players and the Bulgarians. I won my box against the Slovakian guy 21/13;a Bulgarian 21/3 and the No 1 Bulgarian lady 21/6. In the finals I played the Bulgarian No 4 winning 21/12 and the Bulgarian No 2 also winning 21/16 to win the tounament.
Well I had better go now as I have to get some sleep as the next week is going to be really hard. As I said it's the last week of testing so I'm going to need all the rest I can!!!!!!
All the best to everyone
Nathan
Last Modified on 23/09/2006 16:46
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