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This article discusses various aspects of the training for the international top-level and through some examples draws up some ideas for the enhanced training as well as a concept for understanding exercising in relation to the actual game as it is played.

Reflecting on countries’ different badminton environments, it seems clear that various training approaches can produce international top-players.  Of course, a couple of environments combined with cultural opportunities have proven very successful in terms of producing medal winners.

It also seems evident that when a nation had an established world level elite environment with the sport, the “structure” itself helps to maintain an ongoing flow of world class players. We may assume that the profile of a successful sport in the country, the culture of training and competition and the knowledge about the game push through a relevant number of players with the potential to achieve at the highest level in the world. We must also bear in mind that a successful sport at the top of the national sporting ladder will have access to more funding at least when we talk about an Olympic sport.

It seems significantly more difficult for nations without such an established elite culture to catch up and remain at a higher level (achievements through “imported” players disregarded). A similar situation is recognisable in other sports.

The short-term focus could be to improve faster through the training regime. The standard answer to improve in training is often “more, faster and harder” but the top countries already do this so to catch up and compete other nations must do something different,

The countries with the right elite infrastructure in place already will attract more athletic and talented players and through their structure they will lay sound foundation for the international level at a young age.

The developing countries may get the right talent from time to time but in the meantime we need to work on improving both the structure (long term) and the training methods (here and now). Can we train cleverer?

Players have emerged at the world top through a different balance of the following four pillars:

Morten Frost is an example of a player who believed strongly in playing the game and to improve through quality in match practice. He did short intensive sessions and very few drills. Most Scandinavians have a significant amount of “playing the game” in their development pathway. Many Asian players come from a highly centralised, squad based and quality orientated training regime.

A lot of exercising is merely a matter of physical training on court that produces technical consistency. Some exercising has its focus on the technical development. However, many aspects of exercising do not encompass the requirements of the game in terms of situation awareness, tactical and competitive aspects. On the other hand a lot of match practice in training is far from reaching the level of competition experienced in world class tournaments.