Conclusion: Progress I’ve made
Well over the last three and a half months I think my progress in climbing and badminton feels pretty good. Nothing insanely good, but I also know I have made good progress. I feel like a lot of my progress in both sports were more done by just playing/doing the sport, as I needed to get more fit and just use basic movements before adding lots of technique to it. I’m going to do a bit of an overview focusing on my own personal growth instead of comparing myself, like I have in past posts, to my friends or others I have played with. Afterwards I’ll give a bit of a plan for the coming months of how I’m going to continue to improve and what I plan to work on.
I think I’ll start with climbing as it was harder to document my progress, as I struggled to get people to come out with me to take photo or video evidence. That being said, I think I have gotten close ish to where I used to be when I was climbing at least 3 times a week. I started the year only able to do the lowest level of climbs and only being able to climb for maybe 30 minutes straight, as my calluses had not been built back up. Now I’m climbing all of the first 2 levels of climbs and getting about 50% of the 3rd level of climbs. Progress in climbing came from consistency and me procrastinating doing other work, making me climb more. Not proud of that last bit but it is how it went. Climbing is so much about consistency especially at the start, as it builds up grip strength, builds your calluses and increases how long you can climb for before your arms die. I can proudly say that it takes about an hour for my body to tell me I’m done now and it’s my arms that are too tired and not my hands that are hurting due to not having calluses. Another side effect of climbing is my flexibility has gotten a lot better.
Moving on to badminton it was hard to realise how far I’ve come when playing better players who just destroy, it’s hard to feel like I’ve made much progress. But when I look back on how I played when we started vs now the progress feels immense. At the start I was basically just scrambling around the court, returning every shot to the middle and trying to smash it every time I hit the birdie. Now my swerves are calculated, my shots are placed more deliberately, I mix drop shots and smashes and most importantly I’m moving around the court more naturally. I still flounder at times around the court but I’m usually not just running from shot to shot anymore, I return to a good spot so that I can be ready for the next shot. I think the next thing I wanna get better at right now is my smashes as they feel weak compared to a lot of other people I’ve played with. A skill that I have re strengthened is my side to side movement and just my stop and go movement has improved so much because of the movement of badminton. A little fun fact in my random deep dive of badminton I discovered there is a badminton center just out of Langley where I will be living for the summer where I will for sure be going and hopefully dragging some friends out!
For the next few months I’m hoping to continue badminton and climbing but also begin working in more cardio and weightlifting as I feel like the next thing holding me back is the extra weight I am carrying. Initially I was hoping to be doing that alongside badminton and climbing but with school on top of that I did not have the time.
Overall it’s really clear the consistency of doing these sports has helped me improve but also has made me feel better in my own skin. I hope my three and half month journey helps anyone to see that no matter where you start if you stick to it you will improve.