Chapter 76 - 75: The Legendary Fly Swatter

Chapter 76: Chapter 75: The Legendary Fly Swatter ... Binhai University is one of the well-known "Yanhuang Four Greats," with its sports academy being the best sports institution in Jiangnan Province. Its sports venues and facilities are highly professional and advanced. The entire badminton hall’s flooring is made of the most expensive keel wooden base, topped with shock-absorbing, anti-slip professional badminton court flooring, providing excellent protection for athletes. Entering the hall, Li Zhigang went to the locker room to change his gear. Ye Shanshan patted her forehead and said, "Ah, I forgot to buy you a pair of badminton shoes first. What’s your shoe size? Should I go borrow a pair for you?" "I won’t wear someone else’s shoes." Yan Xiaobao pointed at the pair of Adidas sneakers he bought today. "Rourou said these are the best sports shoes." Ye Shanshan shook her head and said, "Adidas shoes are indeed good, but these are leisure running shoes, not suitable for playing badminton." "Why not?" Yan Xiaobao was puzzled. Playing badminton, does it really need to be so troublesome? "Because..." Ye Shanshan began explaining true competitive badminton to Yan Xiaobao in detail. Badminton looks like a sport that every household is familiar with and nearly everyone "knows" how to play. But recreational badminton and competitive badminton are completely different concepts. True competitive badminton is actually a highly demanding sport. Many people think badminton is a sport with low intensity and is easygoing fun, but in fact, within ball sports, badminton has one of the highest physical intensities. Basketball and football, two of the world’s top ball games, seem intense, but players can adjust their physical demands through teamwork, positioning, and substitutions. Badminton, however, requires players to fight solo until the very last moment. Compared with tennis, which is the most similar, data analyses show: badminton competition time is less than half of tennis, yet running distance is twice as much, and hits number nearly doubles that of tennis. In other words, within the same time frame, the physical exertion of badminton players is nearly four times more than that of tennis players, if not more! This is because tennis players typically run back and forth near the baseline and have fewer opportunities to approach the net. Whereas in badminton, players are constantly in high-speed motion, darting left, right, running across the court like crazy. "So in high-intensity confrontations, sudden stops, sudden starts, jumps, rotations and such moves frequently occur, all of which increase the risk of injuries to the toes, ankles, knees, meniscus, and other parts. Therefore, professional badminton shoes are absolutely essential. In terms of cushioning, anti-slip features, support, wrapping, and protection, professional badminton shoes outperform any other type of sports shoes by far." "Oh, so what you’re saying is, playing badminton is risky and prone to injury, huh?" Yan Xiaobao chuckled, "You can relax. My body isn’t something that average people can compare to; there’s no way I’ll get injured from playing." Ye Shanshan thought for a moment. Indeed, Yan Xiaobao’s skills were extraordinary and far beyond the ordinary. With his lower-body strength, it probably wasn’t so easy for him to get injured, so she decided not to fuss about the footwear issue anymore. At this point, Li Zhigang had changed into his Yonex SHB-03Z combat boots, was carrying six Yonex VT-ZF2 rackets, and arrived with two teammates in tow. Rumors of Li Zhigang challenging someone to a solo fight, betting his girlfriend, soon drew a large crowd of curious onlookers from around the gym, who gathered and began discussing the drama. "I’ve seen singles badminton matches betting money or rackets, but betting a girlfriend? This is a first—that’s really a novelty." "Where’s the girlfriend? Let me see her. What does she look like?" "Oh, right over there, the long-legged beauty in the red t-shirt and white skirt." "Damn! She’s pretty attractive, got a hot figure too—I like her!" "Of course! Her name’s Ye Shanshan, and she happens to be the campus queen of Binhai University’s sports academy." "Such an amazing girlfriend and he’s betting her away? What’s going on in his head..." "Who’s taking up the challenge against Li Zhigang?" "Should be that young man by Ye Shanshan’s side there, looking like a pretty boy." "Him? Li Zhigang is one of the four badminton experts of the sports academy, soloing with him—it’s like asking for a beating!" "Who knows? Maybe the guy’s secretly skilled, one of those low-key players." While the chatter continued, Li Zhigang had already stepped onto the court and was warming up with his teammates. His powerful clears were hitting the shuttle with loud "pop-pop" sounds, quite impressive. You can tell a person’s badminton skill level just from the sound of hitting the shuttle. People who haven’t learned professional techniques, no matter how much force they exert, will only produce faint, muffled "thud-thud" sounds when hitting. But professionals, with what appears to be a light touch, can create crisp "pop-pop-pop" sounds like cracking whips. Ye Shanshan retrieved her Li-Ning N72 racket and handed it to Yan Xiaobao, "Do you want me to show you some basics first..." Before she could finish speaking, Ye Shanshan froze. Because she saw Yan Xiaobao grabbing the racket directly in his hand, his grip—it couldn’t look more amateurish... "Hahaha..." Laughter erupted from all around. "I’m dying! He doesn’t even know how to hold the racket properly, really keeping things low-profile, huh." "What are you all laughing at? That’s the world’s trendiest ’fly swatter grip’ style. The dude might secretly be a fly-swatting champion, hahaha!" "Ah... This pretty boy must be at what level of mental exhaustion to use a fly swatter grip to challenge Li Zhigang? There’s no need for the match anymore..." "That’s just dumb... Betting Ye Shanshan, such a beautiful girlfriend, recklessly like this. Doesn’t he realize he’s going to lose for sure?" "Exactly! If he doesn’t like Ye Shanshan so much, he could’ve transferred her to me instead..." "Hah! You think you’re up to it? Got the guts to duel me and see who’s stronger?" "Tsk! Your badminton team challenging me, from the judo team, to a badminton duel? How do you even have the guts to say that? How about we wrestle, and I’ll crush you flat!" "Alright, alright. We’re all here to watch the fun. Whether it’s a win or loss, Ye Shanshan has nothing to do with us. Enjoy the spectacle." ... The so-called fly swatter grip, also known as natural grip, is the most common racket-holding way among badminton enthusiasts who don’t know how to play. The grip involves the thumb-web facing the wide surface of the racket handle, with the racket face pointing forward when held up." All professional players and amateur enthusiasts who have learned proper badminton skills, however, use the standard forehand-backhand grip. Only by using the correct grip can skilled techniques such as "high clears, drops, smashes, drives, net tumbling shots, and deceptive shots" be executed. "Honey, maybe you really shouldn’t bet against Li Zhigang..." Ye Shanshan began feeling Yan Xiaobao had no chance of winning. While his martial arts were formidable, crossing into other disciplines is no easy task—being good at fighting doesn’t necessarily mean being good at playing sports. Moreover, badminton isn’t the kind of sport where brute force works miracles—it demands extremely delicate techniques. For this reason, professional badminton championship titles are almost entirely dominated by East Asia and Southeast Asia, while traditional sports powerhouses of Europe and the U.S., with their white giants and Black King Kongs, are entirely helpless in this arena. ... [The author is a huge badminton fan; aside from writing, the only fitness he enjoys is playing badminton. Fellow enthusiasts, don’t be shy to pop in, give a thumbs up, and vote!] ...