Popping in to say Hello

Hello Everyone,

Well I have managed to get a few minutes to drop in to say hello. It has been a hectic few days and training has been hard but really enjoyable. Yesterday I had one of those really gruelling sessions. On Court of 90 minutes then my bike ride with Lauge which was followed by weights in the evening. Tomorrow I have another hard day and I get to play my good friend HK Vittinghus in the afternoon. He is just back from a serious injury and has also been picked for Denmark for the Thomas Cup so I delighted for him for that achievement especially after the hard time he has had of late. He has his own blog that you can visit at http://www.hkvittinghus.blogspot.com/.
On Friday im returning to Ireland for the Irish Nationals but my stay will be short as Im back in Denmark on Sunday evening. Come along to Baldoyle to say hello. Would be great to see a nice crowd there.
I am starting Danish lessons to shortly as i need to get a grasp of the language. I say that will be fun!! Next for me on the International circuit is the Thomas Cup in Holland where I get to play for Ireland. I just love to play for my country, its something that Im really proud off. Then the following week its the Austrian Open.

take care all

Scott

Back In Denmark and Training Hard

Hi All,

Just popping in to say hello. Im back in Denmark now after my two weeks away in Asia. Flight home was a bit dodgy and nearly missed my connection at Paris to but not to worry all back safe and sound now.
Had training this morning and did a good weight session. I really enjoyed it. Im looking forward to the Irish Nationals in Baldoyle next week. I just love going home to play. A few days after that I have a massive club game which should decide who gets promotion to the Danish premier league so again something to look forward to. Loads of positives and loads to work on and build on.

All the best

Scott

BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE

Hello Everyone,

Its very hard to come on here and report on a second consecutive defeat in Super Series qualifiers. I was beaten today by Rajiv Ouseph 22-20 21-14. Its probably been the worst two badminton weeks for me ever when I think about it.

Im just having a crisis of confidence lately and no matter how much you try and dismiss it to back of your mind it just seems to crop up. I had a good chat with Lauge and Peter Gade after the game and they advised me as to what went wrong. Think maybe im just putting to much pressure on myself.

Anyway Im just going to continue to work and get thru this bad patch. You have to have a bad patch to appreciate the goods ones. Im heading back to Denmark on Thursday for a week then it will be back to Ireland to play in Irish Nationals in Baldoyle so Im looking forward to that and hopefully I will get that winning feeling again.

Again the guys at badmintonphoto got some good shots of me as you can see above. Thanks so much to Raphael for supplying these.

Talk soon and thank you all for your support.

Scott

Next Stop Korea

Hi all,

I arrived in Korea last night. Yesterday we had to fly from KL to Hong Kong and then from HK to Seoul. They didn't give us are boarding cards in KL for are flight to Seoul which was a little bit strange but when we arrived we suddenly realised why... they like most airlines companies had over booked the flight and because we couldn't check in before all the seats had been taken we were left scratching our heads. The next flight was not for three hours so they gave us 50 Euro and moved us up to business class for are flight. So in the end it wasn't all that bad!! We arrived in Seoul last night and then had to take a 1 hour bus journey to our hotel. The driver must have been very cold as the temperature on the bus was about 35degrees.... nightmare!!! We were glad to get out of that bus i can tell u :) This morning I am training with Peter Gade. Peter has just arrived from Denmark after missing the Malaysian Open. Kenneth Jonassen will maybe join us later on. Looking forward to training with Peter and having a good session!! I had a good sleep last night so all is good...

Talk Later Scott

Back Training

Hi All,

Well I'm back at it now after my defeat the other day. Time to put that behind me and move on. This morning I went to KLRC club in KL to train with Lauge. I have been invited there to use there facilities while I'm here in Malaysia. Its a very nice club and I enjoyed the session. It was shockingly warm though and that's something I certainly was not used to. I will train there for the next few days in preparation for Korea next week. We fly to Korea via Hong Kong on Sunday so hopefully I will be well and truly ready for my match on Tuesday. At least there is not a huge time difference this time so the body should be well and truly acclimatised.
Ok... The games have just started in the next round of the tournament so I'm going to pop down to have a look and just chill out for the evening.

Talk again soon

Scott

Malaysian Disaster

Hi all,

Well as you all probably know by now I had a very disappointing defeat in Malaysia today. I was beaten 21-14 21-14 and to say im angry with myself would be an understatement. It just did not happen for me today at all. I was just not myself and my head was not there. I was lethargic and slow and I was beaten fair and square.

There are no excuses to be made for a poor performance like that but arriving yesterday has left me really really tired today. I got up this morning and felt fine but come midday I was shattered and I just had to sleep. I only slept for 45mins and woke up absolutely wrecked. I thought that I could handle the flight and play a Super Series match all within 24 hours but I clearly could not. Lauge was furious with me after the game but we sat down then and talked it through and we vowed never to let that happen again. I need to prepare better and be in top shape mentally for such important tournaments. Neither of us can handle going through a match like that again. That is not what we are about.

On the upshot badminton photo got some nice shots of me as you can see above and I will put them up in the gallery on the main site in due course. These shots will serve to remind me of a bad day at the office and I will refer to them again in the future I know.

What do I take from this then............ Well I always try and take the positives. I know now that to travel half way around the world the day before a Super Series event is not the ideal preparation. I know that I need to put in a really hard weeks work now in preparation for Korea and use this poor performance as a stepping stone. I need to acclimatise better and do my coach, myself and you guys at home justice and prepare better. I have learned and the mistakes I made this trip I will not make again.

I'm going to sort out training facilities now for the rest of the week and I'm going to work my socks off to be ready for Korea next week.

Rant over. Thanks and talk soon

Scott.

Arrived Safe and Sound but..............

Hi All,

Well I arrived safe and sound in KL this afternoon at 3.30pm but unfortunately my bag didn't take the flight as it was left behind in Copenhagen. The Airport staff have assured me that I will have it tomorrow which is not so bad. At least my equipment bag traveled with me so I can get on with the job at hand. I might smell awful for a day or so but I thankfully I will be able to play badminton. The flight was excellent and I even managed to get a decent sleep en route which is highly unusual for me.

Im staying at the fabulous Mines Resort Hotel which is the tournament hotel. It is amazing with every facility and extra you can think off. Lets hope now I can play well and get a few games under my belt so I can enjoy the hotel for a few days.

There has been a bit of a mix up with practise time this evening as the Hall closes at 7pm and my practise time was never booked. Again not ideal but nothing I can do about that now. My game tomorrow is not until 4pm so I will get to hall early for a good warm up and practise. Its important to get the feel of the hall before a game to gauge wind conditions etc. You would be surprised how much the breeze in a hall effects the shuttle.

I have just heard that Jan Frohlich and Richard Vaughan have not travelled and both were in my side of draw which is going to make things interesting to say the least. I assume that there will be a few Malaysian reserves called upon to fill the gaps.

Ok guys.........thats it for now....

Talk Later

Scott