Badminton Scotland’s recruitment of a top Malaysian coach has given the country’s top player Kirsty Gilmour added incentive to meet her target of regaining fitness in time to be back in full training at the start of the New Year.
Tat Meng Wong’s appointment is seen as something of a coup, but Gilmour, who is currently in re-hab following knee surgery, admitted that for all that the memory has the upside of demonstrating his ability to help bring the best out of players, his appointment brought a reminder of one of last year’s more disappointing moments when she was beaten by a 15-year-old in the final of the Belgian Open.
“I didn’t realise I knew Tat Meng, but he coached against me in the Belgian Open when I was playing against Jin Wei Goh who went on to win the World Championship and she beat me so he clearly knows his stuff,” she observed, wryly.
She got the chance to speak to him when he was over in Scotland recently discussing the opportunity to take charge of the national squad and was impressed with what she saw when he offered input to those training.
“I was impressed with the feedback and advice he gave people during the sessions he ran when he was over. You could see immediate improvement just in the course of a 45 minute session,” said Gilmour.
Nor was the British number one left in any doubt that he has identified areas for her to work on once she is back to full fitness and set to work on regaining her competitiveness ahead of next year’s World Championships at The Emirates Arena.
“He wasn’t shy about bringing up the weaknesses in my game either,” she noted.
That’s great for me. You need things pointed out if you’re going to improve them and having coached against me he clearly has clear ideas on my weaknesses and strengths. It’s great to have new insight on that. I like getting fresh input.”
His track record, coming from one of the sport’s acknowledged leading nations, will clearly generate confidence.
“All the players will respect what he’s done so far in the sport and the general consensus is that it’s a really, really good appointment,” Gilmour reckoned.
“We can look forward to him bringing a new injection of exercises and ideas.
“January’s when I’m hoping to be back on court properly so it should make for a really good atmosphere when I’m getting back into it.”
Over the next couple of weeks, along with continuing to try to maintain fitness on exercise bikes and with weights, she will be helping promote the Scottish Open Grand Prix at The Emirates, but she is by no means the first athlete to discover the attraction of what she once took for granted as she looks forward to being able to train properly once again.
“I am booked in to a special treadmill so I can go running for the first time. I didn’t think I’d ever miss running but I have,” said Gilmour.
“Running is going to be a great stepping stone between the bike and getting back on court. I’m maybe looking at being back on court at the start of December. It will be very gentle to begin with but it will be great to get a racquet in my hand again. When I’m back on court and ever find myself clock watching in a dull session I’ll be reminding myself of what this has been like.”
She is, however, hoping that her conscientiousness is going to be rewarded by bringing that return to full training forward, adding with a little laugh at her own expense: “I’m such a teacher’s pet, though, we’re going to be re-doing the tests (with the specialist) half a week early.”
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