Latest / Mark and Pete / Badminton Shuttlecock Crisis.

Transcript

Badminton Shuttlecock Crisis. · Mark and Pete

• 0:04
  Badminton, Shuttlecock crisis Welcome to Mark and Pete.
• 0:09
  Yes, in the modern world you can split the atom, stream films in
• 0:13
  4K, but for a shuttlecock you need something a lot simpler and
• 0:18
  more natural. Yes, welcome to Mark and Pete's
• 0:21
  two blokes with half an opinion. Now here's our first thought.
• 0:27
  Knock down with a feather, Gaylord the goose felt supple
• 0:32
  and loose, playing by many badminton games around the
• 0:35
  clock. But feathers were not profuse or
• 0:38
  easy to produce because they were deemed valuable stock.
• 0:41
  Gaylord easily ran out of juice from his opponent's abuse,
• 0:45
  plucking points to make him a laughing stock.
• 0:48
  But there was no excuse to see all the plumage reduce, and he
• 0:52
  ended the match with a bare shuttlecock.
• 0:55
  Oh, Gaylord the goose. Yes.
• 0:57
  What have you done? Yes.
• 0:58
  Well, unfortunately, folks, those who have been following
• 1:01
  the World Badminton Championships are probably in
• 1:04
  shock. Not just because of a bear.
• 1:06
  Gaylord the goose. Yes.
• 1:07
  There are just simply not enough goose feathers to be actually
• 1:11
  produced. The shuttlecocks themselves.
• 1:13
  What does this mean? As a result of bird flu?
• 1:16
  Increasing popularity of badminton and of course,
• 1:20
  obviously the the enormity of the the tournaments that are
• 1:24
  going on around the world. Mr. Pete, there are definitely a
• 1:27
  dearth of shuttlecocks, but particularly with those really
• 1:32
  quality feathers that you need at tournament level, we now
• 1:35
  resulted to synthetic ones. What a disaster.
• 1:40
  Shame, shame. It is interesting though, that
• 1:43
  the best shuttles are still made from goose feathers with all the
• 1:46
  synthetic materials available. Still you can't still even AI
• 1:51
  can't produce a shuttle. It's as good as just real
• 1:55
  feather shuttles. Now you and I, Mr. Marker,
• 1:59
  played the odd game of cock shuttlecock and we've, we've
• 2:05
  tried various types. Now I I believe we have played
• 2:07
  certainly, I've definitely used a feathered shuttlecock, yes.
• 2:11
  Whether they're genuine goose feathers, I don't know.
• 2:13
  Yes, it is. It is different to the synthetic
• 2:17
  shuttlecocks. There's just something about it
• 2:21
  that makes it behave differently.
• 2:23
  There's a particular trajectory that you you want to get and I
• 2:27
  suppose the weight and something about how those fine little
• 2:32
  filaments in feathers work to produce uplift in in geese and
• 2:37
  of course other birds which are available.
• 2:39
  The is just can't be replicated. It's a so it's it's an amazing
• 2:44
  reflection on God's good creation that we even with
• 2:49
  artificial intelligence, can't match it.
• 2:51
  But is it really a crisis? Well, I think it is.
• 2:55
  It's more that it's a shame that you can't play with those
• 2:58
  original shuttles, but now and you're going to have to shift.
• 3:04
  It's a great. So it's not so much a crisis,
• 3:07
  but it's it's compromise. It's just not quite right.
• 3:11
  You know, when you, I don't know, you buy a shirt and you
• 3:13
  thought, think it's a cotton shirt and actually it's
• 3:16
  polyester. It's just not quite right, you
• 3:18
  know? What?
• 3:18
  I mean. No.
• 3:19
  Well, I agree with you. For anybody who follows the
• 3:22
  sport, whether you're an amateur or certainly if you're a
• 3:24
  professional, playing with goose feathers, shuttlecocks is a
• 3:28
  noticeable difference. And you're right about the
• 3:30
  trajectory, also the weight. Now what's interesting is a
• 3:34
  traditional shuttlecock is made-up of 16 duck or goose
• 3:37
  feathers. Now each are taken from the wing
• 3:40
  and that gives the correct flight pattern.
• 3:42
  So anybody who actually looks at the configuration and the cut of
• 3:45
  the actual feather will notice this.
• 3:48
  Now the one thing that is important, and this is one of
• 3:50
  the reasons why again there is a dearth of these, is that the
• 3:54
  actual shuttlecock itself typically tends to last only
• 3:57
  about 11:50 points depending on the the form of the game.
• 4:02
  This is obviously through damage because once the actual feathers
• 4:05
  break up or if the stem of the feather breaks, then of course
• 4:09
  you then have to keep changing them.
• 4:10
  Now for a normal tournament, this wouldn't be a problem.
• 4:13
  You'd just simply throw it to one side, pick up a new one and
• 4:16
  off you go. But of course, when the
• 4:18
  materials are not available, then you've got to look at the
• 4:21
  alternatives. I will say a synthetic
• 4:24
  particular shuttlecock, whether it's a blue one or whether it's
• 4:27
  a red one. Now, the reason they're graded
• 4:29
  in this way, they've all got a cork base.
• 4:32
  A blue one typically tends to be cheaper.
• 4:35
  It tends to be made with slightly more inferior panels,
• 4:40
  whereas A shuttlecock made with a red band is a lighter grade
• 4:46
  and the airflow works better. Now I will say that most people
• 4:50
  who are amateurs probably wouldn't really mind, but for
• 4:53
  professionals it can make a massive difference when you
• 4:56
  think that every inch, every millimetre could make the
• 4:59
  difference between you winning a match or a tournament.
• 5:02
  So I actually think it's a shame that they're actually losing out
• 5:06
  on this. And I will say that the good
• 5:09
  news is this because as you and I have followed through the
• 5:13
  years, we've been great fans of badminton and I know that in
• 5:17
  China or Asia the batch of sport itself has grown enormously so.
• 5:23
  And of course, we also know that in Europe it's still very well
• 5:26
  much played. Now here's my thought, Mr. Pete.
• 5:30
  Now I know that if you were a professional badminton player,
• 5:34
  if you were looking at this, what would you be thinking if
• 5:37
  you had to compromise with with a synthetic one?
• 5:41
  Do you think that maybe this is going to change your technique
• 5:46
  or are you? Just going to, well, I'm, I'd be
• 5:48
  putting in hours of practice, I tell you, because it, it makes
• 5:50
  sense. It's, it's a bit like, let's
• 5:54
  have got some of the things in tennis with you players, a
• 5:58
  different, you have different champions depending on what
• 6:00
  surface you play on. And it made a huge difference
• 6:03
  when they change the technology developed these rackets with
• 6:09
  bigger heads and with, with tension that could be kept for a
• 6:13
  long time as opposed to those wooden rackets which lost their
• 6:16
  tension. And so those what seem to be a
• 6:19
  little things can make a huge difference.
• 6:20
  So we could see different people winning.
• 6:23
  It could be a bit of a shake up. So I mean, that way it's not not
• 6:26
  such a shame. But it the the thing that
• 6:30
  strikes me as, as we've been mentioning throughout, it's the
• 6:34
  the fact that something natural still has to be used rather than
• 6:41
  something synthetic. And there's something nice about
• 6:44
  that. Well, I look, I think that I'd
• 6:49
  really love to hear our audience here because badminton, we
• 6:53
  definitely think as a as a growing sport, it's used now and
• 6:57
  we see the TV is is certainly covering it.
• 7:00
  We know there's at the Olympic game.
• 7:02
  So again, you know, we're obviously really great fans of
• 7:05
  this. So, Mr. Pete, I would say that
• 7:08
  we would want to hear from our audience, but let's say, you
• 7:11
  know, for anyone who can actually win tournament of this
• 7:15
  nature using a synthetic shuttlecock, it could be a
• 7:19
  feather in their cab.