Some time ago I was regularly attending a local group for badminton. All the players are strong for the local area, but nothing compared to a national or global level. I am the only one who competes on the pro circuit.
Everybody is Japanese except me. Lately I saw a fellow attendee get bullied, where one of the senior members said, “下手くそと思わねえー”. I have N2, but language like that isn’t something they teach in textbooks. Therefore, I don’t know exactly what he is trying to convey. I asked the guy who regularly gets called 「下手くそ」 to warm up together. I like to use my heavy racket to warm up as it gets my strength to going. After I finished warming up, the leader basically says that what I am doing is rude to my opponent and I should not use a heavy racket. Then, he says, 「上手いなら良いんだけど、下手くそなら辞めた方が良い」… of which I don’t understand exactly who he was referring to as being 下手くそ.
Firstly, I think it’s disgusting to call somebody garbage to their face. In most civilized countries you would get punched in the face. For some reason, the people here seem to accept it as part of their culture.
I’ve since stopped going to that group. I don’t know if he was insulting me or whatever. The leader is ultra arrogant and has no national ranking and definitely no world ranking. He doesn’t even understand how to practice basic shots and regularly makes up bullshit rules when he cannot keep up with me.
I’m extremely frustrated with this sports culture. Another gym, I saw a senior guy say to the junior guys, 「喧嘩売ってんのお前？」, which I thought were words you say when you’re about to fight somebody.
I don’t know what to think. This isn’t my country and I’ve spent most of my life around national, world, and Olympic champions who would NEVER conduct themselves like this. I’m living in a part of Japan that really has no other badminton options and it’s made me quite depressed lately.
Thoughts?
by AmpedAthlete