The Badminton Podcast

Meet Benny Luo - an inductee of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Media. 

This is part TWO of a two-part series with Leon Jake Lim, an entrepreneur who runs his own badminton academy in Malaysia.

He’s also an investor/fund manager and freelance analyst for a Finance Youtube channel called FIRL (Finance in Real Life) which has 18,200 subscribers at the time of recording. He has also studied philosophy, politics and economics at University of London.

You don't want to miss this one!

This is part one of a two-part series with Leon Jake Lim, an entrepreneur who runs his own badminton academy in Malaysia.

He’s also an investor/fund manager and freelance analyst for a Finance Youtube channel called FIRL (Finance in Real Life) which has 18,200 subscribers at the time of recording. He has also studied philosophy, politics and economics at University of London.

You don't want to miss this one!

Joining us today is Aaron and Gladis Hor from AG Badminton. We talk about the inception of AG badminton, and how their passion to grow the badminton community has resulted in having to make a decision to prioritise their academy ahead of their 'normal' jobs.

This one's a bit different.

Co-founder, Jeff Tho, is a dentist and business coach/consultant outside of his roles in Volant & The Badminton Podcast. He discusses the lessons learnt from the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and how it can be adapted to business. There are MANY overlaps between sports performance and business performance!

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Our guests are Joel Tan, founder of More Than a Swing (MTAS), a Singapore-based badminton academy and Ian Ling – founder of Kurin Organics, an e-commerce startup which manufactures soaps and detergents out of Brisbane, Australia.

Together, we talk about what types of badminton players there are, and why they tend to do what they do. Don't miss this one!

We welcome Nyl Yakura onto this episode of The Badminton Podcast. 

He's Canada’s number 1 MD player with 5 National Championships and  4 pan American Championships under his belt. He’s also an Olympian, having competed at the Tokyo 2020 Games and also a two-time Commonwealth Games athlete.

Tune in to hear how you can dominate in the back court for your doubles matches!

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

In this podcast, Gronya and Justine discuss the magic behind communication to your coach and partners.

Rubin Jille, the number 1 MD player from the Netherlands is our guest on this episode.

Gronya Somerville and Jeff are your co-hosts.

Welcome Mark Caljouw onto a live podcast! He's the number 1 Dutch MS player with a current WR of 28 in the world, with a career high of 23.

He has had many international victories, including reaching the quarter finals in 2021 World Championships, round of 16 in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and was a semifinalist of the 2021 All England Championships.

Stuart Brehaut and Jeff are your co-hosts for this one!

We speak live, to Selena Piek, the number 1 Dutch Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles player.

She has had a World Ranking high of 7 in the world in WD and is currently ranked 21 in the world in mixed doubles with Robin Tabeling. 

Gronya and Jeff are your co-hosts in this one!

A special welcome to Martin Del Valle, a former Peruvian badminton player who was 10x National Champion, qualified for 4 x World Championships and is bridging badminton with video games!  

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

In this podcast, Gronya and Justine give you a recap on our recent tournaments - Oceania Championships and Thomas & Uber Cup.

We have, the legend himself, Peter Gade on this episode of the podcast!

In this episode, he dig into his badminton journey and how he was able to achieve what he achieved. We also talk about his passion for badminton and how the Peter Gade Academy sets out to develop world-class singles players. 

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

In this podcast, Gronya and Justine discuss the importance of taking breaks from training to maintain optimal performance

Welcome Ygor Coelho from Brazil - a Men's Singles player with highest world ranking of 30. He was the 2019 Pan Am Games champion and competed at 2 Olympic Games - Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and has his sights on Paris 2024.

In this episode, he talks about his journey and how his upbringing has helped shape his outlook in badminton and life.

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

In this episode, Gronya and Justine discuss how they train through their fair share of  injuries and make the most of the situation they have had to face.

Welcome Henri Vervoort! I was lucky enough to record this episode in-person at the Dutch National Training Centre in Papendal.  He's a professional coach since 2006 having coached in Denmark, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and Italy. He has the highest European coaching degree, is a BWF 2 tutor, shuttle time expert and a part of the Badminton Europe pool of experts for giving coaching education.

He is the current head singles coach for the Netherlands.

In this episode, he talks about many things, including his knowledge in propaganda and how important it is to know what type of players you're coaching. Don't miss this one!

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The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

In this episode, Gronya and Justine talk about how they find the areas they need to develop to improve their badminton and how they make a plan around it.

Plot Twist!

Re-introducing Justine Villegas from episode 91 and Gronya Somerville from episodes 12, 33 and 62!

They're going to be joining The Badminton Podcast by producing a new featured segment of the podcast: Badminton Lights Out (aka BLO). So you'll be hearing a bit of a different episode structure, new voices, new perspectives and new topics! 

Get excited, because they're going to shine the light on things that aren't commonly known in the badminton community.

Let us know what you'd like to hear!

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Meet Kari Gunnarsson, a former professional MS player from Iceland, who grew up in Denmark. He's building a startup called Clutch that is developing a training app for badminton players using Artificial Intelligence, with the mission to make badminton coaching accessible to any player in the world.

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

In this episode Gronya and Justine explain in a bit more detail what Olympic qualification looks like in terms of the rules and what tournaments players need to play.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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We welcome Daniel Fan back onto the podcast - from episode 38. A lot has changed in his transition from a professional player to a full-time coach. He has been doing great things with head coach Nick Kidd, and we talk all about it on this episode.

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

Gronya and Justine bring you a bonus episode where they chat about some of the most absurd and funny things that has happened to them on a badminton court.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Many of you will know Jasmine Wong, or should we say Jasmine Trophy Hunter!

On this episode, we talk about her badminton journey and why she started playing badminton seriously again after giving it up. She also talks about her vision for badminton, especially for girls/women, and how her brand is helping to bring more female players to the sport.

THANK YOU FOR 2021!

WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Jeff & Henry

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The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

Justine and Gronya interview Jeff Tho (TBP host) to better understand how he balanced his high-achieving academics while playing badminton and continues to juggle multiple jobs now.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Meet Stuart Brehaut - former Olympian, 3 x Commonwealth Games Athlete and current Australian National Head Coach, who is also a superstar at golf!

In this episode, we recap on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games from an Australian perspective, and chat about the future of independent badminton players, and where Stuart thinks we're heading as a sport.

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas. 

Justine and Gronya talk about Gronya’s Europe stint on how she tackles tournaments, trainings and her mental health for the months she’s been away from home. 

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran 

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Our guest is 22 year old, former professional badminton player Fee Teng Liew from England who is a current Sport and Exercise Psychology student at Loughborough (Luff brah) University.

During her professional badminton days, she spent 2 years living in Malaysia and Indonesia to train, compete, and eat lots of good food! It also wasn’t long ago that she won the English National Badminton Championships with mixed doubles partner, Max Flynn in 2020.

Fee has a big passion for mental well-being and believes that having a healthy mental state and an understanding of what is going on in our minds is so crucial to succeeding in every other part of our personal and professional lives too.

She is currently doing a research project on mental health in elite badminton players and how badminton differs...so on today’s episode we not only explore her story but dive deeper in this topic.

Follow Fee at: 

Her blog: http://www.feetengliew.com/

Instagram: @mindfullyfee / @feetengliew - Contact her to be a part of the research if you have a BWF world ranking!

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NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE!

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

Justine and Gronya discuss the struggles of financially supporting your badminton career and a few ways you can earn money and better yourself while achieving your athletic dreams.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Our guest is 23 year-old Elias Bracké from Belgium. He has had multiple 3rd place finishes at Future series, a final at an international series and has been able to beat several top 100 players in his career so far.

Hear his badminton story and what he hopes to achieve in bringing badminton into prime-time for Belgium. 

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

In this episode, Justine and Gronya interview Abhinav Manota and talk about his story and how to improve as a player with limited sparring partners.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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We talk to Pinakin Godse - a former professional badminton player and now a physiotherapist with a Masters in Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy. 

Tune in to hear about a physio's view on badminton injuries and how to best take care of your body.

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

Justine and Gronya discuss what they wish they knew when they were starting badminton all those years ago, knowing what they know now.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Former Canadian badminton player, Brittney Tam is our guest on this episode. She has competed for Canada at the Commonwealth Games, Pan Am Championships and World Championships.

She has a very interesting story - starting badminton when she was 5, and her transition out of the sport to discover new passions.

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

Justine and Gronya interview their National Team coaches, Stuart Brehaut (AUS) and Rikke Olsen-Siegemund (NZL) who are both ex-players about what has changed from when they played 10+ years ago compared to now. They discuss differences in tournaments, athletes and training programs.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Meet best friends, Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood. They're an English MD pair that started playing together when they were 9 years old... and now they're paired up to play against the world at the 2021 Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup Finals.

Hear the pros and cons about playing with your best mate!

The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

With many of us still abiding by COIVD restrictions, Gronya and Justine discuss how to train during lockdowns so that you can stay fit and ready to get back onto court when things open up again!

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Alex Dunn, from Scotland, has a current WR of 37 for Men's Doubles with Adam Hall, and has won several international titles at the Scottish Open, Austrian Open and Welsh Open.

In this episode, we talk about badminton (of course) but things that he enjoys outside of badminton including his interest in Sports Sciences.

Find him on Instagram and Twitter: @Alexdunn_13

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The Badminton Podcast presents: Badminton Lights Out (BLO) - hosted by Gronya Somerville and Justine Villegas.

They discuss the different phases of training you can incorporate leading up to a competition and what each of those look like in terms of on-court and gym training.

Intro created by Sam Fran - https://linktr.ee/SamFran

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Welcome, Fabio Caponio, the number one MS playerr in Italy with a WR of 154.

Hear the sacrifices that he has made on his journey, where he had to move 1000km away from his family at 12 years of age to pursue his badminton career.

THIS IS THE 100TH EPISODE OF THE BADMINTON PODCAST!!!

On this episode, we chat to mixed doubles specialist, Robin Tabeling from the Netherlands. He's ranked 17 in the world and has just competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

This recording was done before the Games themselves, so hear about his preparation and thoughts going into the Games.

On this episode, we welcome 19-year-old Talia Ng from Canada as our guest. She’s a student-athlete who is completing an undergraduate degree and trains for badminton competitively. Most recently, she won a bronze medal at the Senior Pan Am Championships in Women's Singles.

In this episode, she talks about her life and her journey in badminton, academics and all of the other ventures that's she's involved in - including yummy macaroons! 

Here's episode 11 of The Tokyo 2020 Show, presented by The Badminton Podcast and BWF. It's the last show of the Games!

Be sure to tune in to the show daily where'll share the latest news, results, updates, opinions, predictions and polls.

Here's episode 10 of The Tokyo 2020 Show, presented by The Badminton Podcast and BWF.

Be sure to tune in to the show daily where'll share the latest news, results, updates, opinions, predictions and polls.

Here's episode 9 of The Tokyo 2020 Show, presented by The Badminton Podcast and BWF.

Be sure to tune in to the show daily where'll share the latest news, results, updates, opinions, predictions and polls.

Here's episode 8 of The Tokyo 2020 Show, presented by The Badminton Podcast and BWF.

Be sure to tune in to the show daily where'll share the latest news, results, updates, opinions, predictions and polls.