Black Knight's Badminton Knight Trainer Review

Here's my review on BK's Badminton Knight Trainer. For those who do not know what this is, it is a machine that shoots out birds. You can find videos on Youtube.com and also check out www.knighttrainer.com.

This review is from my point of view as an elite athlete.

Practicality Factor: This is by far the most unpractical machine ever. It takes too long to set up to get the exact shot you want. By the time you make the rows and place them in the tube, find a chair to climb up on to place the tube on the machine (if the machine is up high to simulate a drop/smash/clear), find an extension cord, find an outlet, find the right speed to shoot the bird, find the right delay/timing, find the right spot on the court, adjust the height so the bird flies exactly where it needs to go.... it's been 10 minutes!!

Price Factor: This machine KILLS feather birds! It destroys them. If you were to fill the tube up with new feather birds... be prepared to empty your wallets. It destroys the cork and chews up feathers. Also this machine costs $5,900 CAD! RIDICULOUS!

Fun Factor: The only thing fun about this machine is when you place the machine at the net, and have it shooting at max speed at the fastest timing and you try and defend every shot. Is this a good drill to do..? ummm.. no, not really... wall hitting beats this drill ANYDAY. Wall hitting would also only require 1 bird, not 50-60. Also picking up 1 bird and then hitting it back at the wall is a lot faster than picking up the birds u hit all over the place on the other side, picking up the birds u missed which are behind you, picking up all the birds that the machine shot into the net, making rows, taking the empty tube off, putting the birds into the machine, putting the tube back into the machine, and starting all over again.

Accuracy Factor: This machine is a piece of crap. It's not accurate like they say. It shoots high, it shoots low, it also flutters the bird making u lunge forward getting the bird, and by that time you hit the bird, it shoots the next one at your face. Very frustrating so I guess minus points on Fun Factor.

Another thing, the selling point of this machine is that you can practice by yourself. Why is that so many of the videos on youtube, there's people standing around watching or coaching? A lot of people do not realize the importance of FEEDING. Feeding is not only extremely beneficial to the feeder, but the worker gets to see the bird being hit by a racket each time. We absorb so much information with our eyes, why waste all that time watching a bird being shot out from a machine?

Also, it's really not that hard to find somebody to practice with. Having 1 person feed and 1 person work is much more fun. You get to interact with another human being and you can also get proper feedback. Having 2 people pick up birds and making rows is also much faster. You also go green by not wasting as many birds and electricity.

So out of 5 stars, I give this Black Knight Trainer 0.25/5.. Yes, you get a QUARTER of a star out of 5!! Why? Because Black Knight actually made something that can shoot a bird. Other than that, sorry.. it's garbage.

Rating: 0.25/5

Feathers under the machine

Check out the feathers. These birds were new. Used for 3 months with the machine but only used the machine 2-3 times a week.

I've seen new birds being fed everyday last at least 2 to 3 times longer and still have it's integrity.

My favourite 5 minute sandwich!

Okay, another easy thing to make which is healthy and delicious!

Ingredients:

-cheddar cheese

-2 slice of bread

-lettuce

-alfalfa

-tomatoes

-roast beef

-dijon mustard

-light mayo

-freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. use toaster oven and toast the bread. 1 slice with cheese, the other with roast beef.

2. meanwhile, wash a leaf of lettuce and slice up tomato

3. once done, take toast with roast beef on top out

4. season with crushed pepper, add mayo, and mustard

5. add lettuce, then tomatoes, and lastly alfalfa

6. top with other slice of toast with melted cheese

Stuffed Bake Tomatoes

Okay, as an athlete, you don't always have the time to make some food to eat. Here's a quick recipe that I made which is super simple and delicious!

Ingredients:
2 Tomatoes

1/2 cup of cooked rice (more flavourful rice the better. eg. jasmine)

-(another note, I have some containers of rice that is already cooked. I put what I need in a bowl, add a tiny bit of water, and microwave for around 1 minute and voila! soft, cooked, ready to eat rice)
1 tbsp dried basil

1 can of light tuna

1 tbsp EVOO

mozzarella cheese

salt & pepper

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400F

2) Coat a baking pan with EVOO

3) In a bowl, flake tuna and mix in rice, basil, salt and pepper.

4) Slice tomatoes around 5/8" of an inch.

5) Spoon tuna/rice mix on top of each sliced tomato.

6) Add mozzarella cheese on top.

7) Bake for 15 minutes.

8) Place cooked tomatoes onto plate and drizzle the left over EVOO which was used to coat the pan onto the tomatoes.

9) Salt and pepper to taste.

Prep work took me 5-6 minutes. This recipe probably has around 20g of fat! It also has your servings of vegetables, protein, dairy, and carbs! Enjoy!

Job Hunting

Well, I've sent my resume to RONA.. when I did, man... they have this form you have to fill out, and in the back.. holy, they make you do a gosh dayum math test! Was not expecting that!! Well, tomorrow I'm applying to Boston Pizza. Hoping to get whatever I can get! But in the mean time, if you want to learn how to drive manual, I'm also teaching!

Other than that, first day back to training and crap I am so sore... sigh.. back to training in another 8 hours.. better sleep. good night folks.

What to do...

Well, Employment Insurance (EI) has cut me off from receiving money. I would need more working hours in order to get EI again and since I'm going back to school between August and October, I will not be receiving EI during that time as well. So I'm pretty much F#cked. Yes.. with a capitol "F"...

Although it's sunny here in Vancouver, it's gonna be rainy days for me for quite a long time.. how long? Well, pretty much until after my Olympic run. How am I going to do it? Well one thing for sure is that I'm just gonna go into dept. Yes, more dept... Olympics + Canadian = Dept! Well, I'm hoping to get a job at the electrical department soon at RONA. Hopefully they will give me a job with the hours I want... but if not, I'm really not sure what I can do..

Suggestions?....

Atwater International and the 2010 JR. Nationals

Well, the past 2 weeks has been pretty nuts.. First off was the Atwater International which was held in Montreal. The tournament started off pretty shakey because the draws didn't come out the night before qualifications. Also, there were only 2 courts available for the whole tournament which made keeping the schedule on time rather difficult. Having 2 courts to share for practice wasn't much fun either.

Well, I'm gonna keep things short. I'm bored and can't seem to sit still, hehehe... I lost to Netherlands in the semi-finals in men's doubles. Yeah they were good, but I felt that Adrian and I didn't play anywhere near our potential. I wish we could have gave the Dutch a harder game. For my mixed, I played with a new parther, Xuelian Jiang (Lydia). We made it to the final pretty easily but lost to Toby and Grace 26-24 in the 3rd game. Uggh.. twice in a row losing to them in the finals, 3rd game.. in deuce!! Crap!! But I give them props, they played much better than they did in Peru.

Well, after my finals, I trained over to Toronto to compete in my Nationals. The tournament overlapped so it was pretty hectic trying to settle in and get ready to play. I honestly did not feel like playing Nationals. I did not feel like playing badminton at all. I think it was a mix of being burnt out from training, traveling, competing, and just ending my almost 3 year relationship as I arrived into Toronto.. Yeah, that's just another story to tell.. Anywho, let's keep this blog about badminton..

This Nationals was huuge. I think 400+ kids, making this the biggest tournament in Canada. It was held at Humber College and as I walked into this tuna fish jammed can, I felt like I was waay too old to play cuz all I saw were kids running around.. The first 2 days, I was impressed with the organization and how smoothly the tournament was going. It was not until the semi-finals I started to get a little ticked.. They scheduled my doubles match and my mixed doubles match back to back. I only had a 15 minute break if even.. They did that so they wouldn't have to have women's doubles last. What a joke. I lost my semi's to Alex and Michelle. Afterward was the banquet. Now I was looking forward to this banquet because there was gonna be "fun" activities, prizes to give away and good food being catered by Mandarin. Well, since they did not have any god damn shuttles, I had to wait for a ride from one of the parents to drive me to the hotel so I could shower. By the time I got back to the hotel, showered, and back to Humber for the banquet, I was already an hour late. But it was okay.. why? Because I walked in, yeah, there was still food.. but I wasnt really missing much. The banquet consisted of tables in the middle of the hallway with food, and just people sitting on the floors eating. Wow.. What a joke. So I went and grabbed some food. I don't know if this is what Toronto people are use to but this chinese food was crap. It was just all fried westernized chinese food. And @#$%!! Still pissed there were no tables or even chairs to sit on. What are we? Animals??! The night ended with a stupid "heads or tails" game for a prize.. FML! Worst banquet I have been to. Sorry, but that is the truth. Finals the next day for doubles. I was scheduled for 945AM. I got there, only 3 courts, and I was 15th court available with matches starting at 9am. How the hell are they going to have 15 games on and finished in 45 minutes. I swear they scheduled it that way so all players would be there early so games would run smoothly. Well you know what? That is trickery and VERY unprofessional. I will email Kyle Hunter about that.. I did not play until 1240 which is almost 3 hours later.. 4 hours if you consider me getting there an hour before my match.. The courts were also crap. They had these cheap RSL mats made out of powder or sumthing.. I dont know.. everybody was slipping and people were getting sore and injured. I ended up losing in the finals but shit, this tournament means shit to me.

Final words on Nationals.. To the organizer.. There has been research done that even if the first 95% is pain free, but the last 5% is hella painful, the person would consider the whole experience as painful as the last 5%. So yeah, the tournament ran nicely and was all nice and good in the beginning, but hell, did the last 2 days of the tournament leave a very bitter taste in my mouth. So if I were to rate this nationals out of 10, I would rate this tournament a 6/10.

Well, since I'm burnt like toast, I will be taking the next week off entirely to relax and recoup myself. My mental feels pretty drained and I'm just gonna take it easy. You readers should too. Take it easy and thanks for reading.

Btw, Happy early Mother's Day!

First International Title in Peru!

Hey everybody! Firstly, I want to apologize for not updating my blog in a very long time. It is a lot of work and I am quite occupied with training, coaching, and just resting hehe. Well anyways, here's just a quick summary of my trip/tournament of the XV PERU INTERNATIONAL 2010!

the draws: link

Monday, April 5, I left Vancouver on an early 7am flight. I was feeling like crap and by the time I reached the gate, I had a sore throat, a head-ache and a slight fever. Mentally, I was pretty pissed to be going to my first International tournament feeling sick. I just had to do well! I kept hydrated on the flights drinking cup after cup of water. A few tylenols and advils helped too! We got in past midnight and got a shuttle to the hotel. I passed out after that.

Tuesday, April 6. I was woken up by a phone call from the Peruvian Tournament Organizer. She told me that the accreditations are coming to the hotel at 1pm. Now, you would think that by now we could go to the Venue (Club Regatas Lima) to go hit and practice. WRONG! Everybody was told that there will be no courts to practice on until the tournament starts! Great!! And also, the draws were STILL not up!! So I waited past 1pm for the accreditation and nobody came. I emailed the organizer and was told that they were going to come the next day at 1pm. Greeeaaaattt..... So with nothing to do, I went to the mall which was only a few minutes away. Feeling sick still, I just had a soup and salad at the Chili's Restaurant. After I went back to the hotel to sleep some more. Later that evening, I walked over the local grocery store, Vivanda. Now one thing to know about Peru is that the food is CHEAP! I bought a whole roasted chicken, a box of fries, and a 1.5L of Inca Kola (like a peruvian cream soda) for around S./24.00! That's like 8 bucks Canadian and was enough food to have left overs for another meal! Their chicken was also super juicy and tasted great! Lastly, the draws finally were done and was posted on tournamentsoftware!

Wednesday, April 7. Every single Canadian playing that trip had arrived the night before. We didnt get our accreditation at 1pm but a shuttle came at 245 to drive us all to the Regatas. We all got inside the venue and had a pretty decent practice. My fever and head-ache was pretty much all gone and I was feeling ready to play!

Thursday, April 8. I had 1 round of mixed against a Peruvian team. They were quite young and my partner Phyllis and I didn't have much trouble getting through 21-12, 21-17. We won but looked on as we would face the 4th seed from USA, Nicholas Jinadasa and Rulan Yeh.

Friday, April 9. 4 games to be played today!

My first round of doubles with Adrian was against a Mexican team. They were also a junior team. One had a ridiculous fast drive serve. Was rather annoying to play with but we ended up defeating them 21-10, 21-19. Annoyed with giving them 19 in the 2nd set, I told myself that I would put all my focus and play 100% every game no matter how easy the opponent was.

Next game I played was my mixed against the USA 4th seeds. We played quite well and claimed a quick victory 21-11, 21-16! All that training and practice poking the bird down early paid off! My mixed game has gone up to another level!

2nd round doubles, Adrian and I played mexico again. Focused and ready to kick ass we defeated our opponents 21-8, 21-9. Defending felt great. Nothing could get by us and when attacking, nobody could stop us.

Last game of the day for me was mixed. We played Arthuso and Cury of Brasil. They were a heavier hitting team but couldn't play against my tight shots dinking the girl around at the net. I do not know how many times the line judge had to get up to wipe off sweat off their side of the court because I made them dive so many times. They must have dove at least 8-9 times! We won 21-14, 21-17. I was now in the semi-finals for Mixed and Doubles. I was to play the 1st seeds in doubles, the team that defeated the Canadians to get into the Thomas Cup, Antonio De Vinatea and Martin Del Valle of Peru. For mixed I played fellow COBA athletes and partner, Adrian Liu and Joyce Ko.

Saturday, April 10. SEMI-FINALS! This is the furthest I have ever gone in any International tournament! Okay, so when I woke up this morning, I was feeling like SH!T! I had a huuge migraine. I went down to try and eat some breakfast but couldn't eat a bite. I drank 2 cups of tea went upstairs, and threw up.. I didn't let my partner or my opponents know, but I felt like hell. I took more tylenol and advil! I was feeling a bit better before the match. I had to just sit down, close my eyes, and just focus on my migraine going away. I went on court 100% focused on winning. No thought was on my migraine. Phyllis and I defeated Liu/Ko 21-12, 21-8. Phyllis and I played great and the feel esctasy had depleted my migraine! I was now in the finals.... to play my brother Toby Ng and his partner Grace Gao... the 1st seeds.

Next was my doubles. I knew this was the team who defeated Maxime and Francois just a few months ago. Did that scare me? No.. I was determined. I was playing great, and I was feeling confident. Adrian and I pummelled the first seeders 21-9, 21-8 in front of the home crowd. It felt great. I was now in 2 finals!

Sunday, April 11. I could barely sleep. All I was thinking was strategy and how I was going to play. The first match of the day was my mixed doubles against Toby and Grace. Phyllis and I took the first set easy winning 21-11. They didn't seem ready but I knew that there was no way in hell the 2nd match would go as smoothly as the first. I was right, the 2nd match Toby and Grace was leading us by the first 11. Phyllis and I caught up but continued to trail but then got the lead 18-17. We had a huge rally and Grace pulled a tremendous cross court block that rolled over. Phyllis and I then pulled ahead to match point but could not gain one more ralley as Grace and Toby won 4 points in a row defeating us 22-20.

Doubles against the Japanese, Komiyama Hajime and ! Adrian and I were down 2-0 but got the serve back and won a quick 4-5 points just off service. They could not return my serve for some reason. We won the first 21-18 but got killed the 2nd game 21-10. We were a bit unfocused and was driving way too much. They were quick and got the lift too many times. 3rd game, again they got a quick point or two but when I got the serve back, they couldn't return my serves! We were up to 11 first but they were not too far behind on the scoreboard. At around 16 or 17, Komiyama Hajime pulled an amazing fake which got both Adrian and I. I literally did not see the bird until it landed on the floor! But soon to our demise, the Japanese were up 20-19, 3rd game. Staying clutch, Adrian and I tied it to 20-20 deuce. It was my serve and I had no intention on screwing up and serving into the net. I served, it was perfect. Saeki hit a soft push towards me, and I pushed back down the middle. Komiyama drove a high one to our forehand side and BOOOM!!! Adrian crushed a winner cross court right through Saeki's defense! 21-20, match point, for the win.... my serve.... Can't screw it up now.. I serve, cross-body to Komiyama's left hand, and... he hits the bird into the net!!! Adrian and I had just won our first International Title in Peru on our first tournament back playing together! Adrian went nuts, I went nuts, the crowd went nuts!! Adrian had his shirt covering his head as I cheered to the crowd! Ecstasy could not describe whatever it was pumping through my veins. I had won. The end!