2024 Training Camp Announcement!

Since I am an American who lives and trains in China (and speaks fluent Chinese) I have had many people approach me to help them find training. So I figured what the heck and decided to arrange a week long training camp for foreigners who wish to train and visit China. Allow me to introduce to you…Dragon Badminton Training Camp!

9-Day Adult Badminton Training Camp in China!

June 14th-22nd!!

The details!

Training

Everyday training will be three hours from 9-12 in the morning. A week is not a long time but you can expect to make noticeable differences in your technique and you’ll get plenty of tips and tricks to bring home with you. (And you are welcome to film anything so you can review it at home.) The coach will work on your weaknesses but if there is something you would specifically like to work on, please feel free to tell him on the first day and he will focus on it. The coach has a good eye and quickly notices everyone’s weakness, so he’ll help you improve things you might not have even thought about before.

Training will begin with a group warm-up for 15-20 minutes that will stretch your muscles and get your heart beating. Then you will break into groups or 1-on-1 to work on various techniques with coaches. (This is not a rote training where you hit clears for 10 minutes with a partner and then change to drops for 10-minutes. The coach will do 1-on-1 multishuttle drills with each student, tailored to what he notices each player needs to improve and tailored to their level. This will be more deliberate practice where the coach will give you immediate feedback on poor technique and continue to work with you until you improve.) There will be some doubles or singles game towards the end to practice what you just learned and the last 10 minutes will be for cool-down and stretch.

Coach meeting all the Training Camp participants last year!

This camp is not for total newbies. Since you are coming all the way to China I don’t want to waste anyone’s time. The coaches will assume everyone has a basic understanding of the game. You can consider yourself beginner level, most of the training will be 1-on-1 so difference in levels won’t matter much, but you need to know the rules of the game and badminton terminology.

Student Helpers/Translators

One of the biggest hurdles with training in China is the language. The coach can’t speak English beyond a few words. So you will have student helpers to assist you throughout the week. During training they can help translate thoughts and ideas from the coach.

Your student helpers will be available to you all week outside of training. In addition to translating the coaches they can help you with tasks in China such as telling you the location of a shop, or helping you translate something. You will have their Wechat so anytime you have any questions or difficulties you can call or text them and they will do their best to help. The student helpers are my actual student, English majors from the local university, picked by me based on their high English level and helpful nature. Of course if you want to learn Chinese while your here the student helpers could be your teacher as well!

Lunches

Lunch will be delivered to the courts from local restaurants and eaten together immediately after training. Eating is one of the best parts of traveling, and real Chinese food will blow you away (it’s very different than what you might be used to–and much tastier). There will be a variety of dishes to chose from and we’ll avoid ordering any of the super weird stuff unless majority wants to try. 😉 After lunch a car will bring you back to your hotel where you can rest and relax, go for a swim or explore.

After Training (with optional night playing)

The afternoon and nights are free for you! You will be pretty tired and rest is important. But Xiamen is also a great city to explore! Xiamen is one of the top tourist destinations in China, with mountains and beaches all within a quick taxi or subway ride, and has many interesting and unique places to see. June is hot, hot, hot so expect the temps to be upper 30’s and 40’s C (90’s-100+ F) and humid. So afternoons would be best spent taking a break and relaxing after badminton (or taking a dip in the hotel pool). Then wait for the late afternoon, when the sun isn’t so hot, to go out and explore on your own.

Of course if you haven’t had enough of badminton, we can join evening play with my coaches club. The club can play every night, so you never know who will show up. There is usually a variety of players (ages and abilities) and club night has no time limit so it is very casual and relaxed. Feel free to play with anyone regardless of level (they won’t be mean to you!) and have fun. The locals don’t speak much English, but everyone knows the international language of badminton!

Schedule

Saturday: Arrival. Met at the airport by your helper/translator for the week. Check into hotel.
 Welcome dinner to meet everyone.

Sunday: 8am: Meet in lobby-go to courts
9-12: Training
12: Lunch delivered to the courts
1-ish (when everyone is finished and ready to go back): Return to hotel
Afternoons and evenings are free with option evening club play (usually starting at 7pm)


Monday: Training Day (Same schedule as above)


Tuesday: Training day!


Wednesday: Rest day! Important to prevent injury.
 It’s a free day but we can come up with a plan to see some of the local sights together. Why travel all this way to a new country and not see some of the unique things, right?! There are many things to do including exploring some of the most famous and historic sights of Xiamen including the Bashi Market, the oldest outdoor market in the city, the popular food area called Zeng Cuo An, a 1000 year old Buddhist Temple or take the ferry across to Gulangyu, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Everyone can decide together the day before and your student translator can be your guide for the day. Of course if you are tired and want to relax or just explore or shop on your own you can do that as well. (Free day travel costs are at your own expense.)

Thursday: Training day!


Friday: Training day!


Saturday: Last training day and closing ceremony. I planned one big group dinner, but coach usually can’t come out at night (other students have training in the evenings) and what would be a celebration without coach, eh? So we will likely have a big group lunch together at a local restaurant and you are free in the afternoon and evening to pack, buy final souvenirs and of course, if you want, go back to the courts to play badminton.

Sunday: Check out of the hotel and go home. We will send you off to the airport/train station for your flight home.

Facilities

Coach owns his own court which he built entirely himself last year. He is especially proud of the flooring which is a raised wood platform with the green badminton mats on top. It’s made specifically for badminton and is easier on the knees than any other flooring style.

The lower walls and ceiling are a sort of reddish orange and the upper walls are black, which makes seeing the shuttle very easy. The lighting is high and between courts, so it is less likely to blind you when looking up. There are western toilets (and a shower), a ton of drinks available, and basic equipment such as shoes, rackets, grips, shuttles etc for sale. There are several stringers (with a variety of brand name strings available) and even a physical therapist on call with their own (air conditioned) office. The courts are very new and very comfortable, made specifically for long term injury free play.

The courts are not air conditioned but do have cool air. Xiamen is a sub-tropical location and June temps are regularly in the upper 30’s to 40 degrees Celsius (90’s to 100) and humid as heck. You will sweat….a lot. It’s very easy to overheat, so you’ll need to be careful and take extra breaks if you feel too hot.

There is a specially made cooling system at the courts that blows cool air directly to the ground that you can stand under. It feels like a nice cool breeze, but doesn’t really remove any of the humidity from the air and isn’t real air conditioning. Bring enough training clothes for you to change several times a day. In general be prepared for hot and humid weather and make sure to drink plenty of fluids (cold water, several brands of sports drinks and fruit juices will be available for purchase).

Coach

Coach Lin

My personal coach I write about all the time on my blog and owners of the courts. Basically the best coach ever (IMHO). Watch videos of him play here and here. Winner of numerous gold and silver medals throughout the years (too many to list here.)
Specializes in singles.
Can only speak Mandarin with a few words of English.

He is a creative coach that won’t yell at you if you do something wrong, but rather will help you until you get it, even if it means manipulating your arms and legs to the exact position they need to be in! Lol. He also never does rote training, but will throw in surprise shuttles to make sure you never get into robotic/unrealistic patterns, but always keep on your toes for true game play.

This is an adult training camp and participants must be 18 years of age or older! If there is a younger person wanting to participate please contact me. It could be doable but they would need to be accompanied to training everyday by a guardian. This is not intended as a summer camp for kids, but serious younger players could be considered.

Xiamen City

Xiamen City is an island and has a large amount of nature for such a small place. The outer edge is ringed with beaches and the inside has mountains and parks. A subtropical climate Xiamen is has a reputation for green and healthy living with plenty of palm trees and sun. The world’s longest elevated bike path is in Xiamen, as is miles of coastline optimized for running, walking and biking.

The ocean breeze keeps away any smog and Xiamen is among the top 10 cities in China for best air quality. (Average air quality is AQI 49, equal to Charlotte, North Carolina in America.)

Xiamen is directly across the water from Taiwan and within a few hours from Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Aside from the international airport Xiamen has many high speed train lines that can connect you quickly to all parts of China if you would like to continue your traveling after the training camp.

Google Map image of Xiamen City. The city center in on the island while the outlying districts are on the mainland. Your hotel is in the island while the courts are off the island.

As an ocean side city, Xiamen is famous for seafood. Crabs, fish, shrimp, muscles etc. You can be sure Xiamen’s seafood is fresh. If you dare you can even try one of Xiamen’s specialties, sea worms in jelly. But don’t worry, if you are not an adventurous eater (or don’t like seafood) there are plenty of more common local foods including pineapple cakes, peanut soup and of course noodles, BBQ, veggies and lots and lots of amazing mouth watering street food as well as plenty of western options.

You can literally climb a mountain and take a dive in the ocean when you hike down.

New and Old together

Despite Xiamen being a city of five million people there is a ton of nature including the Mountain to Sea Trail, an elevated walking path that crosses the city.

Prices are also cheap compared to other major Chinese cities. An hour long taxi drive will cost you about $20 and a bottle of water is .30 cents. For just $10 you can get a delicious meal at a nice restaurant. For street food you can eat like a king for $3-5.

Western food and goods aren’t cheaper than normal though, with luxury good (like iphones) most are even more expensive than most countries due to high taxes. If you’re interested in shopping China is a good place for things like tailor made suits and local products, but not good for Prada and what-not. Just like many western countries there are Starbucks on every corner and even a few Tim Horton’s for you Canadians, but a coffee there will be $4 + dollars, similar to back home. Or you can try local brands like Luckin Coffee which you may have heard of as they are expanding internationally (and doing quite well).

Xiamen is one of the, if not THE top city in China for badminton. Amateur players are at a higher level than other cities and Xiamen players tend to win nationwide competition. Xiamen is also the hometown of Chen Long, Zhao Yun Lei, Zhang Nan, Liu Xiao Long and many other National Team Players and winners of World Championships and BWF Superseries. Lin Dan grew up just outside Xiamen and he is often in the city promoting the sport and the 2025 Sudirman Cup is going to be in Xiamen in April. We are very proud of our badminton love!

Here is a website that lists more attractions and what to do in Xiamen.

What’s Included?


This is not a professional travel company and I am not a professional tour guide. This isn’t even a money making venture for me. This is something I am organizing because I have been asked many times if I can help people find training camps, and I’m happy to use the resources I have here. Even in China adult training camps are rare (most are day camps for kids), and I think none are taught in English. But as an adult myself I know how important training is. And why not mix badminton with travel? That’s the best of both worlds.

Health Insurance

This is a sport which can lead to injury and as I am not an official travel company you are required to have travel insurance yourself! This is non-negotiable and I will need a copy of it myself if something goes terribly wrong and you are unresponsive. There will be warm-ups and cool downs everyday and you should take breaks when you need it, but it is impossible to eliminate all risk of injury. Let’s all be safe!

Hotel

Previously I always chose a hotel near the courts, but honestly Xiamen is not that big, and getting a car to the courts is easy, so this year the hotel is in the middle of the most exciting (and tourist friendly) part of town.

Millennium Harbourview Hotel
This luxury hotel is in the center of the action located in the most interesting and visited area of Xiamen. There is a mall across the street, a subway station right outside the entrance and the famous pedestrian walking street of ZhongShan Road within a minute walk. Also, true to it’s name, the harbor, and the famous UNESCO World Heritage site Gulangyu (aka Piano Island) is just down the street.

The hotel has an outdoor pool, a workout room and an included daily breakfast buffet which has Western and Chinese options and several restaurant options in the hotel itself (including a 24 hour one if you wake up jet lagged and starving at 3am). There are also hundreds of restaurants within a 5 minute radius including local specialties, general Chinese food and western options. Also a TON of adorable little cafes. You will see a lot of young people walking around in Cosplay taking pictures because this is such a picturesque part of town.

We will provide transportation to and from the courts from your hotel everyday for training, but since the hotel is in the busiest part of the city, we might partially take the subways in the morning to avoid the road traffic. Don’t worry your student helper will be there to guide you. If you want to play at night you would need your make your own way to the courts but we can help arrange it.

The hotel has an outdoor rooftop pool that will feel really nice after a day of training.

A typical king room

Buffet breakfast with many Western and Chinese options.

Pricing

Pricing

Single Occupancy: $1760
Double Occupancy: $1370

Unbelievably it is only a small price increase from the 2024 camp!

All prices are in US dollars. Payment will be done through paypal with 50% due at time of registration and 50% due one month before. Cancellations with 10% fee are allowed until one month prior. Cancellations after that will incur a 50% fee.

If you have any questions, or want to sign up email Becky at: chinabecky(at)gmail(dot)com and I will respond quickly (though please remember I’m in a different time zone!) . Registration will close May 1st, 2025 or when we reach 10 people, whichever comes first. The camp sold out within a week last time, so please contact me quickly if you are considering going.

You are responsible for your own visa and in many countries need to prepare a least a month to get it. (Though China has opened visa free travel in 2024 for 15 days for a few dozen countries, and has opened 240 hour–10 day–transit visa for everyone. The only catch is you need an ongoing ticket to a third country to qualify. Aka you cannot fly from New York to Xiamen and then Xiamen to New York. You would need to have a ticket to another country that is not the US or China to qualify. So please check your requirements carefully as you are responsible for your own visa.)

We all get busy and have other priorities in life, but for one week you can forget all that and travel while playing and training badminton with other badminton lovers! The whole purpose of this is to unite badminton lovers and dedicated time to ourselves so we can focus and make improvements. Basically just a fun time eat, breath and sleep badminton. Then you can go home and brag to your club members that you trained in China, heh heh.

Please watch this Youtube video for all the details!