This year did not start off how UEL Badminton expected it to.
With the men’s team being unexpectedly cut due to low numbers, the pressure was on the women’s team to keep the UEL Badminton legacy going.
However for badminton scholar and Jamaican international Sean Wilson the disappointment of not being able to play for UEL week-in, week-out meant rethinking his training.
Wilson spoke exclusively to Rising East about the this and his badminton future.
Shattered Dreams
“I was definitely devastated because I love badminton and I was really looking forward to competing again this year, especially because we did so well last year and the year before that.”
Wilson was set to be captain for his last year at UEL and was looking forward to taking on this challenge:
“I’m very competitive, I really enjoy competing so I was really looking forward to playing some new teams and we got promoted to a new division, so I was really looking forward to that.”
On The Up
Last year was a very positive and promising season for the east London side. Finishing the BUCS South Eastern 3B league in fourth and getting through to Round three of the BUCS South Eastern Conference Cup, this being their best cup run ever.
This gave Wilson confidence that similar results could be achieved with the new players he had recruited this season:
“I was positive, a lot of the players that we had before they weren’t here this year, but I was still really looking forward to finding some new players. I actually did find some new players, but they weren’t available to play on the days that we had matches.”
Big Aspirations
Despite the men’s team being unable to train each week with the badminton coach, Wilson is still finding ways to keep on top of his training:
“I’ve been playing maybe once a week at best, I’ve been hitting the gym still just keeping in shape cause I haven’t really been able to play as much.”
With Wilson graduating next summer, he has set himself some high aspirations in terms of his future. The Jamaican international told Rising East:
“One of my biggest goals was really to go to the Olympics, I’m still going to see if that’s in the works. I believe it’s possible but it’s really up to the funding at this point I believe, so I’ll see how that goes but that’s one of my biggest goals in terms of badminton.”
With the Olympics being Wilson’s biggest goal, he hopes his continued training and determination will get him there.
