Gail Emms Blog

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⇒ April 2007
⇒ October 2007

April 2007

Hello!
Sorry I haven't written for a while! Training and tournaments have taken over my life! Here is what else that has been happening:-

New Year's Eve was a time that I decided to let my hair down and have a party. It was a fancy dress theme and I went as Geri Haliwell aka Ginger Spice and at one stage we had a policewoman, a nurse, Edward Scissorhands, 2 schoolgirls, a Native Indian, Lara Croft and a gladiator all chatting in my kitchen! Very weird... but a fab night out! But it was back to serious training after the excesses as this year, it is a very important year.

The 1st tournament of 2008 was the Malaysian Open and I was struggling with the fact that I had pulled a muscle in my foot and not in the finest form I had ever been, but sometimes it is a good test of character to see how you deal with setbacks. Nathan and I had a great tournament and reached the semi-finals and only just got beat by the Korean pair in a match we should've won. I also reached the quarter-finals in the ladies doubles too. Not bad for someone with only 1 good foot! The next tournament was the Korean Open the week after, but the evening I lost, I began to feel really ill. I had severe head and neck pain and was feeling really rough. I travelled to Korea with the rest of the team but had no improvement with my health. It was decided that I would go home as I was still in a bad way and all the symptoms pointed to viral meningitis. I spent the next 2 weeks in bed and not only did I feel ill and gutted about missing the Korean Open, I had to pull out of the National Championships as I still had not fully recovered.

Only 1 month left now of Olympic qualifying and the pressure is on! It is really exciting watching all the players that are borderline for qualifying fight it out and it is providing some great matches. It really shows how much going to the Olympic Games really means to people. For me it is the greatest sporting event and truly an honour to represent your country there. I will always remember the 1st time I wore my GB Olympic tracksuit and walked around the Olympic village with all the other athletes and it was one of the proudest days of my life and I can't wait to have that feeling again! I am fine for qualification but the official list doesn't come out till 1st May so I have to wait until then before I can say I am definitely going.

On the virus front, I am feeling a lot better! But it did take a lot longer than I thought to get over - about 5 weeks in the end. I lost a lot of muscle and for the last few weeks I have been making a real effort to work on getting it all back. I lost a lot on my thighs and bum and I think I have been the only woman to be in the gym trying to get my bums and thighs bigger!! I looked great in my skinny jeans but it was not good for badminton so it was intense weights sessions for me! I am assured that my bum has got bigger now and I am whizzing round the badminton court again! Yippee! Nathan however has been struggling with his ankle and has had to have an injection to try and help with the mending process. Fingers crossed for him and his ankle as I need him!!
I hope to see you in a Mall soon!

Gail x

October 2007

Am in a freezing cold Denmark at the moment; it is the Danish Open this week and it is a tournament that I have been in 4 finals but never won it!!
Aaaarggghhh!! Maybe it will change this week?!! Who knows! The competition is so tough right now and the top pairs are all beating each other so the outcome is never decided beforehand. I used to play club matches in Denmark but this is the 1st time in 5 years that I have been back in Denmark and not playing for a club. I had to make the decision to play or not and as much as I love being part of a team, the travelling was a huge commitment and it was tiring me out. This year is Olympic qualification year too and I want to be in top shape for training and tournaments, so it was goodbye to club Denmark! A lot of my old club are here to support me so that is nice!

I have had a few weeks off from tournaments which has been a bit weird! We have such a crazy schedule that it is unheard of for us to have such a break for so long. Our coach Andy Wood and our strength and conditioning Coach Andy Alford thought it would be a good idea to book out a cottage in the Peak District for a few days and do some outdoor pursuits instead of being stuck in a sports hall all day. We turned up to this beautiful cottage in the middle of nowhere (about 6 miles from Buxton) and all that surrounded us were sheep and lots of hills! For 3 days we went running, hill sprinting, cycling, and even walking in freezing cold streams! It was really tiring but great fun, although I hated the wind and the rain! There is a reason why I play an indoor sport!!

We have had another coach join the Badminton England and GB set up. His name is Tan and he is from Malaysia and he used to coach Korea before he arrived in Milton Keynes. He is killing us!! But in a really good way.... I think!! He has been training us so hard that we have had to pull people out of their beds to get them to training as they had reached cracking point!! I have never felt so tired in my life! But we are now realising that we have gone a bit soft in our old age and starting to take things for granted. Tan has made us realise that even though we are at the top of our game, there is always room for improvement and we should never slack off. It has given the team a lift and everyone is playing really well! Let's hope I can last another year of his training!!

The Olympic Ball was held in the Natural History Museum this year which was a stunning venue for a fabulous evening. The event is a chance to look forward to the Olympics and raise money as the British Olympic Association receives no government funding. There were a whole host of Olympic medalists there such as Dame Kelly Holmes, Sally Gunnell, Sir Mathew Pinsent and Dame Mary Peters - and of course me!! The night had a Chinese theme for the Beijing Olympics and got everyone really excited for next year!!

I was very honored to be invited to The Mall in Norwich for a badminton exhibition event. I was playing with some of the Norfolk junior badminton players and they wanted to have a hit with me in the middle of the shopping centre! I was really tired from training and everyone wanted to run me into the ground! But it was great to meet everyone and hopefully I will back there again sometime.

I hope to see you at The Mall soon!! Keep your eyes open for the next event!
Gail x

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