Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 28, 2024: There’s no short cut to the top when it comes to sport.
This mantra most certainly applies to athletes, but it is also relevant for other sports personnel such as umpires.
Take the case of Chinese Taipei’s Charles Wang Chao-Wei, one of three badminton umpire instructors at the OCA Development Programme for Coaches and Referees taking place this week in Kuala Lumpur.
Charles, 53, admits: “I used to enjoy playing badminton for health reasons and because it made me happy, but I knew I would never be a professional player.
“One day, someone suggested that I try to become an umpire. I had never even thought about it, because I only identified with players and coaches.”
Charles decided to take up the suggestion and attended a national umpiring course. He enjoyed it so much that he knew immediately he would channel his badminton energy into this aspect of the game.
An opportunity to go abroad and step up his umpiring experience put him on the right path, and he has now had the honour of representing Badminton Asia and the Badminton World Federation as an umpire at two Olympic Games – Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
“When I began to take an interest in umpiring, I did not set the goal of going to the Olympic Games with the Badminton World Federation,” he adds. “I was lucky and just followed the steps.
“It’s a long course, especially in Asia, with so many steps at national level and then continental level to receive accreditation and certification.”
This would be his message to the badminton umpires from Southeast Asia and East Asia attending the OCA camp, several of whom are taking their first steps on this journey.
The badminton section of the development programme is being conducted at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia, which has been certified as a regional centre of excellence by both the Olympic Council of Malaysia and the OCA.
In the vast practice hall of the national academy, the emphasis on Thursday afternoon was for the umpires to deal with on-court misconduct requiring yellow or even red cards.
With the help of some young academy players, the umpires were put into a position where they had to deal with unruly behaviour and what actions demanded disciplinary action under the laws of the game.
Charles said the instructors here in Kuala Lumpur were following the same standards and procedures for the OCA development programme as they do with Badminton Asia training courses, and that the next step for the umpires would be to gain qualifications from Badminton Asia regional training courses.
The Chinese Taipei instructor still works full-time, in ICT (information, communications and technology) with Chunghwa Telecom, but his decision to become a badminton umpire continues to reap rich rewards.