Oliver Butler could also be one of many brightest badminton starlets within the nation, however he needs to remind you that it’s not all arduous work and no play.
The proficient 19-year-old varieties one half of the Badminton Bros alongside pal Nadeem Dalvi – a badminton-centric Instagram account with virtually 100,000 followers – designed to advertise the sport, whether or not via trick pictures or freestyle occasions.
But regardless of his key position within the account, Butler admitted its creation was a spur of the second and he by no means anticipated the web page to realize its reputation.
He stated: ‘‘Nadeem and I began coaching on the nationwide centre collectively and from there we determined, ‘Properly we’ve obtained lunch breaks and a few free time so why not begin a web page and see the place it takes us?’
‘‘It began off as a little bit of enjoyable however then it progressed and obtained into the numbers. It was only for a little bit of amusing but it surely’s all good to this point. It’s actually bizarre. We went from zero to 30k pretty shortly, and after we began to hit the upper teenagers, our account blew up which was very nice.
‘‘I hope it might present it’s not only a critical sport. Clearly, it’s however you possibly can have a whole lot of enjoyable there. We primarily based our account off a whole lot of trick pictures and enjoyable that individuals can strive, and we hope that it reveals that it’s a enjoyable sport you can get into simply.’’
Offline, Butler is likely one of the most prodigious gamers in England, the most recent graduate of a expertise pipeline in Milton Keynes that has produced the likes of Sean Vendy, Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood.
From humble beginnings hitting shuttlecocks in his lounge, Butler has gone on to compete in a number of tournaments at residence and overseas.
He notably medalled on the U17 European Championships within the blended doubles alongside accomplice Chloe Dennis.
Butler gained the singles and blended doubles occasions within the U17 Nationals, additionally choosing up a bronze within the boys doubles earlier than taking double bronze medals on the U19 Nationwide Championships in a displaying that belied his years.
His most up-to-date show may need resulted in disappointment with a spherical of 16 exit alongside accomplice Sian Kelly within the blended doubles of the 2024 Austrian Open final week, and whereas {the teenager} is aware of what he wants to enhance, he isn’t shedding sight of his love for the sport.
Butler added: ‘‘Having fun with and enhancing, I believe, comes hand-in-hand. At coaching I’m having fun with daily and I do know I’m enhancing. I believe that motivates me, I can get pleasure from it and enhance and I can get pleasure from that I enhance.
‘‘The Austrian Open was a very good match. It was good to see our stage there and that we are able to carry it. We simply want to start out executing these matches that we’re shedding, particularly within the third set however hopefully after we try this, we’ll begin to see some critical enhancements.
‘‘We’ve obtained totally different technical issues to work on in coaching however tournaments clever and results-wise, taking these matches to 3 is nice however we have to begin executing and I believe that’s an enormous factor to give attention to.”
Picture Credit: Jnanesh Salian by way of BadmintonWire
