In case you aren't sure who Pal Chawla is, just ask anybody who's been involved in badminton for the last 44 years in Manitoba. You won't hear any scuffs or groans, and nobody will be hitting the "dislike" button. In fact, you won't hear much of anything but accolades about this man. And why not? He's been coaching in Manitoba and giving back to the community through running tournaments, sitting on boards, performing high level demonstrations (back in "the day") and training younger and less experienced coaches for longer than most people have been born.
Many people can attest that the most tiring occupations revolve around personal interaction. Pal's job at the Winnipeg Winter Club is all about personal interaction. In fact his job revolves around motivating individuals all the way from age 4 to 80+ and requires a heavy number of evening, weekend and out-of-town hours. But you can't tell this man that it isn't worth his time because it's rare to see somebody with as much passion for their job as Pal.
When speaking to Pal about his job as a professional coach, his words are dripping with enthusiasm. His heart is in his work and he will never give you an easy answer because when you care about a topic enough there is no concrete answer. His almost 70 year old body has played and coached body his whole life, and he speaks of the days of badminton when he was a teenager as if it was yesterday. So I started the interview at the beginning
Start Conversation:
Name: Pritpal Singh Chawla (Pal)
Age: 69
Marital Status: Surinder Chawla
Children: Amy and Puneet Chawla
Ryan (R), Pal (P)
R - Where did you first start playing badminton?
P - My first love was cricket, although I had dabbled with many sports. At the age of 13 I went to Moutain Resort for 2 months, where they didn't have many activity options except for badminton; and so I joined. I played as much as I could and at the end of those two months they had a tournament. I ended up making the finals for singles and winning doubles. At this point I had decided that badminton wasn't such a bad sport (smiling). I kept on playing when we moved back, and I competed at Provincials, winning the U16 Junior Championships at age 13. Shortly following this I went to the National Championships and made the singles semi-finals. That was the start.
R - So you just picked up a racquet and started playing?
P - Yes.
R - You must've been very naturally talented.
P - (Smiles) I played a lot of sports, and I picked up badminton fairly quickly because of it.
R - So how did you career as a badminton player evolve?
P - I played heavily for the next couple of years and experienced a lot of success, but it didn't come easy. I would wake up at 6am to play/train, then go to school, and finish off the day with 2-2.5 hours of singles or other training in the evening. By the time I was 17 I went to play/train with my Uncle in Gorukhpur. Daman Chawla was his name and he was #2 in India at the time. (India is one of the strongest countries in the world for badminton) I went there for two months to play, and he started me off playing one of his students. So I played one of his students and beat him 15-0, 15-0. I was very proud of myself and thought Uncle would be very proud of me and possibly praise me for my abilities. However Daman would tell me I should stop playing badminton. "It's not for you" he says. "All you did was smash". So I play a match against my Uncle and he beats me 15-2, 15-2, and after the game he then goes on to tell me that I have 3 days to figure out how the game is supposed to be played or I should quit. Well.......I thought and I thought and tried to figure it out for those three days, and finally it came to me and I knew I had to be a more well-rounded player. I had experienced so much success early on that I had not had to expand my thinking process yet. I had to hit high clears, fast clears, drop shots, everything to beat the best in the World.
So we played again after those 3 days and I beat him in the first game, lost in the second game and both in points. The third game I would lose 15-12, but I was ok with it because I had figured out what I needed to do to compete with the best in the World. I had to set up my opportunities better. It's not that I wasn't playing well before, I just needed to expand.
Later that year I played in Bombay and beat the #4 seed in the 3rd round and the #3 seed in the quarter-finals. I played my Uncle Daman in the Semi-Finals. I played every shot I could think of and ran him into the ground. I won the first game and lost the second. Unfortunately, Daman had more gamesmanship than I did. He noticed that we had only so many birds tested so he decided he would prolong the game by switching birds often and deliberately getting rid of birds, so as I was tiring him out we finally ran out of birds. We had to take the time to test twelve new birds and by the time we started again he was rejuvenated and focused while I had lost all my momentum. He won the game, and I never lost because of shuttles again.
R - It's very evident that it takes a quick learner to make it to the top in the World is that right?
P - Yes, of course. The best players in the world never stop learning.
R - So what came next? Where did this take you? And how high did you make it playing?
P - Well I had some opportunities to travel as part of Team India and play at World Championships and other large scale tournaments. In the fall that same year I played the #1 seeded player in the World, who was from Denmark and lost to him 15-6 and 15-10. At the next tournament I played him again and lost 15-12 in the third game. I played a top Malaysian in the following tournament and beat him in 2 games, and I had played him a year earlier and lost to him in 3 games. I could tell my game was improving.
R - What did your training consist of?
Me and my Indian Teammate would play two and a half hours straight of singles, and there were no rallies under 25 shots. My game consisted of fitness and consistency and that's where I was comfortable. There were other athletes playing faster and more aggressive, but I was comfortable playing long and consistent.
R - That sounds grueling.
P - Well don't get me wrong, if I had the opportunity to end a rally I would take advantage.
R - True. So why did you start coaching?
P - Well it was near the end of a long badminton season where I had done a lot of playing, travelling and training, and I was going to take a rest but a tournament contacted me and encouraged me to play and offered me some incentive. So after thinking it over I decided I would play it and I made it to all 3 finals. Turns out that on the day of the finals there was 110 degress heat and I was playing some very intense matches. This was one of the hottest days I can remember. It was during a match that I ended up getting heat stroke and it took about 6 months before I could start playing again.
It was beyond my efforts to be able to play singles at the International level again. I came back to play competitively but only in doubles and mixed. The level of singles was too intense for what my body could then handle. I started coaching when I received a contract to be the head badminton professional at the Wildewood Club in Winnipeg.
R - Really? The Wildewood Club Hey?
P - Yes. I started coaching at the Wildewood Club which is why I moved from India to Canada.
R - When was this?
P - It was in 1967.
R - Oh the 60's. Were you a hipster?
P - A hipster?
R - Never mind. Tell me more about Wildewood Club (excitedly!).
P - Well I worked at the Wildewood Club for 3 years and I thought I was running a great program. The people were happy, the program was booming, but there seemed to be some mis-communication with the management. There was just lots of tension and mis-understandings so when the time came after 3 years I had taken a job opportunity in Regina.
R - Wow so how was it living and coaching in Regina at the time?
P - Well I tell you, I wasn't quite sure what was a great idea to do at the time and I was a little bit reluctant to go to Regina. But things seem to happy in a funny way sometimes and Regina was one of those things that ended up being a great fortune to my life. I learned so many things from Regina and the people that I was involved with there had great business sense. Some of the coaching and marketing ideas that I still use today I learned there.
R - So it was a good twist of fate?
P - Yes (nods his head approvingly with eyes closed). Funny thing is, Daman is back in Winnipeg coaching at the Winnipeg Winter Club, but decides that he wants to move to Montreal. He phones me up and asks me if I want his WWC job which I agreed to do.
R - Oh so is that where your WWC career began?
P - Yes. You see at that time there weren't too many full-time badminton coaching jobs that were year round. You could do it in Winter and then still have to get a Summer job, so I was doing maintenance work and other things in Summer to make ends meet, and this was an opportunity to do full-time coaching.
R - That's a very cool story. And the rest after that was all coaching? No more moving around?
P - No more moving around. But there is one more thing to know. After I had just moved to WWC, I realized that while I was gone there was a slight change in management, and the guy who I had slight confrontation with at Wildewood Club had moved to WWC where I had to deal with him again (Laughing). So the difference was that this time he wasn't authorized to control my position, and the rest of the people involved loved me in the position so I guess in the end you just have to know when you're doing the right thing, and not let others tell you otherwise.
R - Ok so this is a good background of how you got to Canada and started at the Winter Club. I want to know why you decided to start coaching though.
P - Primarily passion for the game. Chance to do smoething I like. When you play very high International badminton, like I was number one in India and got heat stroke while playing three finals in West Bangol Championships. Playing #1 and #3's in the world. Coaching was an opportunity to keep going with the sport that I love. So once I decided to coach I got working on my certification levels.
R - Why Canada?
P - Job opportunity (in a "duh" sort of matter). Canada was great at badminton. They had Bruce Nelson, Sharon Witticker, Jamie Paulson (who played Rudy Hartono first round in the 1992 Summer Olympics), Wendy Carter, Ian Sydey, etc. Canada was as strong as Indian. States were equally strong. Thomas cup was up for grabs by anybody. Canada was really strong at the Commonwealth Games.
R - What was the difference coaching in Canada then India?
P - (laughing again) Coaching in India? India would assign coaches for week long terms or one month and they would primarily get the athletes just playing games or even play against them. It was a system where if you got to the top it was because you earned it yourself and put in the work. It was more independent player development, BUT that's why we had such tough players and not just physically, but mentally. Coming to Canada, (pauses to chuckle), it was like babysitting or spoon feeding. It has it's advantages for sure, it is very structured and athletes depend on coaches so much. And not that there wasn't good players, again Canada was one of the best countries.
R - How did you take playing and coaching at the same time?
P - Not too bad actually. I was always top 4 in the Country. Other players won singles because of conditioning, like Chanarong. Provincially, I never lost a game of singles from 67-71 (which is when he stopped playing singles). Doubles I would won about 80% of my matches from 67-71. But doubles was never my favorite event. I wasn't comfortable having less responsibility on court and having to count on my partner. Even Internationally, most players specialized in singles, doubles, mixed or doubles and mixed. I loved to play singles and mixed because I understood them the best and had the most control. I also won a silver medal for Saskatchewan at the Canada Winter Games, where we lost to a team that we had beaten in the round robin.
R - What do you consider your greatest coaching achievement?
P - .........(pondering - he HAS been coacing for 44 years!).......Signi Solmundson - Finals of Nationals, Shiva Sharma - U19 Jr. Nationals Singles and Doubles, Kara Solmundson and Andrea Boyd, Jaimie Dawson - U19 Triple Crown, Helen Binns - moved away but became #7 in Canada, in U19 finals twice, CWG Teams - Closed to getting 2nd, during a tie where they had to count points for and against for all the matches, we lost by 1 point. Alana Miller - Individual Medal at CWG, Greg/Leah Waltz - Silver or Bronze (not sure), WWC doing so well at Provincial scene, Matt Younger - U19 Bronze medal - In my opinion should've won gold but the umpires lost his semi's match for him, Alix Younger - U16 Silver medal.
R - How has badminton evolved over the years in Canada?
P - Now there's more emphasis on training and fitness. Many years people refused to train AND play. Fitness education became more apparent.
R - How have you adapted your coaching to fit these changes?
P - I placed more emphasis on training on a daily basis. Mutli-Shuttles and adding speed and isolation. More physically tasking drills.
R - Do you have a coaching philosophy?
P - Try to make a player as individual or independent as possible. Who can think and adapt on their own. Communication is key to know how to help them, but you can't over-coach. They have to learn how to practice things on their own.
R - What is your ideal athlete?
P - (thinking for a second) That's a fair question. Tough one, but fair. I would say they have to keep on learning. Depends if they're competitive or recreational, like what are their goals? They should be hard working and intelligent and self motivated. When I think of these I think of Jaimie Dawson or Kara Solmundson. They came with goals and listened well. They were self-relient. They would ask ME questions, and when I gave them advise, 1 week later they had worked on it and changed something for the better. Matt Younger, I remember telling him to change his footwork and work on his net play forever, but he was never interested. But as his last Junior Nationals came up he admitted he needed help and so we worked on those 2 things, and sure enough those 2 things made a huge difference in being able to make it as far as he did. People don't realize, it's 80% athlete, 20% coach.
R - What is your favorite decade that you coached in?
P - Well the 70's showed tonnes of enthusiasm. All the athletes were "learners", but they lacked the physical training. The 2000's was a decade where the athletes trained harder but there's less attention to the game. Enthusiasm's there, but less understanding. Trouble incorporating skills into game, and more trouble figuring out different events. Some players are good at all three but choose to specialize. Jaime eventually pursued singles, David Humbe did all 3, Anil specialized in doubles/mixed. Mike Duval was a doubles/mixed guy. It is very difficult to figure out all 3 events, but if you can't figure out at least 1 of them then that's a different story.
R - Who's your favorite player of all time?
P - Well are you talking local, national, international?
R - You tell me.
P - Well local/national, Jaime Dawson (WWC), and International would be either Erland Kops (Denmark) or Rudy Hartono (Indonesia).
R - Who inspired you? Did you have any role models?
P - Uncle Daman Chawla - especially once I got into badminton. It was his will to play and travel. Outlook on the game, and the fact that he picked it up at age 24 and by the time he was 27 he was playing for India.
R - I could tell that he had a big impact on your life. You've mentioned him a lot. I think that's a lot of badminton talk for now, so I hope you don't mind if I stray from the topic for a bit just to ask you some other questions.
P - No problem. All is fair game.
R - What's your favorite book? Or favorite type of book?
P - Well, it would probably have to be a book of philosophical nature. What comes to mind right now is Tao and science of spirituality. Some classics that have changed my life - Jap Ji. It's a translated book about the general principles of life, and a type of morning prayer. It's fairly tough to understand. The writer's name was "Sant Kirpal Singh".
R - What are some of your proudest life moments? Badminton and Non-Badminton
P - Well badminton would be winning the U21 boys Asian Championships Team Event, we never lost a match. Also winning U21 boys Doubles in Asian Champinships for India. I would've also went to the Thomas Cup for Indian, but my partner threw our game at the last second without me knowing it because he had to join the army and wasn't going to be able to keep playing with me. He didn't tell me until after the match what was going on, and I understood but I was pretty disappointed.
Non-badminton would have to be having my 2 daughters Amy and Puneet.
R - What is your favorite food or type of food?
P - East Indian Food of course! Well I like a very diverse food culture though. Mexican/pizza/chinese are good too. There's this Indian dish that is mostly spinach and cheese and it's delicious.
R - Haha I have to agree that variety is the spice of life. And some of those spices work better in my stomach than others. I like all those options. Is there a favorite desert?
P - Oh yes, by far the best desert is Barfi (East Indian). It's made with whole milk & milk powder. I used to steal money from mom to get supplies for this desert. Hahahaha, I could never do that to dad, I would've got in trouble. And mom knew I was doing it but probably just thought it was funny.
R - What was your shot of choice?
P - Around-the-head (ATH) crosscourt drop, ATH straight/cross-court smash. Those were my bread and butter. BUT (nothing's ever simple), they weren't possible without the footwork and quickness required for them.
R - What were your favorite places travelled in Canada? World?
P - Canada would be Okanagan Valley, BC. Just beautiful, lakes and orchards. Internationally I've been to Copenhagen, France, England, Sweden, Denmark, etc. My favorite would be Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
R - How do you stay in such good shape for 69 years old?
P - I wish I could say I work out regularly, HAHAHA, but I don't (still laughing). I think keeping stress away as much as possible by dealing with it properly. An active job though, doing lessons.
R - What was the main difference between coaching females and males?
P - Well, not a lot of difference. Females there was generall more commitment and intensity. A little bit more keen on learning, paid a bit more attention, more open to coaching. It depends more on personal attitude, rather then gender.
R - What made you decide to retire?
P - Enough is enough. 44 years of coaching in Canada is enough to say - "I can have some fun now". The job was getting tougher to do a good job and I wouldn't want to compromise a job well done by only giving it 75% on the last couple years.
R - Do you have any retirement plans?
P - Have a good rest. I want to travel, and I guess if I had to order my intentions of what I'd like to do. I'd maybe go for a cruise somewhere in North American. Maybe go to Arizona, Palm Springs and golf. Second I might want to visit some European Countries. And if I had the chance again I would go to India - if possible and it worked out.
R - Who would you like to see take your job?
P - Same as me (laughing). Well same intentions - someone who wants to look after the members well. A people person is first. Care about job and members, who's really interested in what he's diong and has the ability to handle all levels of play. The job requires coaching adults and kids. I would think somebody like Anil Kaul would do a great job.
R - Ok so I'm going to go through a list of "adjectives" and I would like you to name the first athlete that comes to mind, and try not to sensor it as much as possible, I'd like the first person that comes to mind.
P - Ok.
R - Fast.
P - Rudy Hartono (Indonesia)
R - Soft Hands
P - Rudy Hartono (Indonesia)
R - Thinker
P - Jaimie Dawson
R - Smash
P - Anil Kaul
R - Desceptive
P - Finn Koberro (Denmark)
R - Worker
P - Jaimie
R - Strong
P - Erland Kops
R - Graceful
P - Nandu Nateker
R - Funny
P - Daman Chawla.
Jaimie Dawson could've been all of these though, he was the full package. Locally and currently, I would say Jordan Beettam has the softest hands and the best thinker on court. David Snider's strong, and Andrew Harrison's fast, just a little misguided. I like to think of fast as someone who predicts shots well and is always in position.
R - Thank you so much for giving everybody a chance to learn a little bit more about you Pal!
P - Ah, well it was a pleasure, the pleasure was all mine!
R - Any last thoughts or reflections?
P - Well, I've been fortunate to have been able to do what I love doing for so long. I have to in particular thank my family for their understanding and support. It is a tough job for a family man beacvuse of the hours worked. I enjoyed every bit of it though. The members and board of admin/staff at the WWC are all very supportive too. The only reason I've been able to do this and have all these great years is because of the support I've gotten.
R - Any advise for young coaches?
P - I hope you like what you do. Be sincere and Honest and love what you do.
End Conversation.
So Pal has announced his retirement, which is schedule for the fall, and for Pal and the rest of us it's a celebration of a long-time coach and many great relationships throughout the years. He can now spend more time at home, with his family, relaxing and doing some things he's been interested in for a while. Who knows, maybe he'll even be able to have supper before 10pm for once.
As for the Winter Club, they are currently accepting applications for a new Head Professional to lead the way for the next generation.
Congratulations Pal and have a great retirement!