You are interested to play Badminton? You are interested to join our wonderful Badminton club? Great! But currently we have a lack of capacity.
Please read the following text, until the end of the chapter. Thanks!
Attention! Currently we cannot accept new members who are interested to play on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays after 20:00. Furthermore the gym in Plänterwald is heavily overcrowded already on weekends during the day time. We simply don't have enough capacity on these days to accommodate additional members. Full is full.
Interestingly we still do have enough gym capacity. Saturday, Sunday, the whole days, in a different gym. Plus available time slots during the week, but only before 20:00.
Our problem up to now: new members, we accepted in the past, will probably ask or try to play at the already overcrowded time slots. Instead of accepting the time slots, which are not overcrowded. That is unfortunately a typical human behaviour. People are attracted by fully crowded times. Everybody wants to go, where already a lot of people attend. Thus, on one side we have half empty gyms and unused court capacity, meanwhile at other gyms people even try to sneak in, although they did not get a spot to play at our reservation system, creating heavy overcrowding. What we cannot accept any longer.
Conclusion: We decided to open a new reservation group, where we offer to play at less crowded time slots. See this list:
If you are fine to play only at these times:
- Monday 17:30 - 19:30 at: Hänselstraße 14 (coached training session)
- Tuesday 17:30 - 20:00 at: Frauenlobstr. 61 (Baumschulenweg) or Erwin-Bennewitz-Weg (Plänterwald)
- Wednesday 20:00 - 22:00 at: Schöneweide, Engelhardstr. 18
- Thursday 17:30 - 20:00 at: Hänselstraße 14 (summer season only)
- Saturday 9:00 - 17:30 at Frauenlobstr. 61 (Baumschulenweg)
- Saturday 15:00 - 21:00 at Erwin-Bennewitz-Weg (Plänterwald)
- Sunday 10:00 - 12:00 at: Erwin-Bennewitz-Weg (Plänterwald)
- Sunday 12:00 - 14:30 at: Frauenlobstr. 61 (Baumschulenweg)
- Sunday 16:00 - 21:00 at: Erwin-Bennewitz-Weg (Plänterwald).
we are happy to receive your membership application.
That is a wide offer of opportunities to play.
New members receive special access to our booking system, where they can register for these days. But !!! it is not possible to play on Tuesdays and Thursdays after 20:00 and on Fridays at the moment.
We make exceptions for very advanced league players to strengthen our teams 1 - 3. In addition, the training times for our league players are not as crowded as other times.
We are constantly searching, scouting and applying for additional time slots. Unfortunately, it's not that easy in Berlin. Not enough gym capacity, especially in the central districts of Berlin. This will situation will last for a few more years until enough more gyms are finished and in function.
Please read the following text until the end. Thanks. Next step:
How to try out? How to become a member (if the above mentioned time restrictions do not affect you)?
Please do not show up without telling us before. And do not fill our the membership application before contacting us.
Either write a mail first. Or send a message to Henrik: +49-172-30080(six)(one). Replace (six) (one) by digits. sms, whatsapp or signal is all o.k.
The mail/message shall contain:
- your full name, gender and age
- your phone number
- where in Berlin you live
- your Badminton skill level, on a scale from 0 (Beginner) to 7 (expert, plays higher league).
- at which days of the week you intend to play
We will answer with some suggestions / time proposals for you to try out.
Where and when do we play?
We play every day of the week. Mostly in the south east area (Treptow, Schöneweide, Baumschulenweg) and in the center (Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg).
Who may join our club?
Basically everybody, who is able to play Badminton or has the requirements to learn to play. We accept children as well, and have coached training sessions, for children, beginners, low advanced as well as for league players. But as we are a competition oriented club, with league teams, members are welcome who at least try to improve their game. As it is much more fun to play, if you achieve a certain level.
Those who are mainly interested to meet people and play around a little bit, as a pastime first of all, might better search another club, offering leisure Badminton as a main purpose.
Beginners, who are really interested to play and use the opportunities to join coached training, usually improve quickly.
Meanwhile beginners without any ambitions will not have a lot of fun while playing with other club members. Nonetheless our more skilled club members will have fun playing with those beginners lacking any ambitions to improve their game. Same problem with players without any talent for this sport. We recommend to try another kind of sport or activity.
On the other side: If you are a good player or an expert: our door is wide open for you. And we offer possibilities to join our league competition teams.
What means being a member of such a club?
Joining a club is basically an ongoing contract. Your legal commitment: you have to pay the monthly membership fees (charged every 3 month), until you declare to leave the club, at least 30 days before a quarter ends. And note, that you cannot switch your membership on and off according to your momentary plans and dispositions. We can only accept pausing to pay the fees in rare cases of injuries which take many month to heal, or if somebody has to undertake a very long journey, for family or business reasons, or study abroad.
Everybody else: you have to pay the membership fees, not important, if you play only once a month or 4 times per week. Until you cancel the membership. More about membership fees.
We need the membership fees to buy shuttles (currently more than 30.000 € per year!) and to pay the coaches, umbrella organisation fees, insurance fees, and other expenses, etc.
You have a lot of advantages: we offer a lot of opportunities to play. You don’t have to organise friends, neither to book a court at a sports center. Just join, and you find people ready to play with you and have fun. And/or take training lessons.
But if at the end
- you cannot find enough time to dedicate to this wonderful sport regularly, or
- you are not able to implement the dates into your weekly schedule, or
- you find out, that Badminton is not to your taste or abilities
… just cancel. Very easy process, no formalities needed.
Thus ... before you apply for membership, PLEASE consider first, if you really will be able to integrate such a sport into your life routines and will find enough time for this, at least once a week. The reason: we try to avoid spending precious time to process membership application in vain. If you doubt … may be better don’t join. In this case we suggest to enter this platform, at least to try out, if this is something for you:
How can I apply for membership? (after sending the required information and getting a positive answer)
After completing the data please submit the online form. But this will not work, if you forgot to answer one of the obligatory questions. Only if the website responds with „your message has been transmitted successfully …“, your application form will reach us.
Can I bring a friend?
Please send the link to this website to your friend. Everybody who is new, has to go through the same procedure.
How do I book time slots to play with you guys?
We introduced a timeslot booking system, when the restrictions related to Covid-19 came up and we had to use such a time management system. The app is called: takeactive. After "Corona" we decided to continue using this booking system. It is a nice instrument to coordinate training and play time for various levels, and helps to avoid overcrowding as well as empty gyms.
But before using takeactive you have to apply for membership first. After transmitting your membership application form, please check the instruction about takeactive.
What else is needed to play Badminton?
You have to buy and wear sport shoes suitable for indoor sports. The sole of the shoe has to be either light coloured, or shall have an imprint on the sole "non marking".
And you need your own Badminton racket. Please avoid to buy a cheap steel racket by all means. Too heavy, and only suitable to play some "Federball" in a park with kids or friends. But not o.k. for a real Badminton game. A Badminton racket should be made from Aluminium/Carbon compound, with a weight below 90 gramm.
There are so many different models and types. Difficult to find out, what suits to your way of playing. If you don't have a racket currently, you may ask other club members.
Will I be a part of this club in a year? Benefits of Badminton. How to cancel, if I cannot join regularly or dislike this sport?
Well, the statistics for many years and various kinds of sport, including Badminton, have proved: about 60% of the new members will leave the club within 1 - 2 years. Some reasons are logical: change of address, or change of profession (no time any longer), or changes of the family situation, small children for example. Or somebody finds out, that this kind of sport is not the best solution. This is not predictable, and life circumstances can change any moment.
Canceling is easy: any message to the president or vice president of the club is fine, mail or an sms, or a WhatsApp message, a call, a conversation (with one of the presidents). No need to write any special formal applications, no special requirements.
One of the frequent reasons to quit playing is that somebody cannot find enough time. That is understandable as well. But this is the reason why you should ask yourself before applying for membership: "will I really manage to show up regularly to play". A lot of people overestimate their possibilities. Trying out for a while is one thing. Easy. But playing regular, at least once in a week, is a totally different thing. Difficult for many people. Please think twice.
Of course we like and appreciate all attempts to play or to start playing this wonderful sport. Furthermore as it is important in several ways: health, staying active, and social integration, ... you will make new friends and colleagues. Especially Badminton is an ideal sport which suits for these purposes. You are training stamina, body coordination, power and mind activity. And it is really a lot of fun to play, less aggressive than Fußball, and somehow nice and charming to let the birdies fly. Difficult to explain the fun. And the risks to get injured are in fact not zero, but indeed significantly lower compared to many other sports like soccer or Basketball, or skiing. We recommend to start, and we recommend to stay.
But ... again this important topic ... if the chance to establish Badminton in your life is not realistic, we ask either to try other activities or forms of participation (meetup for example), or to try other hobbies. As it is a lot of (unpaid) volunteer work to register and deregister club members.
Same thing, if you come to visit Berlin for some weeks or month. Too short to become a club member.
But if you will stay for at least half a year or one year (internship or study for 1-2 semesters), you are welcome to become a club member, even if it is just for a year.
Just don’t forget to cancel in time, when you have to leave Berlin.