pinli likes to play badminton twice a week to keep up those fast twitch muscles and reflexes. its surprisingly good cardio, and frankly just a good bit of fun. he has a lot of friends down at the community center where he plays and they're always happy to see him. he uses the money from his lucrative shl send down contract to buy nice nets and nice rackets for the whole gym to share. he gets a chance to chat with his buddies and play 5 or 6 really tough games of badminton in the hour and a half that he's there. the stop-sprint nature of it is definitely transferable to hockey, as well as the hand eye training, but really i think it's mostly for fun. it keeps him relaxed and not always thinking about hockey. that in and of itself can be a big benefit to a young player that's still finding where he fits in the league. for a few hours a week there's no worry about the J playoffs or how the big club is doing, it's just badminton baby!