This is your brand new badminton podcast featuring four European elite players: Kirsty Gilmour (Scotland), Selena Piek (Netherlands), Marvin Seidel (Germany) and Christo Popov (France). You will get a deep look into the life of an athlete on the badminton world tour and will join the four players on their road to PARIS24. The podcast is hosted by Thommy Fox who will talk to one of the four players each week.
Who's the best coach Marvin's ever had? What is he focussing on while doing video analysis? Is there a training exercise Marvin really hates? In this one on one episode the newly crowned winner of the Luxembourg Open in mixed doubles Marvin Seidel & Thommy Fuchs are discussing these - and many more questions - regarding Marvin's life as a professional badminton player. Enjoy episode 34 of the ShuttleSquad!
Is the badminton calendar too full? How can we create more highlights? When is it okay to push through an injury and when is it better to call it off? Are we all just a little tired of badminton after a fast paced start to 2025? Kirsty, Marvin, and Thommy discussing all these topics in this weeks podcast episode. Enjoy episode 33 of the ShuttleSquad!
Please welcome our first guest in ShuttleSquad history: Toma Junior Popov! This episode provides insight in the relationship of the french brothers Toma Junior and Christo Popov who both are in the top-25 in the men's singels world ranking + are also ranked no. 18 in men's doubles! Two brothers on court with their dad as coach behind the court becoming European Champion just recently in Horsens - The battle for one spot in the men's singels competition of the Paris Olympics. Definitely an episode worth listening for every badminton fan. Enjoy episode 32 of ShuttleSquad!
Christo Popov just became European Champions... in doubles! No front, but we didn't see that coming, and Christo also didn't. In this episode we obviously wrap up the European Championships that took place in Horsens, Denmark form April 8 -13. Not a full wrap, as Kirsty could not join the Squad this week, but for sure a nice little chat about upsets, surprises and an unlucky week for team Denmark (at least in the men's disciplines) in Horsens. Also: Marvin's team Saarbrücken-Bischmisheim is facing Christo's team Dortelweil in the Bundesliga seminfinals and the Squad discusses which scoring system they like most. Enjoy episode 31 of ShuttleSquad!
The ShuttleSquad is back! After a solid 6-month-break, Kirsty Gilmour , Christo Popov, Marvin Seidel and Thommy Fox gather around their microphones for the kick-off of season 2. And could there be a better timing for the first ever group episode? We don't think so! After a little Olympics throwback and some emotional memories, the Squad is looking ahead to the European Championships that are starting today in Horsens, Denmark. Spoiler: The Squad is aiming for some medals so get ready for an exciting week ahead! Enjoy the comeback episode! There will be more. Big big shoutout to Selena Piek who ended her international badminton career after the Paris Olympics and for sure will be missed on the Squad - but we will make sure to bring her back for a few episodes!
The last episode of this Olympic journey of the ShuttleSquad. After getting a deep insight in Marvin's experience in the last episode, Thommy is wrapping things up with Kirsty, Christo and Selena. It was an intense ride and everybody took some time off after Paris but we wanted to end this journey with a little wrap-up of the whole ride since we started recording in January. And Selena is also revealing some new plans that even Thommy didn't know about. Thanks for listening everyone! If you liked this podcast, please leave a comment and let us know if you'd be interested in a season 2 and what you'd like to hear :) Sincerely, the ShuttleSquad
Back after a while.. with a deep one! After taking some time off and recovering from the Olympics, Marvin and Thommy are back with a new episode of ShuttleSquad. Looking back at Marvin's hard time preparing for the Olympics with his injured partner Mark and what happened behind the scenes before and during the event. Marvin gives unfiltered insight into his mind during that hard phase and how he kept going and pushed himself every day. He also reveals his new partner while Mark will take some more time to fully recover. Tune in and enjoy!
Christo and Thommy are talking about Christo's first Olympic Games and the experience to walk into the most crowded arena on home soil. Don't miss Christo's match analysis and his take on the upcoming men's singles final and why in his opinion it could be Viktor's last chance to take a Gold at the Oympics. Enjoy!
You better put your headphones on and turn up the volume a notch, because this is a live call from a windy roof top terrace of the Team NL Building in the Olympic Village. Selena Piek dialed in for a quick update from Paris just a day before the Olympic Games officially kick off with the Opening Ceremony. How have the first few days been, how does she sleep in the cardboard beds, how's training, what is the feeling like and what is the game plan for the opening match against Thailand? Stay tuned for all the answers and listen until the end to get a little voice memo from Marvin and Kirsty as well. Enjoy!
Stressful times for badminton fans following our beloved sport filling the headlines, not with praise for one of the coolest sports there is, but with discussions around men's doubles draws and withdrawals due to missed doping tests. Kirsty and Thommy try to wrap up the latest news and are getting ready for the biggest event we have in our sport - without stressing out about it too much. We've made a little mistake while recording so the audio is a little off sometimes but we hope you can still enjoy EP25 of ShuttleSquad.
A fair bit of confusion around the badminton world yesterday when the BWF announced that the men's doubles draw for the Olympic Games will be postponed just a few hours before the draw of the remaining four disciplines started. In today's special episode Thommy and Marvin Seidel are talking about the results of the draw and how the men's doubles situation could be solved in a potentially fair way. Also our remaining squad members Kirsty Gilmour, Selena Piek and Christo Popov (+ 1 extra guest) all jumped on the pod to share their thoughts on their respective draws. Enjoy!
Episode 23 with Christo Popov coming to you with a little delay but is still 100% worth diving into Christo's Olympic preparations. It's the last episode we will get the draws for Paris and Christo hands in his guesses for the gold medals & will tell you what factor will probably make the difference when it counts. Enjoy!
We're back from our little 2-week summer break with a very special one. Robin Tabeling, Selena'a mixed doubles partner, recently announced his retirement at the end of the year and Thommy and Selena discussed what that means for her career. More topics: The Dutch NOC will cut the badminton funding. What does that mean for the future of badminton in the Netherlands and should we bring Europe's best players into one place to train together to keep up with Asia? + Selena picks her Olympic gold medalists. Enjoy!
We caught Kirsty Gilmour during the Indonesia Open for the 21st episode of ShuttleSquad. After chatting about the recent results we put focus on the more important questions? What are Kirsty's plans after her third Olympic Games? Who will get the Olympic golds? And what is her favorite vegetable? Important questions to ask and also really interesting answers in this one. Enjoy!
20 episodes down already into our little podcast project and we're approaching the final period of Olympic preparations. Especially for Marvin Seidel, who didn't play individual tournaments since February due to his partner's injury, the training period is already getting intense. Thommy and Marvin talked about the recent weeks, results of the last tournaments, and also about some interesting Instagram posts from 2019. Enjoy!
A hectic little update straight from Malaysia (Christo) and Budapest (Thommy) with a training-, injury- and tournament wrap-up of our freshly crowned 4-time national champion Christo Popov. The shortest episode so far (even our Big4 turned into a Big1) and we really hope to find a more relaxed atmosphere again for our next episodes. Anyways: Enjoy!
Selena Piek is back from holiday, fully recharged and ready to prepare for her third Olympic Games. But how do you structure your training in the perfect way to peak when it counts? What were the biggest surprises at the Thomas & Uber Cup Finals? Which city would Selena love to live in and would she go back in time if she could? And why was she close to retire from professional badminton back in 2016? Many random questions for another fun episode of ShuttleSquad with Selena. Enjoy :)
After the European Championships 4 weeks ago, Kirsty Gilmour took a little break from badminton before starting into a training block which allowed her to stay at home in Scotland for a few weeks - quite special after 4 months of basically living out of a suitcase. But now the next tournaments are calling and we are getting ready for the upcoming Asian leg in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Thommy is still still enthusiastic about his Thomas Cup experience and also has a lot to tell. Enjoy episode 17 of ShuttleSquad.
We are tired. After a fun but intense week in Chengdu for Thomas Cup, Marvin and Thommy are recording this episode at the airport in Beijing during a layover on their way home. Good matches, amazing Chinese food and some really nice insights into one of the biggest badminton tournaments of the year. As we were recording in public and had to reduce noise, the audio is a little off this episode. We hope you can still enjoy episode 16 of ShuttleSquad.
Christo Popov went through an emotional rollercoaster in the recent weeks. From being on track to qualify for the Olympic Games in two disciplines, to being not qualified in either of them, and now back to hoping to go in men's doubles together with his brother Toma Junior. It's been a crazy ride and Christo & Thommy break down the final days of the Olympic qualification and also the crazy plot twist that came up a few days later. Enjoy!
Selena and Thommy are in holiday mode. The European Championships are over and marked a crazy ending to the Olympic qualification period. Selena will be playing her third Olympic Games in summer, but first: IBIZA! It's the shortest episode of ShuttleSquad so far but definitely worth listening. Enjoy!
European Championships are stressful. So stressful that Thommy and Kirsty recorded this episode on Monday, but didn't find time to push it out until Friday + there is no intro + the audio quality would need some serious post production effort (it gets better after a few minutes). Kirsty is on her road to another Europeans medal and Thommy is trying to stay on top of all the media work that he and his team get done in Saarbrücken (check @badminton_ec24 on Insta). It's a bit of a hustle this week but the episode is too good to not publish it and that is why we just pushed it out as it was. Enjoy!
If you see this, Thommy didn't fuck up this time :D The long anticipated episode with Christo Popov comes to you a week prior to the final and deciding tournament of the Olympic Qualification: the European Championships in Saarbrücken. Thommy and Christo recapped some highlights of Christo's successful weeks recently and are obviously talking a lot about the upcoming week. What are the chances to qualify in singles and doubles, how's the mental state after an exhausting period and why can we all be glad that Christo still has his eyesight? Find out in episode 12 of ShuttleSquad! Enjoy!
The European Championships on home soil are just around the corner for team Germany, but the circumstances and conditions are not as promising as the hosting country hoped for. Thommy and Marvin talk about concerning injuries and some unlucky draws. They analyse the title favourites in each discipline and look forward to exciting duels. Marvin just sealed the Olympic qualification and looks ahead to preparing for Paris24. Enjoy!
50% of the ShuttleSquad going to the semifinals of the legendary All England in Birmingham? What a crazy week! Thommy catched Selena minutes after her semifinals match to record this episode straight from the Utilita Arena in Birmingham. What does a semifinals day at a Super 1000 event look like for a player? What do Selena and Thommy think about the flash scandal in the quarterfinals? And why did Joachim Fischer Nielsen want to jump into the canal next to the arena? Find out in episode 10 of ShuttleSquad. Enjoy!
Welcome to ShuttleSquad Episode 9 with Christo Popov... not. After trying to hunt Christo down right after his phenomenal victory at the German Open 2 weeks ago, Thommy finally got hold of our busy Frenchman early this week. But instead of publishing the episode, Thommy formatted his SD and deleted the episode. Luckily Kirsty managed to jump in for episode 9.2 and joined Thommy in one of the countless rooms of the famous Utilita Arena in Birmingham. Stories of hectic weeks, lost cars, All England winners predictions, strict privacy settings, and bad translations got interrupted by an overheated camera that tried to mess with this episode. But overall, we're happy with number 9.2 and hope you will be, too. Enjoy!
This episode is coming to you straight from the German Open in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Thommy and Marvin talk about the home tournament for team Germany and the latest updates in the Olympic Qualification. The promised mini game challenge can be found on our instagram accounts (@thommyfox & @seidelmarvin) Enjoy the episode!
For this episode of ShuttleSquad we caught Selena Piek in Denmark where she is playing in the Danish league. Thommy and Selena talked about how a badminton players can make a living, about the Olympic qualification and why the upcoming German Open are always a comfy tournament for the Dutch players. Selena also talks about one of her toughest but also most successful tournaments of her career. Enjoy!
This first face-to-face edition of ShuttleSquad will bring you a solid hour of entertaining badminton talk. Kirsty Gilmour dropping stories about lost luggage, funny tummies, missed flights and how she almost showed up to play An Se Young looking like a tourist. We also dug deep into analyzing playing styles and concluded that it always helps to copy and steal. Thommy's favorite episode so far. We hope you like it, too. Enjoy!
In Episode 5 of ShuttleSquad Thommy gets to talk to Christo Popov for the second time and the Frenchman is just coming off a really successful weekend winning two national titles. Of course the battle against his brother Toma Junior was discussed as well as the upcoming men's team European Championships. In the end we also get to know the private Christo a little better and learn what makes his mum sometimes call him at 4am in the night. Enjoy!
It's episode four and finally time to meet our last member of the ShuttleSquad: Marvin Seidel from Germany! The European Champion in men's doubles comes in well prepared (as expected) and also has some questions for our host Thommy. Marvin talks about his unsatisfying start to 2024, the upcoming European Championships on home soil and his love for details, organizing and beating anyone in mini games. Enjoy!
In this week's episode of ShuttleSquad, Thommy is hosting mixed doubles player Selena Piek from the Netherlands. After talking about the current struggles with tiring journeys from tournament to tournament and late night doping control, Selena talks about the importance of a balanced mind and why it is important to get your head completely off badminton from time to time. A really interesting episode for all young players and badminton fans. Enjoy!
In the second episode of ShuttleSquad we get to know Kirsty Gilmour. The Scot has been an institution on the World Tour for many years and in this episode gives you an insight into her start to the year, tells us what makes a good coach for her and reveals why she chose women's singles over doubles. Enjoy!
Okaaaaayy let's go! Here we are – the first episode of ShuttleSquad, a brand new badminton podcast. From today on we'll kick out fresh episodes every Tuesday, each of them hosted by Thommy featuring one of our four elite shuttlers. We are kicking off with Christo Popov from France who is getting ready for his first tournament in 2024. Enjoy!
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