NGUYEN Nhat

General
OLYMPIC POSTPONEMENT
In 2020, during the initial lockdown period in Ireland due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped with deliveries in his mother's Chinese takeaway business in north Dublin, and trained at a CrossFit gym owned by his sister. "I think a couple of workers were scared so I had to help my parents out. I'm really glad I did, to understand. It was like a new way of life. It definitely made me feel more appreciative and humble to see how hard they work for me to let me travel around the world. So, yeah, I'm a lot more grateful. In the second and third month [of lockdown] I made a little court in my sister's gym. I didn't tell her that because there was a big mess. When she'd leave, I built up my net and I have a shuttle feeder machine, working a lot on my technical skills and physical strength. I was one of the luckier ones, to have all this environment around me - to have a gym and then have a shuttle feeder machine." (irishtimes.com, 05 Aug 2020; irishmirror.ie, 22 Jul 2020)

FROM VIETNAM TO IRELAND
He moved from Vietnam to Cavan, Ireland with his parents and older sister in 2006, when he was age six. After two years in Cavan the family moved to Dublin, and after graduating from high school in mid-2018 he began focusing on badminton full-time. "Our uncle came over first to Ireland and then my dad followed my uncle. Originally my dad and my sister came over and then we had to sort out papers to bring my mum and myself over. So that took a couple of years. Just to get a better life really. We were the lucky ones to leave and to get a good life somewhere else. I was six years old. I was a little bit too young to remember but I did go back a couple of years ago. We came from the countryside of Hanoi, maybe two or three hours away from the city. I don't remember much, but [Ireland is] definitely colder than Vietnam." (irishtimes.com, 05 Aug 2020; independent.ie, 06 Jan 2018; the42.ie, 25 Dec 2017)

TRAINING IN IRELAND
He believes the lack of strong opponents of similar age in Ireland throughout his teenager years has worked to his advantage, as he trained with older players including Sam and Chloe Magee at the Marino Institute of Education, where Badminton Ireland's high performance centre is based. "I have been training with the Magees, Sam and Chloe, since I was 13 or 14, and I think it has been a real advantage. Training with better players at the time was a huge push for me to move forward and it really helped me. If wasn't for them I wouldn't be as inspired to be as good as I am or I want to be." (rte.ie, 06 Oct 2018; sportsjoe.ie 01 Sep 2019)

MEDITATION AND PATIENCE
In 2018 he said he was working on becoming more patient on the court, and began meditation to help with this. "Recently [2018] we're focusing on my patience on court, working on longer rallies. I'm quite an impatient person, sometimes I want it too much and I make rash decisions on court, going for it when it's not on. So [my coach] is making routines longer so I can't use all my energy during the routines. And recently I've started doing some meditation. It's good for my focus and patience. I've heard a lot of people, the big super stars [in sport] like LeBron James, are doing it. So if it helps them, why can't it help me. I look at it as a step towards improving myself." (BadmintonWorld Youtube page, 14 Nov 2018)