The Real Modern Luxury is Unplugging to Belong
When have you given yourself permission to be terrible at something? Not just in a nice way on social media, but truly and clumsily bad in front of other humans? Today, we’re all under pressure to appear flawless, easy-going, professional, and even perfect every single day. Just take a look around you and observe the trend of each person creating their own private world behind a computer screen. Algorithms are predicting our preferences based upon our past actions and artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how society creates, thinks and communicates. We’re more connected than ever on multiple types of platforms. We’ve made our lives into auditions instead of journeys for growth. If we were already perfect, then what could we possibly learn? Before we even think about saying something, we edit our thoughts; we don’t allow ourselves to put out anything that isn’t finished and we carefully curate every aspect of our identity so that nothing looks unpolished or ready to be judged. We’re all afraid of being corrected and sometimes it’s worse than that – we’re silently dreading having someone tell us that who we are right now, is just not good enough. By avoiding this vulnerability, our mental health quietly suffers. We’ve traded in a messy and authentic experience for a digital buffer zone. We want everything to be infinitely efficient in life and yet we’re slowly starving for the type of relationship that can only occur when we drop our defenses completely. As our daily lives become increasingly layered with technology and convenient digital tools, something subtle yet fundamental is slipping through our fingers. The act of physically coming together.
Although we’re constantly available to communicate digitally, we’re quietly disconnected. Welcome to The BAD Club. On the surface, you may see them as just another recreational badminton team in a city filled with many courts.
However, beneath the surface and the stigma associated with the name, despite the polished appearance, culture, merchandise and energy, you’ll understand that something far greater is occurring. The name itself is merely a short-hand representation of the first three letters of badminton.
The founders didn’t stop at simply providing a place to play. Within a competitive sports environment where padel, golf, martial arts or running clubs receive most of the attention regarding aspiration, badminton was growing rapidly in number but lacked recognition in terms of culture. Rather than waiting for public opinion to shift toward recognising badminton as culturally relevant, a younger generation of creative and passionate individuals chose to establish the type of badminton experience they desired. Most contemporary athletic brands promote perfectionism while simultaneously declaring “peak performance” or hyper-elite appearances. No one wishes to appear amateur in today’s highly curated digital space created by social media influencers; however, The BAD Club took the complete opposite approach. They embraced it and called themselves BAD.
“Everyone begins somewhere. We’ve all been poor players at some point. Perhaps some of us still are. That didn’t prevent us from attending.”
– Kenny Co-Founder of The BAD Club
This single epiphany provides an answer to the debilitating perfectionism that currently dominates our daily lives. Errors can be removed from digital spaces using prompts; however, on a physical court, you’ll either discover something new to learn or something new to laugh at. Instead of seeking validation via likes and comments online, you connect with people who share laughter and energy with you while hearing the squeaks produced by shoes. From this honest foundation developed an ethos of being bold enough to envision differently, agile enough to adapt across various types of courts and disciplines and rebellious enough to challenge the sterile definition of what constitutes a sports community. The BAD Club represents a passion project developed similarly to a contemporary brand. A great deal of thought went into designing and developing a cohesive identity and shared experiences because a group of friends decided to utilize their individual skills to create something they genuinely enjoyed. The purpose was centered around establishing a sense of community among humans versus generating revenue. The idea quickly expanded beyond its initial court. Currently, badminton includes VolleyBAD and discussions are underway with martial arts and beyond. The BAD Club allows members to be imperfect within a room full of actual people rather than fans/followers. There is an understated elegance witnessing a younger generation take action and alter things. Frequently portrayed as existing solely through electronic devices, here is a group demonstrating that true communities require physical presence. You cannot experience the sensation of receiving a high-five after an intense rally digitally. You cannot instruct AI to produce spontaneous humor generated during a rally on a Friday night.
While The BAD Club is not opposed to the future, it is simply supportive of humanity. Reminding us that maintaining our mental health depends upon experiencing friction caused by being present in reality, being willing to look foolish while learning and taking pride in working alongside individuals who care.
“We didn’t need to turn it into a different word. We gave it our own meaning. We’re proud to be BAD.”
-Jelden Co-Founder The BAD Club