Commonwealth Games Badminton Athlete Anjali Gudhka on Injury and Recovery

In this episode of "Spirit of an Athlete," host Amanda Smith interviews Anjali Gudhka, a dedicated badminton player and coach with 26 years of experience. Anjali shares her journey in badminton, including her participation in the Commonwealth Games and her struggles with ACL injuries. The discussion highlights the physical and emotional challenges of recovery, the importance of structured rehabilitation, and the resilience required to return to competitive sports. Anjali also touches on her role as a career transformation coach, emphasizing the transferable skills from sports to professional life. The episode underscores the strength and perseverance needed to overcome setbacks.

[00:00:05] Anjali Gudhka's 26-year journey in badminton, including her early experiences and development in the sport.
[00:02:15] The impact of injuries, particularly ACL surgeries, on Anjali's athletic career.
[00:04:30] The mental and emotional challenges faced during recovery from sports injuries.
[00:06:45] The importance of structured rehabilitation and setting realistic goals during recovery.
[00:09:00] Insights into the competitive nature of badminton, including its Olympic status and selection criteria.
[00:11:20] The disparities in training and resources for badminton players from different regions, particularly Africa.
[00:13:40] Anjali's dual role as a coach and her approach to coaching informed by her experiences as an athlete.

Reach out to Anjali: anjali@ukan-coaching.co.uk
Check out her website and Insta
https://www.ukantransformyourcareer.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/anjali.2402 (For sports)

Watch Spirit of an Athlete on YouTube!

Check out more from Amanda:
Website: Body Whisper Healing
Instagram: @Amanda.G.Smith
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Pinterest: AmandaGSmithBWH
LinkedIn: Amanda (Ritchie) Smith

Take the Gutsy Chick Quiz to find out how your athletic mindset might be holding you back from healing your chronic health issue: https://gutsychickquiz.com

Transcript

Amanda Smith 00:00:15  Welcome back to another episode of spirit of an athlete. I'm your host, Amanda Smith, and on this episode, I interview Anjali Gudhka, who is our first racquet sport athlete. She has been playing badminton for 26 years. She's also a coach. And on this episode, you'll hear her story about injury and going to the Commonwealth Games. This one's near and dear to my heart because her and I had a similar injury and a similar surgery. I hope you enjoy this episode. Anjali Gudhka thank you so much for being on spirit of an athlete with me and sharing your journey as a badminton player.

Anjali Gudhka 00:01:00  My pleasure Amanda. Excited to be here today.

Amanda Smith 00:01:05  Me too. It's. You are my first racquet sport participant on the podcast, just so you know. I know right. And it happens to be badminton. Okay. So I'm going to share a little story. when I was a softball player at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The running track was above the main gym floor.

Amanda Smith 00:01:29  And every day that I had to run that stinking track, I hate to run. I would watch, and that would be my entertainment. Is watching all of these people play badminton. And to me, it's an intense sport. They would dive across the gym floor just to get to the birdie, and then somehow still have the ability to whack the ball, the birdie over the net. Yeah, I was floored, fascinated by the sport. So thank you for joining.

Anjali Gudhka 00:02:02  I'm glad you've had that experience because I can honestly say it is more intense than I think people expect it to be.

Amanda Smith 00:02:11  I feel like people think that it's like you're wearing all white and you're British, and you're going to just lob the the birdie and whack the birdie, right? I mean, that that in my mind's eye is what a lot of people probably think badminton is. But to see people dive and to, to, you know, you've got to really get your body into that position to get to the birdie. And those things don't fly like balls.

Anjali Gudhka 00:02:38  They they fly faster.

Amanda Smith 00:02:41  Exactly, exactly. They got wings. Yeah. So you've been in this sport for 26 years? Yes. Does that kind of blow your mind that that we we can say that. Yeah.

Anjali Gudhka 00:02:54  I mean, when you say the number out loud, it just goes, whoa. Like, where's the time gone? How how has it been that long? but I can honestly say I've loved every, every kind of bit of it.

Amanda Smith 00:03:09  Well, give us a little background. When did you start and where has it taken you?

Anjali Gudhka 00:03:15  so I, I started when I was in what was known as secondary school. So I'm, I'm from Kenya. So our education system is slightly different. and I started when I was in secondary school because I used to get to school quite early before classes started, and there was really nothing to do. And there were a group of people who were playing badminton, and I thought I may as well time pass. Right. so I, I got into it.

Anjali Gudhka 00:03:42  They were they were very nice and they were teaching me a little bit. And then I got hooked on it. I got interested, and so I say to my, my parents, I said, I want to get I want to learn it. I want to get a coach to teach me how to play this properly. And that's that kind of snowballed my journey. I wasn't very good at it initially. I had hand-eye coordination, but I, I genuinely could not make head or tail of what was supposed to happen, and I was just running around like a headless chicken. I was doing those dives probably, and missing all those all all the shuttles when I first started. And, you know, through the coaching, I kind of became a bit more controlled. I got better, and I started playing tournaments when I started playing tournaments. And this is bearing in mind maybe about 18 months after I started learning how to play, and I thought, my coach kind of went, I think you're ready.

Anjali Gudhka 00:04:36  Just, just go and play. And I was like 18 months in, like, is that really enough time? And I went and I lost really badly. but it kind of gave me an idea of what was happening out there, what I was up against. And some of these, some of my opponents had been playing since they were three years old. And at this point I was a teenager already, so I was I really had a lot of catching up to do. so I got more coaching in and the next tournament I started kind of rising up, you know, I reached the semi-finals, then I reached the finals. Then I started kind of being a threat to those who had always been at the top. And I got, selected to play for my country. and I played a few international tournaments. And then came qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in, 2000. So I played I didn't expect to get anywhere with that because I was still a junior. I was only 17 at the time, and there were a lot of other senior players who were competing for the same, same position, and I managed to qualify.

Anjali Gudhka 00:05:44  So I was then flying out before I knew it, to play the Commonwealth Games for Kenya. As a 17 year old with no real international experience of of that, of that, I guess size or caliber. but the experience was amazing. It was an eye opening experience, and I definitely learned a lot from it to kind of what then informed the second half of my badminton journey, essentially.

Amanda Smith 00:06:18  And that is.

Anjali Gudhka 00:06:22  that well, I went on to play a lot more tournaments, and then I moved to the UK, so I stopped playing international, I moved to the UK and as I was trying to then do the same in the UK, which has a very different system and it's a lot more competitive than what I had in in Kenya. I started injuring myself and, you know, that's the biggest setback any athlete can have. And it it knocks you out completely, not just physically but even mentally. And it was definitely some something for me to have gone through that and what I'd had with the Commonwealth Games, what I had had in all the tournaments, all of that learning kind of helped in that second stage of the journey, where I almost needed to find my passion again for the sport and make sure that I was returning back to the sport.

Amanda Smith 00:07:19  Wow. Okay. What kind of injuries did you experience?

Anjali Gudhka 00:07:23  the main ones, apart from sore muscles, the main ones that I, actually have had our ACL surgery. So that's the, anti cruciate ligament in the knee, which for badminton players, is the most common one to get injured because there's a lot of pivoting. There's a lot of impact. so even though it looks like a non-contact sport, it it's it does have a lot of impact on the knees. And my knees couldn't handle it, so I managed to rupture my, ACL on both knees, but on different occasions.

Amanda Smith 00:08:01  Were you what what was the timeframe between the two ACL?

Anjali Gudhka 00:08:08  15 years apart. They've been 15 years apart.

Amanda Smith 00:08:12  Wow. Okay, so how old were you when you had your first? And which knee was it? And then how old were you during the second? Oh.

Anjali Gudhka 00:08:20  Oh, that's telling now. Yep. The well, the first one that I had, I was oh, gosh. I was just, about between 25 and 30 years old when I had the first ACL and this, that was on my left knee.

Anjali Gudhka 00:08:40  And then the second one, I just had it last year. So 15 years later, that was last year. I'm still I'm still under rehab and recovering from it, and that was on my right knee.

Amanda Smith 00:08:55  Okay. Yeah. Thinking about it, I'm like, okay, so I'm thinking tennis. It's a much bigger court. You've got, the the amount of agility that you have to have in order to play that sport is unreal. Those athletes have to be able to move side back, pivot, twist, turn. And badminton is a much smaller court. It's almost. So a lot of people now know pickleball. So it's almost the same size as a pickleball court, but the net is higher and the birdie has to fly up and over it, and it flies faster than what we would see with a wiffle ball on a pickleball court because it's small rubber with wings. Literally. So okay, what I've blown my ACL so left ACL reconstruction when I was 17 years old. 18 years? I was 18.

Amanda Smith 00:09:51  actually, I was turning 18. That's right. And for me, it was volleyball again, another high agility sport. I went and jumped up in the air, came down and my my knee dislocated because I landed pigeon toed and because my glute medius, which is your rotator in your glute muscles, was very weak. And, yeah, a lot of, a lot of fun things happened. I dislocated or I let's see, I tore the ACL completely. I stretched the MCL, I pinched the LCL. So MCL is the one in the middle. LCL is the one on the outside. I fractured my, Let's see the top ones. The femur. I fractured the femur. Wow. And, and I partially tore my meniscus. Does this all sound familiar to you?

Anjali Gudhka 00:10:46  Oh, very much apart from the fracturing. the the first time I got my ACL rupture, I also, like it shredded through my meniscus as well. and so the lateral ligaments were a little bit weaker, but they held on.

Anjali Gudhka 00:11:07  but the ACL pretty much gave way. And the meniscus was by that point, pretty much gone.

Amanda Smith 00:11:16  Okay. So when you had your ACL reconstruction, they also fixed your meniscus.

Anjali Gudhka 00:11:22  Yes.

Amanda Smith 00:11:23  Yes. Okay. Do you still have a meniscus?

Anjali Gudhka 00:11:25  I do, I do. so it wasn't completely gone. It was, it was it was a lot thinner. The, the layer that it's supposed to be, it was a lot thinner and it was afraid. So it was hanging out on the sides and causing me a lot of pain. So they basically tidied it up and they stitched the bits that were shorn, just so it could heal and, avoid that, that, pain that I was getting.

Amanda Smith 00:11:54  Okay. So your first your first version of this, how long was your recovery?

Anjali Gudhka 00:12:01  Yeah. So that's interesting. I guess medically or biologically, the the recovery expectation was about 12 to 18 months. And that's mainly because of the meniscus injury meant that I had to wear a knee brace, so I couldn't I was limited in the movement because I had to give it for at least four months to just bend down and recover, but the ACL needed movement straight away.

Anjali Gudhka 00:12:29  The bending, the kind of pushing it, and I couldn't I couldn't get to that because of the meniscus issue. So we had to focus on the meniscus first and then work on the ACL, which meant that I wasn't up and about for at least 6 to 8 months before I could lose, lose the crutches, and walk, walk unsupported and get back into kind of a bit of a daily, daily lifestyle, so to speak. So it was it was a lot longer. That was the kind of the biological side of it. but also mentally I was not prepared. And I think that mental, kind of an unready state and almost being unhappy about how things had happened, I hadn't accepted it. It happened so quickly. I was I was I think I was still in that grieving stage when I underwent the surgery, and it really impacted my motivation to also work hard at it, try and, you know, improve, improve kind of the movement of the leg, the strength of the leg.

Anjali Gudhka 00:13:36  So I also, you know, that also played a part in the recovery and delaying it as well. In fact, I think that played a bigger part than the biological or medical side of it.

Amanda Smith 00:13:49  You you quickly and briefly brought up grieving.

Anjali Gudhka 00:13:53  Yes.

Amanda Smith 00:13:54  What were you grieving?

Anjali Gudhka 00:13:57  when I got the news, you know, it's always it's always this scenario of. Are you sure you want to go back to playing badminton? This this could happen again. It's going to be a long road and is never going to be 100%. You've lost the original ligament. We can do the best we can, but you know, you're looking at 70 or 80%, from it. So it was it was that piece that you I was I was subconsciously grieving. I was unconscious about it. This is all benefit of hindsight, unfortunately. and so it was it was literally that that piece and I was it kind of hit home that I may not be able to play the sport that I love, that I've grown up with almost.

Anjali Gudhka 00:14:42  And it, you know, it kind of just hit me really badly, especially post-surgery, when I realized I can't walk like it wasn't real. It only hit me after I came out of the surgery, and I had crutches and I couldn't bend. And the leg is swollen and it's painful and, you know, I need support. I lost my independence. I needed someone to help me just move, move around three steps. So all of that, all of that, I think just just led to what I'm now calling a grieving process.

Amanda Smith 00:15:18  Yeah, I remember I remember this time frame because I, I had a similar experience where as soon as I came out of surgery, the first thing that my dad said to me was, the doctor says, you're going to blow the other one. And I was just like, that's the first thing I get to hear. Thanks. But also crap.

Anjali Gudhka 00:15:37  Yeah, crap.

Amanda Smith 00:15:39  Like, I have to deal with that. I have to make myself stronger. Now.

Amanda Smith 00:15:43  My doctor worked with NBA, NFL players and and his protocol was you're going to get back on your feet and you as long as we do the right rehab. And I did rehab. As long as we do the right rehab, you're going to go back and probably be stronger. Yes. You've got anchors in place to hold in. for me, we we used the, patellar tendon. So the kneecap tendon as my ACL. So we turned a tendon into a ligament. Yeah. That's how you had. Okay. Yeah. And then after surgery, I they they let me have full range of motion. And within two days of getting full range of motion, I stepped down a step, my muscles tightened and my muscles were stronger than my patellar tendon. And it ripped my kneecap apart. And I broke my kneecap, but it was holding on by the the a point of a pencil lead, so I didn't have to have surgery. If it would have completely broke, I would have been in surgery again, which would have been awful.

Amanda Smith 00:16:44  But my recovery was five months and I was grieving during those five months. What am I going to be like as an athlete? But also because I'd lost I'd lost a scholarship in that time frame. They were like, oh, you're probably not going to recover. You'll never be 100% those same things that you were told. But then 15 years later, you blew your other one.

Anjali Gudhka 00:17:08  Whilst also playing badminton. So that's the the positive news, I guess. I went back to it.

Anjali Gudhka 00:17:14  Exactly.

Anjali Gudhka 00:17:16  I played hard and I did the other one.

Amanda Smith 00:17:22  So now you're going through this same process. Is the recovery time the same amount?

Anjali Gudhka 00:17:28  Actually, no. so this time I'm a little bit better informed because I've had the experience of the first one, so I was asking the right questions. I also had prefab, so I had one almost a year of rehab to make sure my muscles were ready for that kind of invasive procedure. The first time around, I, I. Between rupturing the ACL and the surgery, there was only two months, so there was no time for rehab.

Anjali Gudhka 00:18:01  and the post-op, kind of rehab was not return to.

Anjali Gudhka 00:18:08  Sport.

Anjali Gudhka 00:18:09  Oriented. So it was literally returned to normal day to day life. And that that was a difference, that I hadn't appreciated or realized. So this time around, I was very, you know, I was very clear in my head of the rehab. I knew that I needed to get a good physio who would help me to return to sport, not just back to walking. Oh, you can climb the stairs, you can drive the car. Happy days. You're signed off. so so there were there was a lot more difference in this one. I was a bit more rational in my decision making because I had the time, and I had a plan with my physio. I went in with a plan, and I think that was quite important to go. What's my post-op rehab going to look like? What are the milestones? My when do I need to hit those milestones? And you know, how do I know I've hit that? And because I was clear on all of that and I'd worked with my physio on that, I pretty much was driving at the seven week mark, which.

Anjali Gudhka 00:19:16  It.

Anjali Gudhka 00:19:16  Was kind of my personal personal targets. I was hitting those early milestones, you know, quite quickly and in a way that was that was quite, quite, It kind of boosts my confidence quite a bit. And it motivated me to continue to push myself in the rehab rather than just give up and go, I can't do it now. So it's it's helped to have those milestones. It's helped to have that support and kind of work through it and make sure that if I'm not on track, I know what the next steps are. I know where I have to get to. And for that reason, this particular journey has, and because I've been in a more positive frame of mind, I just I haven't felt that same despair and grieving, grieving process that I did in the first time around. And it's absolutely made a huge difference in just how I've approached the whole whole journey through the rehab.

Amanda Smith 00:20:19  I love that. So then what's next? Once you're rehabbed from this round, what's next?

Anjali Gudhka 00:20:25  Return to sport, Amanda.

Anjali Gudhka 00:20:27  You know.

Anjali Gudhka 00:20:27  You.

Anjali Gudhka 00:20:29  Have to. I have to die on that badminton court. Is is the way I look at it. Right. So. So I'm. I am aiming to return to sport, a phased return initially, but definitely a return to sport and then kind of, train hard and get myself back to my pre-op kind of level. Or even better, hopefully I'm even fitter now and I can even improve on what I was doing before.

Amanda Smith 00:20:56  Oh my gosh. Okay, so I know we talked about this and this is kind of your warning. We talked about this in our pre-interview.

Anjali Gudhka 00:21:03  Yeah.

Amanda Smith 00:21:04  We have the Olympics this summer. Obviously you're not going to make the Olympics this year because you're in rehab. But tell us a little bit about badminton and the Olympics, because it is a sport that shows up in the Olympics.

Anjali Gudhka 00:21:21  Yeah. it's actually from from an Olympics perspective, it's actually a fairly new sport that got introduced. So it's only it's only been there since 1992. So it's fairly in its infancy in terms of developing how it fits into the Olympics.

Anjali Gudhka 00:21:40  but it's a regular feature, unlike some other sports, which are there only as a special, events. So that's the good news. but as a kind of as an event in itself, the Olympics event, the selection criteria is quite tough because there's a pathway that the Olympics committee sets out and it it almost follows a ranking system. So if you're in like the top maybe 20 or 30 ranked up to probably 50 or 60 ranked in the world. You stand a chance to go because it's all based on your points. So in terms of qualifying for the Olympics, if you're in the Olympics itself, that's an amazing feat already. Like that's congratulations because it's such a tough it's such a tough. It's not the same as every other country where you can just send a team for every event or every sport. This you have to already qualify from like the world's worlds stage already. So that's a big difference between, badminton and, you know, some of the other other sports that are regular, regular features like athletics where you can you can send one, one per country.

Anjali Gudhka 00:22:59  but the good news also is that in order to have the global, kind of, players to, to, to put through each continent gets two players that they can send as representatives on top of the qualifying. So you do get a little bit of diversity in there in terms of the playing levels. but from if you're if your players are not on that world stage already like for example for Africa that that's you know, that's, that's quite a challenge then from the whole continent it pretty much to 2 or 3 teams would qualify, depending on if they've hit a certain ranking. on that on the points scale, essentially. So it's tough. it's. And therefore, when you get to the Olympics, you are playing the best of the best, essentially the ones qualified. So it's already a tough journey. And then it's, you know, it just from a spectator perspective. It just gets better. But from a from a participating perspective, it's just tough. Tough and tough.

Amanda Smith 00:24:13  Wow. You have me thinking about softball.

Amanda Smith 00:24:15  So softball joined Olympics in 1996, so it's actually younger than badminton, but it's one of those sports that if the if that country who's hosting can have stadiums for softball, they'll host it. So like this Olympics in Paris, we're not going to see softball there. But then LA is 2028. We're going to see softball at that. But they just announced that softball will actually be played in Oklahoma because Oklahoma has the facilities in LA, does not have the room to make the facilities, even though LA is like the premier place to play softball in the world. I was very confused, but whatever.

Anjali Gudhka 00:24:56  Yeah.

Amanda Smith 00:24:56  For badminton though, two players and you have to be ranked. I couldn't even imagine you were basically seeing the best ten players, but from the countries that could afford to travel around the world and get themselves ranked. And that's where Kenya fell short.

Anjali Gudhka 00:25:19  Yeah.

Anjali Gudhka 00:25:20  so so with my experience, with Kenya was there's, there's when I was it's a lot different now to be fair. But when I was training, you know, we we didn't have the right facilities.

Anjali Gudhka 00:25:36  We didn't have the right equipment. we had some coaches that we didn't get in from other countries who were more experienced. But because you're also not competing on that international scene all the time, your your level of play just stagnates because you're used to the same, same players. So that in itself was a challenge. And then in terms of the the quality of training that we were getting on a regular basis was, was just not, not sufficient. It, it it was, what what my coach would know, but he's never played on an international scene before. so, you know, there's a limit to his expertise, his knowledge as well. and it all plays a part. also, we were all very I certainly I was very young, so I was on all always. how do you say receptive to certain feedback about my type of play? and, you know, you kind of want to.

Anjali Gudhka 00:26:41  17 year old. No way. Yeah.

Anjali Gudhka 00:26:44  Well, you know, so so there's there's challenges and there wasn't that right level of skill set to deal with with those those challenges as well.

Anjali Gudhka 00:26:55  I think looking at it now and I keep in touch with kind of what's happening in.

Anjali Gudhka 00:27:01  In.

Anjali Gudhka 00:27:01  In Kenya, in Africa and there are pockets of, funding. There's pockets of, opportunities for these players to go elsewhere, get some training and come back and even the training that is being provided now, there's a lot more awareness of kind of that, that level. So the, the, the kind of the training that's being provided is, is of a much higher quality than what I had experienced, and rightfully so, because, as you know, with technology, with advancement, there's just so much more available and more opportunities for Africa are being afforded now through various initiatives, as, as you can imagine. And it's it's just ensuring that it gets to the right kind of talent pool and that they benefit from it in the right way. So I think we'll see it. I, I'm hopeful I'm personally quite hopeful that we will one day see Africa kind of on that world stage of badminton quite regularly.

Anjali Gudhka 00:28:06  but for now, they've still got a long way to, to kind of, kind of get there.

Amanda Smith 00:28:12  I'm hopeful that we'll start to see baseball from some of the African countries and eventually softball. So yes, I'm right there with you when it comes to that country. It's a near and dear Kenya is near and dear to my heart. I've been there. I flew into Nairobi and then went into the the northeast portion of that, that country and then all along the coast. And oh, I can't wait to go back and I can't wait to take my daughter. Were you in Nairobi?

Anjali Gudhka 00:28:41  I was, yes, yes. Born and.

Anjali Gudhka 00:28:44  Brought up.

Anjali Gudhka 00:28:44  In Nairobi.

Amanda Smith 00:28:47  I love that that city does not sleep. But that's. That seems to be true for all big cities nowadays. Except maybe Denver, where I live.

Anjali Gudhka 00:28:58  Yeah.

Amanda Smith 00:28:58  Are are you a coach now?

Anjali Gudhka 00:29:02  yes, I am. I've, I've actually been, coaching for the last 17 years as well. so that in itself has been quite a transformative journey in, in how I approach badminton now as well.

Anjali Gudhka 00:29:19  And I think that's been an asset to how I play, how I interact with the sport. and I love it. Absolutely love it.

Amanda Smith 00:29:29  I am sure your your students, your players are blessed to have you because you are still in the sport. Still playing the sport. I think about myself in this situation. I don't play softball. I don't pitch in in games anymore. And it's unfortunate that I don't have that to back me up anymore. I of course, stay up to speed on all of the things that they're teaching. But you're in rehab. How are you coaching Phil?

Anjali Gudhka 00:29:57  Well, that's.

Anjali Gudhka 00:29:58  The beauty of coaching Amanda. As a coach, I don't have to run. It's the students who run. It's the students who have to kind of work hard. So, you know, I. It's kind of worked well for me. But it's also meant that I've kept in touch with the game. So the return to sport hopefully will be a little bit easier. because I haven't lost my touch completely and I'm not rusty and hitting the frame and, you know, doing all of that.

Anjali Gudhka 00:30:27  I'm hopefully I'm going in not from zero, but like a 30 or 40 as a, you know, when I, when I return to sport. But yeah, I mean through the rehab, I did have to take a little bit of time off from the coaching, when I couldn't walk. there was and couldn't stand for too long. but that's why my milestones and my targets were quite aggressive with my physio, because I didn't want to take a long break from my coaching. And so my first milestone was I've got to be able to stand for three, four hours unsupported so I can actually, you know, at least coach, my students And that was one of the reasons to get to driving by seven weeks. And then kind of I started coaching within 8 to 9 weeks of my surgery job.

Anjali Gudhka 00:31:19  Yeah.

Amanda Smith 00:31:19  That's so one of the things that I love about sports is if you already have the muscle memory, you already know what your body does. And obviously 26 years, your body definitely already knows if we can mentally watch or instruct, then our body continues to integrate it and and your bounce back is going to be so fast this time I am guaranteeing that.

Amanda Smith 00:31:43  Right? It's going to be fast because you are you're still coaching it. You're still teaching it. You're still making sure that you know what's going on as well. So your body is just going to go, yep, I get this and bounce right back into it. And I have a feeling you're going to be probably more at that 50 to 60% than the 30 to 40%.

Anjali Gudhka 00:32:02  That's the aim at the moment, Amanda. But it's to be seen.

Amanda Smith 00:32:06  Yes of course. But hindsight's 2020 right?

Anjali Gudhka 00:32:11  Yes.

Amanda Smith 00:32:12  So Anjali, what else do you coach besides badminton.

Anjali Gudhka 00:32:18  So my other life is, I'm a career transformation coach, so I work with women, professional women to kind of help them move from stagnation to ascension in their careers. kind of working with them in terms of confidence, in terms of getting clarity on what career path they want to go go through, especially after having worked maybe in the same profession or the same organization for like decades. And they've just hit that that point where it's just getting too much and they just don't know what the next step is.

Anjali Gudhka 00:32:55  So I, I've got a business partner and together we we help women transcend that stagnation and kind of get them moving again in whatever career direction they want to go in at that point.

Amanda Smith 00:33:12  Does your partner also play badminton?

Anjali Gudhka 00:33:15  She does now.

Anjali Gudhka 00:33:19  I love it.

Amanda Smith 00:33:20  Oh my goodness. That's that's excellent.

Anjali Gudhka 00:33:23  She does.

Amanda Smith 00:33:24  I'm happy to hear that.

Anjali Gudhka 00:33:25  Because.

Amanda Smith 00:33:25  I feel like all of the years, the 26 years of experience as a badminton player are what feed your ability to help people go from stagnation to changing career or progressing in their career. I feel like those go hand in hand to you.

Anjali Gudhka 00:33:41  Yeah, absolutely. And, the beauty of being a sports coach is, you know, we talk about teamwork, discipline, practice, you know, the softer skills. And all of that translates also quite nicely in the career. So when I'm actually working with the women, there's a lot of sports knowledge that comes in in terms of how I approach my sports coaching, and I can translate that into some of the the kind of career coaching conversations and, and kind of help give them a bit, something a bit more relatable.

Anjali Gudhka 00:34:17  And it's it's definitely helped. And, you know, we see that sometimes, you hear this in the news as well, or kind of the trend. The boardroom is now all about the sports psychology and how, you know, sports, how the sports teams work. People are noticing how that works and then how they can bring that kind of performance into the boardroom. and it's a very similar thing that I, I use with my, my clients to, to bring about that, that transformation that they're looking for in terms of their career.

Anjali Gudhka 00:34:53  I love that.

Amanda Smith 00:34:54  And it it's one of those statistics that we hear here in the United States where, companies are more apt to hire athletes onto a team than they are someone who wasn't an athlete because they get how to be a team member. They understand the dynamics of being in that world. So I love that you're teaching people who might not be athletes on how to integrate into a team. That's beautiful. I just want to make one more note your shirt for those that are listening and not watching, it's got a heartbeat.

Amanda Smith 00:35:29  And then a heart. And then the badminton birdie. Yeah, I.

Anjali Gudhka 00:35:34  Think just.

Amanda Smith 00:35:34  Screams who you.

Anjali Gudhka 00:35:35  Are.

Anjali Gudhka 00:35:37  That that says it all.

Amanda Smith 00:35:40  It does. It really, really does. Anjali, thank you so much for being on spirit of an athlete. Where can people find you for the badminton side of the house and where can people find you for the career change side of the house?

Anjali Gudhka 00:35:51  okay. So, for badminton, I'm on Instagram. I have, done a little bit about my ACL recovery and and how the mental side has worked. So my Instagram handle is Anjali Gudhka 2402 quite a mouthful. And for the career transformation side, it's, you can transform your career. Com and that's you can, but you can.

Anjali Gudhka 00:36:23  I love that are Anjali.

Amanda Smith 00:36:25  Thank you again so much for being on.

Anjali Gudhka 00:36:29  Amazing. Thank you so much for this opportunity Amanda. It's been amazing to just talk about that journey and hopefully it helps some of the other sports, women out there who are going through the same.

Anjali Gudhka 00:36:41  You've got this.

Amanda Smith 00:36:44  Exactly, exactly. We come to the other side with way better knowledge and so many more skills.

Anjali Gudhka 00:36:51  Much more stronger, more resilient and more confident.

Amanda Smith 00:36:56  Exactly.