Nathan Robertson retired from the badminton court in 2012 but is back behind the court for Badminton England. Badminton Europe (BEC) invited him into the podcast studio to a chat about his career and successful partnership with Gail Emms.
Robertson, 40, reveals that Emms was the one who initially asked if they should partner up and that he is happy about how that came about.
- We ended up playing together and it was just natural from the first competition. We didn’t do loads of training together back then, you just kind of turned up to junior tournaments and played with your partners, explained Robertson in the podcast and added;
- But we really connected naturally, and it was a partnership which really never looked back from the first tournament.
The perfect combination
The successful combination of Robertson on the rear of the court and Emms in front at the net was evident already in the early years. And when Mark Phelan asked Robertson what made their partnership so electric, he was clear in his answer.
- I think in the early years it was the styles. I was a controlled rear player and I was also tall, so I always hit steep angles when I was younger. And Gail was the size of the net that she was great at killing. She was always dangerous, Robertson explained to Mark Phelan with light in his eyes.
- But it was easy for me, I was keeping the control and then everything was coming up to her, so she was just doing all the killing at the net, which she loved, and I loved. So, I think it was just a successful combination.
Stay tuned for the full podcast this Friday on 22 December!