Playing against a wall

[rwg05]

Is playing on a wall advantageous or disadvantageous to your game?

I guess the one major advantage would be that it does improve your reaction time.

I've been told, however, that playing on a wall is detrimental to your game as the strokes you would play on a court are different from those that are played on a wall...and so your strokes suffer. Is this true?

[LazyBuddy]

Playing against wall should be just 1 out of many practices you perform. It surely helps your reaction and wrist strength, only if you perform it using the correct strokes, but not only focusing on "bounce the shuttle" back.

Do it, and do it correctly is the key. ;)

[Misbehavin]

I play mainly doubles and was recently very unhappy with my reaction time.

I have found that my recent practises against the wall has improved my reaction time enormously.

Like Lazybuddy said you need to use the correct strokes ... and stance for the strokes ... and move your feet to the shuttle.

I mainly practice smash returns such as using the correct grip, taking the shuttle in front, block and flick back to the wall.

I use a $5 badminton (heavier) racket for practising ... for extra resistance.
After that using my regular racket is a breeze.

[SaintDragon]

I play against the wall using backhand only to improve the strength of my backhand stroke since it's a very weak part of my game. I've have noticed a lot of improvement in terms of strength after practicing weekly.

[cwong]

Why don't you try hitting against the wall for 20 mins non-stop, then play a doubles game after?

You'll be pleasantly surprised.

[chapree]

Yup, I agree, there's some improvement. Reaction time is the most common one I guess.

[chickenpoodle]

reaction speed and strength are the two most beneficial things of playing off the wall.

as lazybuddy had already mentioned, you should be using the correct set of strokes and footwork, treating the wall as nothing more than an unbeatable opponent.

pretty much every shot is do-able, including ones with some semblence to net shots and pushes.

[azabaz_ipoh]

like saintdragon, i practice backhands, mostly. my backhand sucks too. and yes, reaction time improved. but i also realized that the strokes that i used in wall banging are slightly different from real game. :)

[SystemicAnomaly]

Has NE1 had the opportunity to try this on a slanted wall? This might be much better for drives & some other shots.

The best practice walls for tennis are either parabolic or walls at a slant (15 degrees or so sounds like what I've heard is optimum). These walls rebound the ball upward slightly instead of having the ball immediately fall downward after (wall) impact.

[bchaiyow]

I usually play at public gyms or school gyms, so the walls tend to ahve lots of lines on them. What I do when I hit against the wall is find 2 lines and hit the bird between these 2 lines. The height ot the bottom line is about net height and the top line is about 1-2 feet above the bottom one. I would vary how hard I hit the bird..but usually I will do drive/low smash return type shots. I think this will help with control and reaction speed. sometimes the bird would hit one of the cracks on the wall and it would go straight down :D that means it's a drop shot...and I would have to quickly react to that as well.

bchaiyow

[stumblingfeet]

I find that hitting it against the wall is a good way to develop body awareness - you can learn how to return shots from behind your back or through the legs or even around your body the long way. However, I find that I'll get sloppier on the following:

- positioning based on opponent's shot placement
- shot placement based on opponent's position
- feel for the hitting just above the tape
- high end reactivity in the hands/fingers

For the last point, think about the shuttle velocity when it contacts your racquet. If it is very fast, your hands and fingers need to move quickly to generate force in reaction to contact with the shuttle. If you do so, you will have control of the shuttle. If you don't, then you'll have trouble controlling your shot.

Think about how fast the bird is moving after bouncing off a wall. Then, compare that to how fast it is after a hard drive, or a smash. There's a big difference, and that's one of the limitations of drives against the wall - shuttle speed is quite slow.

I'm thinking one solution could be to hit a small rubber "bouncy ball" against the wall. The trajectory would be different than a real shuttle, but in terms of the impact force-time curve it might be more similar to that of receiving a hard shot. It's something I'll try out at some point in the future.

[Misbehavin]

Interesting stumblingfeet ... I bought some foam golf balls but I haven't had a real good hit at them yet.

[stumblingfeet]

Foam golf balls? I'm not really sure if that's the kind of ball I'm thinking of... doesn't foam tend to deform and absorb energy for impacts?

The kind of ball I'm thinking are the rubbery balls that bounce very high. I probably have some back home from when I was a kid.

[cooler]

Foam golf balls? I'm not really sure if that's the kind of ball I'm thinking of... doesn't foam tend to deform and absorb energy for impacts?

The kind of ball I'm thinking are the rubbery balls that bounce very high. I probably have some back home from when I was a kid.

yes, a right kind of ball might bounce back faster but a shuttle rebouncing off the wall is more unpredictable so it still can train reaction time. I think both kind has its purpose in making improvement in reaction.

[rwg05]

In south India, a variant of badminton called 'ball badminton' is quite popular...perhaps the ball used for ball badminton would be ideal.

ps: thanks for all the advice...now I can play on a wall without any feelings of guilt!

[zuihoujueding]

I use a $5 badminton (heavier) racket for practising ... for extra resistance.
After that using my regular racket is a breeze.[/quote]


that makes sense! why havent i think of that!

[nafan]

I tried hitting against a wall yesterday, but it was too low and thin, and there was stuff on the floor so I found it hard...
I agree with SystemicAnomaly as I think this would work, interesting to try I'm sure...
Time to move legs is perhaps as or more important than arms, so during this practice you must try to move your feet...

Nathan

[XKazeCloudX]

When I hit it against a wall I find it hard to hit it again with a proper stroke. Its usualy not my reaction that slows me down so I wouldn't recommend it. But I suggest if you do practice on a wall try your best to hit it with proper stokes. I found myself leaping and jumping and stumbling when I was playing the wall lol.

[morewood]

As per an earlier post I am going to suggest a cheap table tennis ball for wall practice. (cheap beacuse you will break it quite quickly).

[baddictx]

I do this as a warmup exercise to improve my focus and concentration. It really helps improve my defense and reaction time as well.

[LazyBuddy]

As per an earlier post I am going to suggest a cheap table tennis ball for wall practice. (cheap beacuse you will break it quite quickly).

I won't suggest table tennis ball, as it's way too light, and your feeling (the feedback from the string) will be very much different. :rolleyes:

[Type 100]

So-called "walling" is what I do when I'm in between games, and it does improve my reactions.

However, in my experience there are some things you just can't do with playing against a wall. It's quite hard, if not impossible, to practice net play, for instance---that's one area I'd like to work on as I'm already quite good in quick shuttle returns and power shots.

I find the wall exercises my backhand more, too...always useful :)

[stumblingfeet]

The problem with hitting against the wall is that you control where the next shot is going to go. So when you think about it, there's not much actual reaction involved.

If you have a friend you can get him/her to throw shuttles at you. That'll train your ability to react to the shuttle. However, without a court you can't work on the trajectory of the shot, or the placement decisions based on the situation.

So, the benefits of wall training can be limiting, and you have to be aware of having to correct certain things if you rely on wall training heavily.

[avataar]

hitting against the wall helped me improve my wrist strenght. also the backhand(as mentioned in earlier replies) and focus on keeping the racquet head up can be areas to work on using this method....

[morewood]

I won't suggest table tennis ball, as it's way too light, and your feeling (the feedback from the string) will be very much different. :rolleyes:

Oh it doesn’t make you play better shots just makes you move a lot and speeds up your reactions, part of the benefit is that due to the lightness of the ball spin causes some major movements too.