Consider these scenarios, You played a straight net shot at forehand front corner and opponent played a cross court net shot. You played a cross court net shot from fore hand front corner and opponent plays a straight net shot. You played a flat net kill shot from forehand front corner and opponent managed to block it back to your back hand front corner You were wrong footed at fore hand front corner expecting a weak reply there after you played an aggressive drive to his back hand-but opponent manages to play a cross court drop. All these situation requires you to move across the net from forehand to backhand corner and play a kill. And you you have so many options here regarding the grip, shot mechanism & movement. I am not consistent killing this kind of shots-mainly I falter with grip. All grips are possible here depending on the situation or other & I am left with too many choices. I would appreciate the help from this forum to improve myself. Please try to cover the following 2 points. Footwork from forehand front corner to backhand front corner Grip & shot mechanism under different circumstances. (Shuttle very tight, average or loose to the net height & itercepting drive replies going atleast a few inches or more above the net) Thanks NP
The general rule is playing a net shot from forehand side to have a forehand grip, racket straight out infront. And from backhand side, to ave a thumb grip with racket out infront of you. If u see the shuttle is going too high and u can kill it. This is where in general u would use a panhandle grip (short grip) and jus using a quick tap motion or if its real tight, a right to left swipe motion. On the backhand side make sure u use the thumb grip and make the face of racket face the net and tap it. Drives I personally use either panhandle http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grips/panhandle-grip.php or thumb on the back grip (backhand net kill shot). http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grips/thumb-grip.php Some people may use a basic grip thou esp if you are standing further back on the court but have a short grip for control
Singles or doubles? Number 3 is just plain luck. It shouldn't be happening often, if your kills are any good. Number 4, if playing singles, there's no need to kill. A simple net roll should set you up for a winner without taking a big risk.
Firstly, if you've played a forehand netshot, unless it's really tight you should narrow down the angles by moving back to the middle of the court in left/right (not so much backwards) slightly waiting for the return, still with racquet leg leading forwards and racquet high to show you're ready to attack any net shot. This should eliminate the massive wide angles that can be created in the first place. However if you can't pre empt these shots incoming, you should push off of both legs and make the net shot in a single chasse/ bound if you are going for a kill because it's the fastest way to approach the next shot. The initial burst of power to start your movement tends to come from the racquet leg though, as your muscle has greater strength pushing against the ground compared to pulling (your non racquet leg). Bear in mind if you are fully committed to the kill and you are stretching, you will probably be off balance, and unable to recover for the next shot. If this is the case and you don't think you will win the rally, it is best to keep the rally continuing, with a shot that allows you to recover to a good position, whether that is attacking or defensive depends fully on the situation obviously. Credit goes to alex for mentioning that ! If it's a tight net shot but you think you can kill it, use the "brush" shot where you hit across the shuttle. I tend to use a panhandle for it. If it's slightly looser use the thumb grip. If it's already below the tape, thumb grip again.
AimUK, I agree with your coments. however, situation calls at times for you to move across the net. I know net tumble is an option. But I was trying to raise my levels where I kill anything above net tape. And I was making lot of mistakes when i was moving to the backhand front corner across the net. (Which I do not make if I move from Back hand to forehand front corner). My trouble is tapping the suttle down when I am stretching to reach the bird above net on backhand front corner. NP
I try to use the thumb grip for b/h kills. It is possible to use a pan-handle, but you may struggle to reach when the shuttle is wide of your non-racket shoulder. I disagree that everything above tape height should be killed. If it's tight, a kill could turn into a push to the mid-court. This is a "get out of jail free card" for any decent opposition. You may find that a tight net shot wins more points than trying to kill everything. Obviously, the quicker you can get across, the earlier you can take the shuttle & the better the net kill will be. Also, if your opponent has played a x-court, they may be vulnerable to a down-the-line drive.
