When is the right time to use racket foot in front and racket foot behind after lifting the shuttle to the opponents rear court? It's confusing, assuming we are to defend from a possible smash.
I would never recommend racket foot behind when defending, only when you are sure that your opponent will lift the shuttle. Having your racket foot behind will enable you to play forehand defensive shots, at the expense of any wide backhand strokes. However, racket foot slightly in front enables you to easily play all necessary defensive strokes. Note, that if you decided to commit to crouch defense, I doubt it would matter which foot you had forwards.
I assume we are talking about roughly facing the attacker with one foot slightly in front or behind. Several of the modern top players use level/racket foot ahead/racket foot behind, depending on situation. e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh8TWMhoRGg very first rally Lee Young Dae at 1.38 He commonly uses it when defending on the left side. Having said that as MSeeley states almost all players find racket foot slightly in front more comfortable, the danger is getting the foot too far in front which may help with backhand shots on the bhand side or infront but can limit movement and ability to hit from forehand side/off hip
What is "stance"? Nice spotted dlp! It is an interesting topic. When do we do "stance" and when do we do, whatever footwork that is not stance? Do we stance/move before or after the opponent hit the shuttle... Pre-stance, Stance, Post-stance...??? Split step...?
