[h=2]I usually play XD with my girlfriend. Bad idea, I know. But usually we get over any on-court arguments quickly. [/h] Anyone who's been in a similar situation will agree that giving tactical advice to your girlfriend is very tricky. So my question to everyone is: how can I play so my GF doesn't get isolated and picked on by the opposing team,without asking her to do anything new? We do pretty well as a XD team, but sometimes the opposing pair will set up a channel or wedge attack against my partner and I won't get a chance to hit the shuttle to counterattack. Compared to other pairs we are unorthodox because we adopt a level doubles type of rotation, not the classical mixed style where the lady stays in front. Thanks!
Further to kwun's "advice", lift straight when you do lift - this puts the lady as far away as possible from the potential smash. The lady should lift cross-court for the same reason, so have the missus do this from now on.
What I tend to do when I am playing with a weak female partner in a defencive formation is I almost treat it as playing singles. I position myself more towards the centre of the court and slightly behind her so I can cover smashes near to her side and those that get through her defence.
There're two problems - a short-term one, and a long-term one. The short-term one: she's your GF. A long-term one: she could be your wife. Then what? Instead of you telling her what to do, you could have someone else tell her. Have you tried inviting her to take lessons (perhaps semi-private) in XD. Let your coach tell her what she should be doing. Your prospect of doing well is probably not very good with level Doubles, unless your levels are about the same to start with.
who decided on doubles formation? if it was you, then you should try proper mixed formation and learn to cover the backcourt properly. if it was her, she doesn't trust you in the backcourt so you should learn to cover the backcrourt properly so she would trust you. btw, it's your fault! LOL
So many great ideas to help you here. I would also suggest you change the pace frequently in your downward strokes, especially the smash so that you mess up your opponent's timing on the return. It's more likely your girlfriend will get a weaker shot around the net. Also, if you are adopting a level game, which isn't a great idea, it's worth taking the time for you to learn how to dominate the net and intimidate your opponents in this area. This way you will be in more attacking situations during the game. A level game requires a huge amount of dialogue/communication to ensure each player understands their role and where they are on court in relation to the other. If you haven't done so already I would suggest you work on this too. With regard to defending, this needs a lot of work to close the gaps and give you the best chance of changing defence into attack. So you need to work hard on your positional play and have a sound understanding of which shots each should be playing to transform defence into attack. This will include the fact that you block a smash but she must follow in to the net to cut out the net return. Hope this helps. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
And if you find out she likes the back court better, you could take the front and do XD that way too...
been there done that. my wife and I have been playing XD for a while now. we hardly play together in the beginning cause we fight all the time. it'll always be your fault. so i'll end up "against" her and I'm not allowed to win 2 games or too many points in a row best thing to do is not only to guess where the opponent is going to aim but to guess how where your partner would not be able to cover. let her realise that she cant take certain shots. so i'll cover roughly 2/3rds of the back while she covers 2/3 of the front and we'll communicate to cover the sides by shouting "square". now we're the a really good team, even beating most Men's Doubles we meet
oh yeah, also it means we dont play pure front back, we play paralel triangles is you can imagine below, she'll cover red an i'll cover blue.
