Okay guys, so i've been put into boy's singles on my school team, and for the moment, I am not the strongest singles player known, I have until mid/early April before the tournament starts. As far as i know: I have good/great drops, fair food work, somewhat bad recovery, and weak/decent smashes. Any sort of excercises that will also eventually help me?
Your footwork and recovery footwork (recovery especially) need to be excellent for singles. Your shots will not help you against an opponent who moves better than you. Make sure you know EXACTLY how to move to the six points on court, both offensively (to attack) and defensively (to just try and retrieve the shuttle - basically just deep lunges everywhere). A great drill to help this is the Rasmussen Footwork Drill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5M-mirAcI The next thing is you must be able to hit a good length on your lifts (from the net) - both offensive (flat) and defensive (high), and a good length on your clears - defensive (absolute must) and offensive (if possible). If you have a good attacking clear and good drops/fast drops, then you can make do with this for the moment - smashing is less important for singles. When preparing yourself to play singles, do not worry about attacking all the time to begin with - make sure you can cover the court and stay in a rally. Once you can do this, work on your attack (tight spinning net shot - then smash - rush the net - finally netkill combo is the best thing to practice). Good luck with your singles - keep at it - it will make you a superior doubles player too!
Make a video of your singles play and post here. Then forum members can give you better advice. Good luck.
Hi there, 4 month is not a long period to improve signifficantly but if you dedicate your time, concentrating your training very hard with high level of self disipline from now, you can improve. Similarly as mention earlier here, the priority of your exercise now should focus on improving your FOOTWORK movement from now and BEYOND. You can say that you have this decent shot or that descent shot but then, if you have a lousy footwork, then it will be hardwork on the court....and if this is allow to continously happen in your gameplay then, its not just about how you smash or about your recovery movement that will deteriorate, its the whole aspect of ALL your shot will deteriorate because you cannot position yourself optimally while addressing any of your shot hence reducing the chances for you to make a winning shot while playing with your opponent. Assuming you have a sound technique to perform any shot there are in single ( if not, then it's another aspect that you need to improve), training your footwork will involve both the correct understanding about the theory and also the practical application about it. The theory about badminton footwork can be available numerously here in this forum and internet. You can also read a thread i made about footwork here: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/100021-Better-Badminton-Footwork-–-Improve-your-Speed?highlight= Regardless from where you digest the theoritical aspect about how you want to improve your footwork, it's the practical part that is the most important aspect that you need to focus and train very,very and i say very, very hard.....a training in any coaching module we call as a footwork drill, be it with or without a shuttlecock. Here, you need the proper guidance on how to do the correct approach of such drill so that whatever you've learned from the theoritical aspect will look visibly clear in your mind in regards with its apllication from the practical aspect. Therefore, you need a coach or someone who is experienced to be your guidance to train you. You can also watch certain videos for further understanding on ow to do such drill like the one attached by Mseeley but then at the end of the day, what will eventually makes the difference about how you play is that you, yourself needs to be very commited to train all the drills there are to improve your footwork. Good luck.
Improving your wrist strength using training rackets could help. By improving your wrist strength, u can improve on your wrist flicks which also helps with ur deceptions. Deception is an important aspect usually overlooked, especially in singles. However, as other stated, footwork is also important.
yup as above footwork is key, with that you can play the shot desired to the best of your ability. as for any sport doesnt matter how good you are if you cant get to the shuttle.footwork!
