Ok, there are certain aspects of my game that needs fixing and I'm not sure how to do it. 1. Not aggressive. I'm a short speedy guy, so I have time to get to my shots and in a lot of cases, I'm lazy because of it. I know I can get there and return a shot so I wait too long and there by resulting in a lower quality shot than had I been more aggressive and got there earlier. Net play is a good example. I settle for a drop back instead of net kill. 2. My coach says I need to expand my comfort zone. I need to 'reach / intercept' for shots in order to catch the bird earlier for a more aggressive shot. What can I do/practice so that I can expand that comfort zone? 3. Reaction time to offensive clears. This actually upsets me the most. I don't like to be beat on 'clears'. That just drives me nuts. I attribute it to poor backward footwork and slow realization to type of shot being played by my opponent. There's more stuff wrong with my game but for now, lets just concentrate on these. As a side note, I've done drills for net kills and to me, it seems 'unrealistic'. First, I know the bird is coming over as a drop shot and second, I get to catch it above the net. That NEVER happens *to me* in a real singles game. Ok, never is a strong word but you get my point. Any exercises or suggestions?
just a thought, but maybe your failure to cover the back court properly is the reason why you're unable to attack and be aggressive at the net. In order to kill net shots, you need to be comfortable knowing you can cover the back in case of a lift. So as your backcourt coverage improves, you'll be more comfortable going staying forward in the court for a potential net kill. But until that improves, you're stuck staying back to prevent shots from going over your head. good luck
for 1. a couple of thoughts. laziness is self induced. you have to ask yourself why you are not playing harder? lack of motivation? just by nature lazy? not enough stamina? or maybe your opponent also lazy so you don't feel like working hard? or your opponent sucks too much and you don't need to work? in any case, i find that (at least for me), to motivate myself on a down day, i have to play against someone better than me; or someone at my level who plays hard and competitively; or play *with* someone competitive; or someone who give out such an attitude i feel like i need to beat him; or play for a prize (small prize). hope that helps.
Try some footwork drills. Suggest you do several sets of moving backwards (as you would to get a clear). That should help improve your calf muscles so moving backwards will become second nature. Split-step is a must. Also practice lunging for net kills.
Jacky, it sounds like you have great potential in sequencing ... not in strength-power-agility training. First learn how to lower the game speed and pressure on you by ... ... setting up a game, or in simple terms, shoot the bird somewhere far away from the opponent independent from your position on the court, independent from defending a smash or net play. This means, you must feel how to get the bird from your rearcourt left to the other rearcourt on the right as well as from any other place on the court. This takes the pressure away, gives you even more time to recover and slows the game speed. In other words, (learn to) play an attack clear before getting aggressive. So your coach says: you get to be aggressive, I say, you have to be certain that the aggression pays 95% of the time by getting you into an action mode, not an re-action mode.
I get your point. You need to do some more realistic drills. Practising one shot over and over again is great for learning the technique, but it doesn't transfer to a game situation. First, you can practice sequences of shots. For example, your coach could feed you two shuttles at the net, the first one very tight to the net and the second a little higher: your first shot is a net roll, the second one a kill. Or they could hit a shuttle to the back corner for you to smash, then the second one to the net (as if the opponent tried to block your smash, but didn't control it well enough), so you can practice moving in for the kill. Then you can try randomised drills. Ask your coach to throw shuttes to the front corners, both corners at random so that you're guessing which way to move, and you mostly play net rolls or lifts, but they throw in an occasional higher one that you can kill. So now you're learning to judge what's killable and what isn't. And I'm sure you can invent other variations if you get a little bit creative.
Hi there, Other than realizing that laziness is one of the above contributor, the main cause for all the above scenario is attribute from your sluggish footwork movement. You must understand, in badminton, for you to initiate any of your shots, its not your forearm/wrist that will move first but its your leg that will. Therefore, for you to address early any of the incoming birdie regardless if its just within reaching distance in front of you or far towards the rear court, if your legs can't quickly propel you to go there first, then i can guarantee you that even a simple net kill will results into a desperate lift. IMHO, regardless what definition your coach used in referring to the terminology of "comfort zone", to get that "reach" actually is all about "speed vs distance". If you have that speed in your footwork to move you quickly to that desire destination (hence enable you to hit the birdie optimally), before the birdie itself reaches that destinantion, then the distance of your reach will be farther hence expanding your comfort zone territory. If you start late, then your distance will be shorter, reducing your comfort zone territory since the birdie has reach there first. This in result, will make you even more difficult to hit it optimally since the birdie has cross its optimal position. The position given to you where your racket can hit the birdie optimally will only last within fraction of second while playing (....unless you are Neo in the Matrix box office movie). The larger your comfort zone territory, that fraction of second will be slightly prolonged hence making you able to position yourself comfortably before hitting the birdie thus making higher chances of a winning shot. By expanding your comfort zone also will ensure you that all corners in your court can be reach within striking distance since it's you that will be there first before the birdie. By knowing this, regardless if your opponent makes an offensive clear to you, if you can reach that desire distance in your rear court and make a hit before the birdie can pass beyond its optimal position in its trajectory, then no offensive clear will be difficult to you. What i'm suggesting is, improve very hard in your footwork movement and you will improve a lot in all of your reaches.
1. Do you lack the desire to win? If not, you need to remember one thing "attackers always win". You will never win by playing passive shots. Even if you know you can beat someone, you need to challenge yourself and win more and more convincingly. You'll never improve if you don't challenge yourself. If your opponent is giving you enough time for you to wait and take it easy, they're not good enough for you. Find someone better to play against. 2. Not sure what your coach means by "comfort zone" but I agree that you need to take the shuttle early where possible - gives your opponent less time. Take drives for example, play them in front of your body and as early as possible to get yourself closer to the net for a kill. 3. It may not just be poor footwork, but perhaps also a lack of strength and anticipation? Everyone's reaction speed is about the same, it's just that some are able to read and anticipate better than others which gives them an advantage over others. I know of a player at an old club I used to play at, he was a big chap and not particularly fast but he made up for it with good anticipation.
Quick reply. By comfort zone, I mean the distance between my body and where the shuttle is struck. Meaning, I wait for the shuttle to come close to me before I hit it. In other words, I'm not intercepting the bird. Kind of like baseball (which I suck at and never really played), when fielding a ball, you can wait for the ball to roll to you and then grab it, or you can move towards the ball as its rolling and 'play the ball'. I'm the waiting one. @ R20190. In many ways, you are correct, I do lack the desire to win. I suppose its my personality. That's why I'm trying to train myself to have a great sense of urgency and instead of settling. As for footwork. I don't do any footwork drills. Because they're boring and very tiring. I know footwork is EVERYTHING in badminton, its like running on treadmills, just too damn boring. Having said that, I am doing some polymetric leg workouts to improve 'explosiveness'. I'm having a lot of fun with that because its challenging and I can do that at home without driving to the club. Thanks for everyone's suggestions/observations. As with most of my lessons, I implement 10% of the teachings at a time, so it'll take some time to work the suggestions into my routines.
You seem to have the answers for your questions. You say you are late to get to shots. Footwork drills will definitely help you physically get to parts of the court. Do you notice you watch the shuttle after you hit? Instead, if you have confidence and know where your shot is going, try looking at your opponent in where their position on the court is, and what possible shot they could hit. This will allow you to have a better idea of where you will have to move. Another option is split-stepping. This will definitely help you move in the direction of the shuttle after it is hit. In terms of expanding your comfort zone, try attacking drills like smashing at the backcourt and rushing the net for a net kill, assuming you are playing singles. Your coach should be able to facilitate many drills for this. Also be positive, confident and focused. Realize that you will not accomplish everything in one day. Go into a training/practice with a specific goal and try to work on it. Reflect on whether you think you accomplished your goals and evaluate the session. EDIT: Read your last post. Footwork drills are incredibly important. If you are truly focused on getting better, footwork drills should be something that you want to do. Power training is definitely not a substitute for footwork drills.
