im currently 16 and i played badminton regularly. the problem is my badminton is not consistent and it keeps going up and down, sometimes i played the best i can play, but sometimes i just play sluggish..i often playing sluggish in the court. any 1 knows how to improve my badminton constantly? share me your tips pls..thx. im also looking forward to a suitable badminton programme that can helps me improve enourmously in badminton such as muscles etc? any1 can recommend?
Practice makes perfect. Just playing is not going to help as much as practicing your backhand low serve for 2 hrs a week. Try to find a coach and discuss what you want to improve. Consistency is everything in badminton. Amateurs train until they get it right, professionals train until they get it wrong .
First you have to ask yourself how dedicated you are to maintaining consistency. If you are 100% behind it: Keep a diary. My varsity coach did this with our team in university... Write in the diary each day how many hours of sleep you got (when you slept, when you woke up), what you eat, what you drink, what drills you did and the scores of games you play. If you have a coach, write any comments he or she has about your play. If you don't have a coach, reflect on your game(s) and write anything that you feel was good and bad. Consistency in your body comes from consistency in your food. It's like a big science experiment, tweak the inputs and see what the results are and keep adjusting until you find the magic formula. Also keep track of any emotional things as well. ie. exams during this time, relationship troubles etc.. All this is to keep a record of the good days and bad days so you can duplicate the series of events that lead to a good performance and avoid things that caused bad performances. Build a pre-game routine/habit. Aside from the physical aspect (more on that in the next section), consistency comes from the mental aspect as well. Before each game perform a "ritual". You hear very often that professional athletes will do something pre-game to get into the "zone", this is the routine that will get their mind into the game and bring out all the proper muscle-neurological connections that allow them to play at a high level. By the same token, this can work for non-elite athletes. I am by no measures an elite athlete, but I have found my game to be drastically more consistent after building a pre-game routine. Many people listen to music. Cater the genre to your liking. Many people enjoy beat-heavy music such as rock or rap. But I enjoy listening to classical music before each game. To each their own. Others find that doing quiet meditation will help. Especially meditations that focus on breathing to slow the heart rate. (Studies have shown that a faster heart rate will wear an athlete down a lot quicker) Yet people have been known to watch tv, read, eat a light snack, talk on the phone with pastor, friends, family etc. Point is, develop a pre-game routine that you can do consistently. (ie. don't choose to do something ridiculously hard to keep doing repeatedly - wrestling a panda bear before a game is not a good choice). Regular Practice. Practice at regular intervals. During each practice, doing the SAME stroke repeatedly will create muscle memory. A famous anecdote of Michael Jordan (arguably the most consistent athlete in basketball and sports in general) is that he practices a given shot thousands in his backyard (late into the night) when he was still a kid; as a result he has amazing accuracy and consistency when he played in the NBA. Also, the same applies to footwork. In fact, I would probably put more emphasis on footwork than strokes. ie. Can't hit your stroke with perfect form if you can't get there in time. With regular practice comes regular intervals of rest. Overworking is the most common mistake athletes make. Overworking is detrimental to consistency. To become a consistent, good player means to sacrifice and put in the effort. I've given my advice, now it's time for you to make a decision to commit to the change or not.
thx thx your reply did help me a lot, i will try to follow on your guides as to improve my badminton consistency. i hope i be able to win the inter school competition held next week.
Sorry to burst your bubble... but one week is definitely not enough to make a drastic improvement. Regardless, I still think there is a chance you'll win. I do wish you all the best! For things to start improving, you should be patient and work on the points I suggested for at least a month. Winning two matches in a row does not mean you're consistent. So you shouldn't expect to see improvements in your consistency after only a week of practice. Everything I suggested are aimed the long term. Even with a strict schedule, don't expect to see results in any time less than a month. Real results will come in after two months or so.
