Help formulating a stratergy

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by HDoan, Apr 23, 2012.

  1. HDoan

    HDoan Regular Member

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    Hi there, I need some help with mixed doubles. Now I am fairly new to mixed doubles and right now I am forced to play mixed doubles for my school. Now our system works out as you go to "divisionals" and play the 8 teams in your division. The top 4 move onto Cities where you play the same teams (1V4, 2V3).

    Anyways I scored Second in divisionals only losing to the third place team. So at cities, I play the team that I lost against. My partner has only started to play badminton 2 weeks ago, and has only had 4 actual practices. We never played before so at divisionals, I just stuck her as close to the net as I could and pretty much played a Two versus one against the other teams.

    But I need help against this one team, the guy on their team is fairly weak, below average if you ask me. However he favors the back, which is somewhat a good thing. However, the girl in the pair is well trained. It's obvious that she plays on a regular basis. The way they beat us was that she abused my partner with pure drops, and when I would come up to help, she would send it to the back for me.

    I've thought about this a lot and I can't seem to think of a way to beat them. Whenever I flick a serve on her, she always drops it and runs to the front, I noticed she is not fairly comfortable in the back and she always makes running front her priority even though she is much stronger than the male.

    The only tactic that I have thought of is getting my partner to clear to the back (which she has troubles doing even at net), I would much rather take a smash from the guy than a drop from the girl. However, she cannot clear so I don't want to risk having her do something new with two days before cities. The other idea I had was to push her to the corner and do a legit Two versus one scenario, that way she isn't in my way so I can control the net. I am comfortable with this one and so is she, but I would prefer tactics that incorporate both of us so I get to relax a little bit.

    I am fairly new to mixed doubles so I would greatly appreciate your advice and guidance!
     
  2. Jonster

    Jonster Regular Member

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    Play the side-line drives/pushes past the female to the male. When the male commits to one side, cross-court drive/clear past the female.

    On serve returns generally push it straight and downwards past the female to the sides of the middle court or possibly back-court. This should force a lift.

    If her serve return is strong, flick serve so she knows you will hit it if she tries to attack the serve. Then stick with short serves. The mentality she will have is not to commit to the short serve and be weary of the long serve.

    Make sure when you or your partner hit it, you always hit is past the girl. Mixed Doubles places a lot of emphasis on the female at the front-court. Generally a decent girl with an average guy can beat an average girl with a decent guy. By hitting shots past the girl, she can't get into the game and win points for her partnership.

    Depending on what level you are as you seem to be relatively beginner-to-intermediate is to hit your opponents backhand. Whether it is a clear, push, drive or lift to his backhand you may get a weak reply. This works especially well if the opposing guy is on his forehand side of the court.
     
  3. alexh

    alexh Regular Member

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    If your partner is very weak, then you need to be ready to cover three corners most of the time. When serving, tell your partner that she's responsible for returning any straight drop shot; you will be responsible for covering the cross court drop shot as well as both back corners. It's hard work, and you wouldn't play this way with a more confident partner, but it might be the best thing in this situation.

    Congratulations on your good result in the divisionals! Let us know how you go in the next stage.
     
  4. moomoo

    moomoo Regular Member

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    i play mixed quite often, what you could do it to lure the guy to the front by feeding him shots just in front of him, flat pushes works best. for the girl you can try to push past her, but if her interception is good try to feed a medium height drive for her to take a step back and do a wide serve so the front court is open to the guy to cover.

    also, if the guy is really worse than the girl, then play more clears/drives to him until he messes up.

    as alexh said practise covering 3/4 of the court. playing singles against doubles ( you vs 2 ) would help your tactics. helping your partner to work on covering the net also would be good.
     

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