Greetings, So I have been playing for a few years now, and I have decent footwork and technique, but, I find it hard to play singles "smartly", I was wondering if there are ways or videos or etc that would help in Singles badminton strategy? Any suggestions / advice are most welcomed. Thank you so much!
it all depends on your level of play! for beginners, there are easy strategies (e.g.: start with an aggressive clear to your opponents backhand ist always a good starting point). the more advanced you are, the more refined strategies you need and it all becomes individually different, depending on your own weaknesses and strengths. so i would suggest you upload some video of your singels-play, then you probably get more individual advice then by some vague explanation concernig your level of play...
I play singles every week against 2 guys for about an hour. We get about 6 games in (each player gets 4 games). At my skill level (low-mid intermediate) against my friends...I win about 80% of the time. I serve backhand cuz my forehand sucks (cuz I hook or slice it...it always goes out). I generally serve short and flick serve if they creep close to the net. And then everything else is dependent on what return they give back. For example...start of game 0-0. I short serve. He does a net drop. I will either make a net drop or lift to a corner. My opponents generally stays too close to the net so I make a backhand lift to the rear opposite corner (ie. a right-handed player's backhand corner). Since both of their backhands are weak...I generally roam around the middle to the sidelines waiting for a bad return to smash it or net drop quickly. Most of the time they hit it into the net. When I receive service...I generally drive/clear to the corners. Or smash it down the sidelines if it's a long forehand serve. I try to alternate drops, lifts, clears, and drives. Whatever shots I can make to put them out of position. Sometimes I purposely smash down the sidelines for a few points to get them to cheat (ie. stand closer to the sidelines that I smash to). Once they are cheating...instead of a smash...I do a forehand slice net drop for the point. I can get the slice net drop to work about 60% of the time. But basic strategy is to hit the shuttle to where they are not. Make them run and make an error. The games I lose are generally when I make more errors than they do. And that's cuz my stamina sucks compared to them. I'm usually huffing and puffing mid-game. So I try look to close it out quickly. I also have a bad habit of thinking my shot will win it (admiring my shot) but they return it and I'm already out of position so I lose the point.
first thing i do when I get a short serve in singles is push it to their backhand corner. I dont' even care how strong their backhand is; just push it deep (yes, that's what she said too )
There's a website called BadmintonBible.com. You may want to check out. There're some Singles strategies. There's an article posted here at B.C. a long time ago, titled "Causing Damages". I might have recalled the title wrong, but do search for it. I vaguely recall BadmintonLife.com might have a short manual (less than 10 pages) on Singles. Lee Jia Bok has videos on court coverage for Singles (I believe). Jake Downey, in addition to Winning Badminton Doubles, also has a book on Winning Badminton Singles. There's also an older book called "Advanced Singles" back in 70-80's, if you check your library for it. Finally, I learn this last trick from chess. Watch the videos between top players against lesser players. The strategy/tactics used would be that much more apparent. This is a better learning tool, than to watch matches between two Greats (e.g. LCW and LD). Especially, watch women Singles.
http://www.badminton.tv/sites/badminton/media/books/tactics-in-badminton-singles/part-1.pdf http://www.badminton.tv/sites/badminton/media/books/winning-badminton-singles/contents.pdf http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...strategy-and-patterns?s=&highlight=strategies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXhTYZ2rjrc&list=PLB9C8E7DA57553F9C&index=63&feature=plpp_video Use the above to start. Anna Rice has a series of videos on Singles. And since you're from Canada, I'm sure you'd heard of her. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...don-t-play-well....?s=&postid=78397#post78397