Now, I know the 2 step thing you do to know that it's out. But I can't manage to think of how many steps I have took when I'm concentrating on the birdie. I see most of the players just knowing when it's going to be out, even with smashes. So please help!
Hi there, The ability to sensibly know in high percentage in regards if the incoming birdie is in or out depends on certain factors: General factor - Years of playing and training experiences to create that correct knowledge, awareness and observation of all the birdie's pathway patterns there is in correlation with the court dimension Specific factor - Your clear observation of the pathways that the birdie will follow while playing The more focus you are on the path that the birdie will travel then it's likely that you can have a high chance to predict where it will land - Your footwork movements swiftness when responding to any hits vs the speed of the birdie while playing The sooner for you to position yourself in any area inside the court prior to the incoming birdie will give you a better view and sense of physical position in refer to the court dimension to accurately predicted if the birdie will land in or out. In any of the above statements, it's still not easy to accurately knows 100% if the incoming birdie will land in or out especially if you're not in an optimal position to reply any incoming birdie and even if you're fully prepared, even world class player do make mistake in judging where does the birdie will land. Nevertheless, your footwork agility when addressing any incoming birdie plays an important role to create a better chance of high awareness to sensibly predict if the birdie will land in or out since your footwork movements will able to positioned you for a better view to observe the path where the birdie will travel and land in refer to the dimension of the court. Combined this with years of playing experience, that sense will be more better. If you are in the region of 50/50 or less in confidently predict if the birdie is out or in, its better to continously reply those incoming birdie and focus playing normally as you would and only take your chance on predicting those that is obviously out. Focusing on playing a better strategy and style of play while playing is more beneficial in obtaining good points rather then hoping to gain points from invalid reply. SS
Nice essay. The key is always be behind the shuttle. If you can't understand that, the essay above is what you need.
Instinct and years of experience. if you are tall, use your height as a guage. If the shuttle is too hard to hit even at full stretch, most probably it is out. If the shuttle is coming to you at chest height, most probably it is out too. Just my humble opinion
Pretty much covers all of it! Just a point to note, beware of draft (Wind) and the speed of shuttlecock (Especially when you just change from a broken one to a new one) because these affects your judgements too!
My judgement improved dramatically when I started leaving shots that were going out during training/warming up. Many players make this mistake - then when they play a match they have the same reaction as in the warm-up - they just hit it anyway. People warming up/training with you might get annoyed and ask 'it's not a game so you don't need to leave it' - but I guarantee these people will have the poorer judgement.
that is very true and sometimes overlooked by me as well. but as soon as my partner start leaving shuttles that are out then i am more aware of what i'm doing.