Hey everyone, thanks for hearing me. So before my group of badminton friends were always nylon (plastic) users the yonex 350. Since some of us has started working we transition over RSL feather birds (78). What i notice was that smashing with nylon was way easier and more powerful for me. Since i got use to playing with plastic, I dont hold that tight of a grip even when i smash (on a scale 1-10, 10 being extremely tight, i grip it around 5) . But now that i transition over to feather, i find it harder to generate relatively the same power or relatively weak.My question is do i need to grip my racquet a little bit harder right before impact? I know alot of it is about form as well. I hear people with blisters etc.
feathers require a better technique to hit than plastics. a loser grip is usually recommended (regardless of the bird you use though). plastics can be bullied around the court, so to speak, where feathers need to be hit properly. they also fly different than plastics so perhaps the flight is making you hold back on your power. just keep practising and youll get your smashes up to your usual standards
In addition to technique as above, aim to get a sharp short and crisp strike onto the bird. You'll also need thinner strings at higher tension eg. BG66UM or ZM65 at 25 lbs.
Oh, I was actually think on switching over to a thinner string as I use ng95. I was thinking maybe bg 80 at 25 pounds?
Yeah, I had the same problem when playing off-season (w/ feathers) and during the season w/ plastics. Try to focus on hitting cleanly, because when you hit a plastic, if you hit the skirt portion, the bird will still fly (whereas on feathers it won't be a good hit)
Do you guys hold your racquet closer to the top or bottom of the grip when you smash? Cause i see the indonesian coach in the badminton club i go to hold it relatively to bottom end of the grip for all swings.
or if you are standing closer to the net, hold top (you need more control, less power). if you are standing closer to the baseline, hold bottom (you need more power, and have more time to setup).
also try to generate more power from snapping your wrist for smashing feather shuttles. That's the one major thing I noticed when changing from plastic to feathers. with plastic, you can generate a lot of power from just your shoulder and arm, BUT with feathers, you need that last minute snapping action to really accelerate the shuttle otherwise the smash will be really flat and dead (almost like a drive)
^ Very true. There's a saying for shuttles: pound thru plastic, stroke thru feather. What it means is that you need to use your upper arm and shoulder to nail plastic, whereas feather requires a looser arm with whipping action and for best results, added finger power.