For those of you playing Singles regularly, esp. those at good level already (County/State/National/International), would appreciate your insight. What're your means to develop your own game smart - ability to do the right thing at the right time, esp. shot selection. How do you adapt/change so that your opponent find you unpredictable, and thus rather difficult to play with?
Keep them moving around and variate constantly. You need good strokes, depth, speed to sustain the effort or else you'll be on the receiving end. Practice, practice, practice............In today's play, your opponent will try to keep the rally short, it's to your benefit if you can prolong the rally.
Practice means drills? And experience means games? Any tips on how to watch professionals' games to "understand" tactics? Also, at front court it's easy to use peripheral vision. Any tips on shot choices at rear court, ehere it's harder to see/sense your opponent. Do you usually "guess" based on last shot used?
Singles has a simpler game plan than doubles. Just hit the four corners and be able to do it consistently from anywhere you are in the court. And don't forget the importance of tight drops and net play that'll lead to half court lift that can be killed.
With practice comes insight. With competition comes analysis. Learning is a slow process. Ideally, you'll need help from a higher level of expertise. Watching videos are good. I have watched rallies over and over again and in slow motion to learn.
This is actually for a teenager. What would you tell her to focus in her practice to gain insights? And what/when/how to analyze with competition? Also, how to best watch videos to max. benefits (game sense)?
You answered your own question "how, when, why, what, where". These are the same questions that we ask all students in whatever they do be it badminton , academic or work - problem solving skills. what does she notice about her game? what techniques have a higher error rate? why certain shots are difficult to reach? why players of a certain style seem difficult to play against ?
This is where you as a coach has to guide her with your knowledge and experience of tactics and game strategy. Badminton is both physical and mental. She has done drills and practiced for the physical aspect, being able to hit all the common shots effectively. Now she needs to know the when and why to play certain shots. What shots make it difficult for her opponent. Watching pro female singles matches would be good. But only certain venues are good to watch, especially the ones with slow mo replay (from 2-3 different angles) after important rallies. And also only certain ones have the proper camera angle to provide good depth perception to appreciate which shot is being played. Finally you could video her games also. But again make sure you choose the proper camera setup, like the ones from Steven Hsu on youtube are excellent.
Just one tip, improve footwork so she can ALWAYS be early to return her opponent's shots. The earlier she is ready, the more choices of shots she will have to 'run around' or attack her opponent.
Assuming you've the footwork to get to the shots and have enough options, how do you choose? Statistically randomize it? Based on opponent's strengths/weaknesses to emphasize/avoid certain court area? Setting up expectation with certain sequence of shots, and then change before your opponent catches up with your idea?
^ From any position, if possible always be aware and be able to hit to 2 positions of the opponent's court that are as far apart as a possible. Your shot choice will depend on your abilities and speed of thought which comes from experience. In singles, this is easier as there's only one opponent to keep track of.
Assuming she has the footwork she can always improve it by going FASTER. How do we choose the options? Basic rules for singles; move yr opponents around as much as possible, pressurize him/her to make errors or weak return for u to kill/attack and lastly but only randomly do trick-shots to make yr game more unpredictable.
Try not to overanticipate his/her return shots, ie don't move until the shot is made. That's why some pros like Lin Dan, Taufik and Zhao Jian Hua are so difficult to play against (during their peak forms). Also, try to control how the game goes to your strategy/tactic against THAT player (different opponent's game style may need different strategy).
I would also say that you cannot only think from point to point. a good player might play a predictable shot in an "unimportant" situation to set the opponent up for a more important situation. that is like poker where you have to get into the opponents mind. also I can't really speak for badminton since I'm a new player but in tennis where I come from there are generally 2 strategies: 1. going for the open corner letting him run the long way 2. wrong foot him by hitting the same corner you have to mix both up (at least in tennis not sure about badminton yet). against a slow opponent often the open corner will be better while sometimes against a guy with a quick recovery taking the shot early and hit the same corner again is a good strategy to catch him off guard. but you still need to mix up.
1. What is her own forces and weakness, skills and options. 2. Same with opponent. If you dont know the opponent, apart of the game is to test and find out. 3. Figure out combinations of strokes that would work, taking 1 and 2 into consideration. 4. 1-3 keep evaluating on this during the game.
I like your idea, even you claimed you're new to badminton. Using expected shots (but good ones that compel your opponent to move) to condition your opponent's mind, and change with disguise.