For example, like when you clear or smash, why do you have to follow through when you can choose not to follow through and recover faster (have your racket in the ready position quicker).
I was told that following through prevents injuries, especially at beginner level, because of the amount of brute force used. Stopping the motion halfway through will result in unnecessary jerks, causing injuries. I am not sure if it applies to higher level, but I suspect it does, at least watching how professional play.
To generally give you more power/control. As said above ^ "wrist snap shots" are generally a more difficult shot.. and not necessarily more rewarding. As for recovery time.. id have to question your thinking. Whilst your correct, most people after they follow through do not (sub concious or conciously) bring their racket back into the ready position straight away.. thus allowing for breaches in readyness. .. keep in mind its all relative.
I feel like I have a lot to learn from your response. When you follow through, why is it giving you more control and power? How would you explain the mechanisms behind that? I was thinking that if you don't follow through, your swing can be shorter thus giving more control and power. For follow throughs, maybe I am doing follow throughs wrong since I am just starting to learn the techinicals, but my idea of it is that when you follow through you bring your racket (with the momentum for clears and smashes) after you hit down . And that down is actually quite low most of the time I've noticed causing it more difficult to bring the racket back up to recover. Whereas if after you hit and you just force a stop, the height of the racket is already high (not too down like it would be in a follow through) and you can thus recover quicker (the recover position I have in mind is holding racket up with racket head just about chest height). What do you mean by relative? Thanks again for your wisdom. Looking forward to your response.
the awkwardness that what makes it feels it is right to follow through. plus when you smash or clear, when you follow through, your racket is going downward towards the ready position (but you need to put it up again a little bit) what is the purpose of stopping in the air, getting this awkward feeling not following the flow and using unnecessary force to stop the motion, and then needs to go down to ready position? plus when you follow it though, it feels smoother (imagine like swinging a sword). it also allows you to move around smoothly when you need to move somewhere (try to have your hand up in the air, trying to going down when you try to move.. that's so awkward) when your arm is down, it feels much easier to move (and much better than being up there, forcing it down to ready stance) again, try it by yourself. you need someone to help you to feel it.
I went on a training camp to malaysia and was coached by woong chong hann and as i understood following through was important for many reasons. The reason that most affects the game is that it makes it harder for your opponent to tell which shot you are doing since they all look the same and it's all about where in front of you the shuttle is being hit. The second reason is stamina. When you follow through you use power from your whole body and not just the forearm. I often tell the people I'm coaching that if one use every part of your body a little, like putting speed on the upper body by swinging the non racket arm, using your abs to do the same or pushing with the back/shoulder combined with using the forearm is not as tiring as just using the forearm flick shot. It's almost impossible to have consistent shots for three sets when not following through. When following through you can play a lot more relaxed. Also a lot about injuries and not having the jerks that comes with stopping the motion fast. But stopping the motion makes your arm slow your whole body down if everything but the arm continues forward. It gets you back into the court way faster if your whole body is going in one direction. It also is the most natural way it's possible to play a clear, you don't see spear throwers (javelin) stopping their arm halfway through the throw. I think badminton players can learn a lot from their way of twisting the upper body to get power. Hope it's helpful
Thanks! All the responses were helpful. I manage to read this post again and I understand that follow through is just something that seems more natural. The other pros based on the responses were that it saves energy, 'it's less awkward,' and it's more deceptive. I'm not sure I understand the deceptive part yet but it sounds like your coach has some pretty good insights into why that might be. I thought follow through was just to help you recover. I guess my problem into producing the question is because my follow through is probably wrong. I follow through too much (like when I clear or smash, I would bring the racket all the way down to my legs). Hence, it made me think why would anyone want to bring it that far down slowing recovery. But I think I have to watch more videos on how the pros do follow through properly. Again thanks for the responses and the importance of follow throughs.
a good rule on how much one is supposed to follow through is that wen your are finished with a clear or drop your shoulder should be horizontal and after a smash the shoulder should be pointing slightly downwards
Agreed with the above points re: power, reducing injury. Following through on your shots will also help shift your body weight, maintain balance and keep you moving. All too often beginner players perform a shot, and then stop without moving back into position. I don't think it's right for every shot, but it's useful in keeping a fluid, smooth motion around the court. Try it on a forehand or backhand, and you'll see that it naturally gravitates you back to your central position
what i've been taught is that your energy should be expended to accelerate your swing right up to the point of contact with the shuttle. The follow-through that comes after should just be left to natural momentum. If you feel that your swings are too 'big', it might mean you are not focusing your movement up to the point of contact, and just swinging with strength all the way through.
Oh I didnt see you responded. Yeah its a hard thing to grasp Birdy but, when you follow through, your contact at impact point is better with the shuttle. I believe your thinking is, "as soon as the shuttle is off the strings, the rest of the stroke makes no difference whatsoever", whilst somewhat true... heres what you have to think about. At no level is it possible, to swing hard/your hardest and completely hault your racket just after you hit the shuttle. Factoring speed/strength and ofcourse injury occurance, its a bad choice. It helps control because when you follow through its easy to direct the shuttle, and the impact of the shuttle contact is also slower, thus making the slight lack in repulsion easier to use/direct. Again all relative to the players level.
Follow throughs allows you to hit the bird precisely and accurate , control of the racket head and the motion of the swing gives you an accurate stroke. I don't like wrist flicks , it teaches people wrong movement and jerking motion which is bad for your shoulder. Follow through also allows body motion to be involved adding more power in all. A lot people think fast swing creates power, that is wrong, correct movement and precise hit with finger strength/grip strength makes a powerful shot.
