If you decide to invest 10 lessons with a coach who could make you a better player, how would you proceed? 1, Learn something new every lesson. 2, Let the coach decides what is best for you. 3, Learn one skill all 10 lesson. 4, Make decision along the way. 5, Learn the fundamentals. 6, Attack the weakest parts of your game. As for myself, I want to learn how to do an effortless back hand clear from baseline to baseline. I think I will get laugh at if people in my club see me do back hand clear all 10 lessons.
I would do the same thing. I think I can probably learn all the other strokes myself - the backhand clear ....it eludes me.
Interesting question: Depends on your level of play from the start. Do you have a decent level of skill of fundamentals for other strokes? Do you understand footwork around the court? Visor will probably chip in the GIF of LCW's backhand clear technique but my take on that is it didnt show the entirety of the footwork. I think it may become quite boring to always do the backhand and better to mix it up a bit with backhand drop shots and drive shots. But take lesson twice per week for a couple of weeks is pretty useful.
10 hours of backhand clear is overkill. You may be able to clear to the wall behind the court by the end of 10 hr, he..he..he.. Most people cannot do proper overhead backhand clear because of FOOTWORK not quick enough to get BEHIND or directly above the shuttlecock (not the optimal position but if yr wrist and elbow swings are decent, will be powerful enough). Many can clear OK when standing still by the rear doubles service line but when in real gameplay most intermediates do not get there on time. I notice that many of them try to swing a bit early and do not impact at the end of swing (ie where the most power will be impacted on the shuttle) For me it is somehow a bit more natural to swing a o/h backhand clear than my forehand albeit it's a bit harder to be dead accurate (ie aiming for side lines on the opponents court). Back to yr 10hr lessons, get a list of things u will like to improve other than footwork and discuss it w/ yr coach. See what he says is possible n what is highly unlikely (impossible targets/goals) for 10hr lessons. For footwork u should do shadow badminton at least 15 mins before yr games/lessons. Also if possible find another hour to practice SOLO what the coach teaches u. As Cheung said, what is important is how good are yr basics, ie FOOTWORK, strokes...etc. Kwun also ALWAYS remind us that the key to improve yr game is always FOOTWORK. If u can 'dance' fluidly all over yr court then AUTOMATICALLY most of yr shots will IMPROVE. Hope u can improve a lot n keep us updated, if possible.
1 lesson footwork. Make sure u dont forget. Practice it every day. Other 9 on shot choice/mechanics. Footwork is easy to practice without a coach. Shot choice/hitting/mechanics is not.
This makes me sad... When I coach the backhand clear, it is normally around 20 minutes of practice to go from "I can't do a backhand clear" to doing a 3/4 court backhand clear whilst stationary. Give me a full hour, and it will be full court with movement in many cases. This is with intermediate players i.e. have been playing socially for a few years/maybe they play some club matches, but never play tournaments or anything like that. Good luck to you! Honestly though, the backhand clear is such an easy shot to learn if you learn it using the correct sequence of drills/shots... Send me a private message if you want some advice. As for the original poster on this thread: I assume you have one session per week AND you have time to practice in between sessions e.g. with club games/social play or something? If so, I suggest that you go to the coach and ask to learn the backhand, and spend the entire first lesson doing it. Now chat with the coach, and work out what you want to do for the next 8 sessions. Make sure you practice your backhand at every opportunity for the next few weeks, and ask your coach for a few tips every lesson if you are struggling. However, if you have limited your intake of coaching to just 10 sessions, then I would suggest that you seek to LEARN something important in a few of the sessions, and get taught enough that you can go away and practice it by yourself. Ultimately though, training "the fundamentals" will be of most benefit! Good luck!
Thank you very much for your gracious offer. However, you've given me quite a bit of information and links in another thread - I'm following those and can say I've made quite a bit of progress. Without wanting to hijack the thread - one thing I think would be helpful is if you could describe how it feels when you hit a perfect backhand clear that would be helpful. I think many times, I get the feeling my arm flailing (if this is the correct word) rather in control and proper weight behind the strike. I am thinking it should feel similar to forehand clear.
for me i am able to execute all the basic shots fairly easily. i would actually have the coach drill me in the harder shots and have him watch my form so that he can correct me if i'm doing something slightly off, in order to increase the efficiency of that particular shot. probably 8 of the 10 lessons, then the 9th would be strategies for singles, and the 10th would be just a recap on everything i've learned/have forgotten
