TL;DR paragraph 3. I was helping a youth at our club, he wanted to practice smash defence so I gladly hit some smashes at him. He started by jumping out the way of the shuttle and hooking a forehand from level or behind him. Not effective. He was told to stand side on (not by me!) , racket foot forward. Cover your face and make yourself as small target as possible. That screams of wrong to me but that is how you are told to coach it apparently. I can't believe that. Here's what I do: feet shoulder width apart, slight crouch, face attacker, racket out in front at waist height ish. Aim to counter with a block/drive/lift. Happy to hear if that is wrong. To me I'm copying what I watch the pros doing and I like to think my defence is strong. We did some drive practice and the guy got some good counter attacks to clip smashes standing as I do so what I do makes sense to me. I'd like to hear your thoughts on either technique in case I should shut my mouth giving my opinion!
I think it depends on the situation. If you are facing a straight attacking position, that is your opponent is lining up right in front of you, I was taught to put my left food a bit forward. The reason behind this is because it is easier (and feels more natural) to defend should the shuttle come towards your forehand side. However, let us say that your opponent is lining up on your partners side instead, then you need to adjust your body slightly so that you are facing them. Another useful tip is how to return the shuttle. If you hold a basic grip and in a neutral position in front of you with the string bed pointing to your left and right, the racket will be in a diagonal position. Want you want to do is to raise the racket in such way that it is pointing 90 degrees. By doing this you will be able to make good use of both your underarm and the wrist. If you do not know what I mean, you can imagine putting your hand on a door knob which you turn. The movement works the same way, although of course your palm won't be pointing forward since you are holding a racket and not a door knob. This technique works for lifts, defense against pushes as well as countering with fast drives or short drives. And as you said yourself, you want to place your racket somewhat high up and in front of you. The worst thing one can do, not only in defense but in any situation in doubles, is that you pull backwards. Doubles is all about chasing the shuttle and take it as early as possible in order to create opportunities. I think that a radius of 120 degrees in front of you is a good start and it is within this radius you want to hit the shuttle.
