Priority of skills in a young pupil.

Discussion in 'Coaching Forum' started by Aleik, Sep 24, 2004.

  1. Aleik

    Aleik Regular Member

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    A coach told me a few years ago that the reason some nations are so far ahead of Britain in terms ability is that they teach the most important part of badminton first; footwork.

    It makes a lot of sense to learn the basics first, of course. However, as it would be taught to prospective professional players at a very young age, it does contradict the idea of making badminton fun for young participants. Children learn through play, and footwork is not play!

    I now think that the priority of skills order should be something like: making contact with shuttle, learning how to win a rally, shaping the proper technique, doubles tactics, footwork (footwork may need to be introduced gradually into earlier tactical practices to make them worthwhile).

    The reason I have put the skills in this order is that the participant is most responsive to each skill at a certain point in their life cycle, i.e. hand-eye coordination at a young age, fitness aspects when more fully developed physically, etc.

    I think the idea of coaching footwork first is a form of blocked practice, to which (because of the lack of variation) children wouldn’t respond well. So was I misinformed? What do you guys think should be taught first?

    Aleik.
     
  2. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    I think you have to carefully assess the objectives in the group you are teaching.

    For the point on play, yes, you are correct. However, the point of play is to generate interest in the game (as well as having a good time). Now perhaps only 1 out of 20 will show more interest after a period of a few months. It's this small group that one has to take a little more interest, giving more time, teaching a bit more footwork, giving harder drills.

    So I think the coach was referring to already preselected individuals whereas you are referring to the general class.
     
  3. OTFK

    OTFK Regular Member

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    I was one of those learning footwork before anything else. At that time, it was hard for me to make contact with the shuttle so my coach just got me to recover bean bags from the corners of the court (like a shadow drill with no racquet). Then eventually this drill became a time trial.
    Then recovering to the centre position was added into the drill (again with bean bags but no racquet). Time constraint was added later in the drill. I do not think I was practicing with a racquet till 3 months later. At that time, the bean bags were replaced by shuttles. It was fun and easy to do.
    Then upper body movement was added. Now the harder stuff start coming through. :crying:
     
  4. Aleik

    Aleik Regular Member

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    Interesting point made by both of you there. I never realised that those who started training with footwork would more often than not have had some experience of playing the game.

    It just seems a bit senseless to teach the most demanding stuff first to young kids, where time would be better spent developing their coordination in general areas, and then focusing directly on the bits needing changing at a later stage.

    The reason I say this is that a child with superb footwork may then pick up a racket and find he-she has no natural ability at all.

    Aleik.
     
  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    this is actually quite interesting. i think Aleik is trying to solve two different problems at the same time.

    1. to teach good badminton skills.
    2. to keep the young player interested.

    the ultimate goal is of course, to develop a good player at the end of the day.

    the two problems described above must be solved in order to achieve the ultimate goal, without one you probably wont' get the other. without the young player interested, you will find he/she might drop out and try some other things. without teaching good skills, you won't have a good player.

    my thoughts are as follows:

    a) if you have a student who is interested no matter how you train them, then would you have taught footwork before letting him/her hold a racket at all? ie, if point 2. above isn't a problem/factor into the training.

    b) why is point 2 a factor at all?
     
  6. jamesd20

    jamesd20 Moderator

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    Training seriousley isnt fun (if it is, then you arent pushing youself hard enough)

    Playing is fun

    You need to estimate what the group want to do. If they want to play the game, learn a bit about it, then you would do things differently to someone who is intrested, and wants to win.

    Whilst in Beijing last week I visited a sports hall and everyday there was a group of young children who were training. Everyday they did the same thing, a slow warm up, 45 minutes practicing the stroke cycle, and then 45minutes basic footwork. They didnt hit the shuttles once.

    It was the same with my friend from China too, he went to a sports school there, and when he started he said he trained everyday for two hours or more, but he didnt hit a shuttle for 3months.


    Contrast this to when I watched the some of the junior teams in yorkshire train whilst at home, and they were doing nothing but hitting the shuttle, and there footwork drills were incorparated with hitting the shuttle. to me as an observer, I thought it was very bad, because their footwork technique was being comprimised by trying to hit the shuttle. the whole excercise to me was a waste of time, and enforced bad technique.

    Unfortunatley different countries have different priorities, english coaches have to focus more on keeping the students in badminton because big competition from pubs, other sports, girls. Chinese coaches have less of a problem with this (for now).

    You have to find the balance between training and fun dependent on your aim.
     
  7. OTFK

    OTFK Regular Member

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    Good point by all. I was never in any sport school but the coaches would only allow one student with one sport (until we got older then we could do another sport to help our primary sport: badminton).
    For me, my hand-eye co-ordination was so bad that there was no point for me to try to hit the shuttle. My coach noitced my frustration and he switched my "training schedule". It got me interested because I was doing something and I could do it.

    Also, I think the bean bag and later the shuttle helped me to focus. My hand-eye co-ordination improved afterwards (whether this is from the "focus" training or the neuro net was finally connecting all the dots - I do not know).

    However, I did notice my friends (who started with racquet first) having problem when they were pushed harder in a match situation. I guess they were trying to do 3 things at the same time.
    1. getting there (footwork)
    2. contacting the shuttle (stroke technique)
    3. getting it over the net (stroke technique)

    We were at the learner stage so shot placement was not part of the training yet.

    If I were to do it again, I will go footwork first. However, I notice in Canada, kids find the footwork drill boring. I found that there are so much distraction in the kid's life such as friends, jobs, and other interests. It is hard to keep their focus. One funny thing though - school work never seems to make it to the distraction list. :eek: :D

    BTW, my initial badminton training started in Hong Kong so I can relate to some of the reference from jamesd20. Then I went to UK but my school was not big on badminton so there was a "gap" of 9 years that I have not picked up a racquet. Who knows my experience may be too old school when compared with modern standards.
     
    #7 OTFK, Sep 27, 2004
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2004
  8. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    keeping the youngster motivated / interested seems to be the key here. i think in any environment, that is always a plus and in the case when there are alternative activities, it is a must.

    i wonder how do normal teachers do it? i always think that teaching elementary school is one of the toughest job around, you are faced with a classroom full of energetic kids with low attention span and you need to teach them seemingly boring things like arithematics...!

    maybe the teachers among us can shed us some light.
     
  9. Benasp

    Benasp Regular Member

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    maybe in asia it's acceptable to teach footwork first cause there so much badminton lover that if a kids don't cooperate, just trow him out and get the next, but here we should try to keep our people cause we have few. So i try to make them play first and help the one who really want to be the best.
     
  10. viver

    viver Regular Member

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    I have been coaching some kids since mid last year and like Kwun mentioned, motivation is the key. Parents that send the kids to the coaching session seem more eager than the kids themselves, so initially had a talk with the parents about the objectives - theirs, the kids and mine too.

    The kids are interested in learning but can't stay too long in the tasks. If adopting the methods like the ones in China, most likely you won't see any students in the next session. So, in a 1H session, I would do some warm-up games, introduce the techniques step by step, practice a bit and then games - more important in the kids view. One have to keep them happy so they will come back.

    The approach here is very different from what I did before. Then even the initial objective was to teach some basic skills, later in changed because the kids themselves wanted to excel and above all do well in school tournaments. Also representing the club in tournaments was also in every kids mind, to asking them to do footwork and practice strokes (without shuttle) was not hard.
     
  11. Benasp

    Benasp Regular Member

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    the most effective shot is the clear, im mean lots of kids can't clear to the back and that a big plus if you can do it cause all you have to do is clear and wait for a return at the quater of the court.

    so i say that a kids will have a big advantage if i can use the whole court
     
  12. Michael K

    Michael K New Member

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    When I start working with new players the first thing I work on is getting them to make clears. The clear is the most fundatmental shot in badminton. This shot consists of the basic over head movement and most importantly it consists of footwork. The clear is the building block for all the major movements in badmointon i.e. wirst movement, arm rotation, sifting body weight and footwork. From the clear moving to playing drops and smashes is quiet easy.

    Many will say that u can't play badminton if you don't have good footwork. But what is very important to beginners is that they can have a rally. If at the end of the first coaching session you have 2 people who can play a clear to each other and have a very basic rally their is a sense of achievment on their part which will only encourage them to continue in badminton.

    In my ideal world I would love to start with footwork and fitness training but I wouldn't have many people to coach after a few weeks. I try my best to make footwork training as engaging as possible to keep younger players interested by making fun games out of it.
     
  13. Aleik

    Aleik Regular Member

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    Interesting points made about the clear, thanks guys.

    Aleik.
     
  14. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

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    My usually teaches the net put-away at the beginning of lessons for the first few weeks of all his programs. Here's why

    - easy to feed: just have one student (or even a parent) hold 12+ birds on one arm, and toss birds up over the net. No badminton skill required! This allows the coach to pay full attention to the student while keeping people involved.

    - emphasis on the basic grip, stance: due to the simplicity of the shot, coaches can focus on ensuring that the students use proper forehand/backhand grip, lunging stance, etc.

    - basic wrist technique: uses the same finger and forearm action and timing that is (or can be) used for drives, half-smashes, clears, even backhand clears.

    - confidence: for beginners it can be very discouraging to have a very low success rate, which may occur when first learning a complex shot like the clear. A simpler drill like this will help keep their self-esteem and interest high by having a larger portion of attempts successful.

    - footwork can be introduced progressively: after the shot is learned from a stationary position, the students can begin to take steps/lunges/bounds in towards the net.
     

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