Han Jian : what amateur badminton players should be focusing on..

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by kwun, Oct 26, 2004.

  1. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    former world champion Han Jian went to Guangzhou to watch an top level amateur badminton tournament. among the invitation guests were Hendrawan (ex-INA, WC 2001) and Yu Jinhao (ex-CHN).

    here are some exerpts of Han Jian's comment on amateur players.

    "not enough warmup is the common problem with amateur badminton, overtime, injuries will start to creep in."

    lacking in strength training. "look at all these amateurs on court, many of them have knee straps, why? because their joints are not strong enough, this is because they didn't have sufficient strength training. professionals won't make this mistake. i insist on doing strength training once of twice a week."

    lack of regular training schedule is another problem with amateurs. sometimes they stop for 2-3 weeks, then suddenly play intensively for 4-5 hours. this irregularity do more harm than good.

    lack of shuttle fine control techniques. there are two problem, "not enough training time, just now when they played against Hendrawan / Yu Jinhao, their smashes and clears are not much different already, the only insufficient elements are the fine control shots like the netshot. they have not spent enough time drilling on these shots like the profressionals. this separates the pros and amateur.

    the second point is that the correct techniques needs to be learned from the beginning. many amateur learn the wrong technique without proper training, it is very difficult to correct later on."

    on training young shuttlers:

    "many parent are too impatient, they want their children to play many tournaments from very young. this is ineffective. before 16 yrs old, i believe fundamentals should be stressed. the focus should be strength and agility / flexibility."
     
  2. wood_22_chuck

    wood_22_chuck Regular Member

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    See? Notice Han Jian didn't say:

    1. Should use stiff racket for better power.
    2. Should string more than 25 lbs for better control.
    3. If use cloth grips will have better feel for shuttle.
    4. Should switch to Yonex Picospeed 9000 with Boron-2 shaft.

    So everybody looking for "the edge" ... no shortcuts:

    1. get a coach
    2. learn the fundamentals
    3. do the drills
    4. practise, practise, practise.

    -dave
     
  3. timeless

    timeless Regular Member

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    Ahhh wise words jedi Dave... so does this mean we can expect you to join VRC very soon, and train with us? Drill, drill, drill, practise, practise, practise right? ;) :p :D
     
  4. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    train with you guys? yoda will be holding a whip :p
     
  5. cappy75

    cappy75 Regular Member

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    Jedi Dave is already one step into VRC:D. He finally signed up to the waiting list. The straw that finally broke the camel's back came from his experience with most of community center players he played with:D. Of course, having dropped in at the club occasionally gave him the contrast needed to push him over the proverbial fence:p.
     
  6. Neil Nicholls

    Neil Nicholls Regular Member

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    a bit harsh maybe...
    we never see the pros wearing knee straps do we :rolleyes:

    amateurs are more likely to pick up injuries from playing multiple sports.
    I play with people who have injured backs and legs playing rugby and football...
    And (in the UK) it's usually the older players (40+) with the knee straps.

    but yes, bad badminton technique can also cause these injuries
     
  7. jamesd20

    jamesd20 Moderator

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    Whilst it is impossible to disagree with that advice. If players did strength training2-3times a week, played more regularly and trained more on other skills, then they wouldnt be amateurs would they.

    he is obviousley seeing it from a professionals perspective. I also think if he thought there was not much difference between the smashes and clears, then they must have been pretty good amateurs (only 3 years ago Hendrawan was the World champion after all) It would alo be quite difficult to match hendrawan at the net too (most of his PROFESSIONAL opponents couldnt after all!). I think they must have been the borderline amateur/pro players.


    Overall though it is good sound advice. Although we dont neccessarily need strength training to improve our game, it improves our ability to train as it strengthens bones, and ligaments meaning we can train harder.

    The two most important pieces of advice for most of us is warm up, and dont play for 4hours at a time, the pros dont, so why should we??? It will keep you playing better, and for longer! :) :)

    Good find Kwun! ;)
     
  8. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    Han Jian was looking at the very top level amateurs in China. probably quite a few ranks above us mortals and just below the level of the professionals. being in China, that means really really high level players.

    as a result, the training that they are "lacking" is probably still way above our heads.

    however, it is still valuable to understand what makes the difference between amateurs and professionals as i have highlighted. while we may not be able to achieve the level that Han Jian suggests, we can still learn from focusing more on those aspects of training.
     

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