There has been a revolutionary change in Chinese badminton training. Power and aggression, once the chief modus operandi, is out and has been replaced by a more subtle approach. Cheng Hong represents the old way, and according to Chinese sources, players like Cheng Hong will be longer be selected even for the junior squad today. The new approach starts at the very beginning where juniors will be taught all round skills, where smashes are used only when needed, not needlessly, and where court coverage and skilful netplay will be developed. So a player like Cheng Hong, who relies on smashes to end long rallies, will be a no no in today's junior squad. Players who can smash and prolong rallies and who are good at net and have great wristwork ala Prakash Padukone are preferred. Also stamina training must be court specific, not running long distances, because badminton is explosive and running or rather moving on the court is sideways, diagonally and up and down. Height and size is no longer a limitation, as shown by Mia Audina, Susi Susanti, and Gong Zhi Chao. Different players have different skills and training must be specific to improve individual strength of different players. Players who have great wristwork like Prakash or Gopichand should strengthen their wrists more through specific weight training for the wrist. Doubles players should develop more powerful shoulders and triceps.
i still think that is a strict and self limiting approach, just changing flavor of the month. If a junior has great quickness, a fast learner and has great mental strength and attitude, that is a great foundation of a great player. I could easily give him or her the basic skill and then work on his or her best feature. If he has great and consistent jumpsmash, why bend him into a patience rally player? I think a potential great player knows his strength and weakness, and would automatically work harder to remove his/her weakness. By studying opponent style, he could draw up a game plan to exploit his opponent weakness and while hiding his weakness. Ex. susilo beating lin dan at athen. I highly doubt that susilo could repeat that feat again.
Can you please provide more details? Just a casual reading, it is not really a revolutionary change in training, this was what the 'old' guard coaches always preached - old guard I am referring to Wang Wen Jiao, Hou Jia Chang, Chen Fu Shou, Tang Xian Fu, etc. More all around skills in order to adapt better to different circumstances in match situations. In the 90's after these coaches retired/emigrated, a new approach was used - flat clears, smash and net. The potential players all had to be excellent athletes - i.e. in track and field tests, (like 100m; 1500; 5000m; 10000m) the players had to meet times like track and field runners. Chen Hong, Sun Jun, Dong Jiong, Chen Gang, Xia Xuan Zi, etc may be exponent of this type of training. Would really appreciate more information if available.
I understand the Chinese are not keen to share their training methods with outside parties. The news on the new Chinese training system was revealed by a former Chinese national coach and current vice-president of the Shanghai Badminton Association, Jiang Yong Yi, when he was invited to share his views and expertise by the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangolore at the end of last year.
No wonder the new players especially in MS, are not as explosive as the CH, CY, LD, XXZ era which focused more on power than these long rally type of players like Chen Long, CJ etc....
Not too surprising. LCW was regularly found out by a relative unknown, Ajay Jayaram from India in the recent Malaysian GP Gold tourney by sharp angles, wristwork and subtlety and very effective smashing. Had Ajay been more consistent with his returns and shown better stamina and quicker recovery, he might have crashed LCW's party. The Indians have traditionally been found wanting in the areas of speed, recovery, strength and stamina. It could be a combination of their approach and philosophy, as well as their diet and training conditions. But they have mostly been the most skilful exponents of the game. The only times they actually won a major title was when the player trained abroad for an extensive period (Prakash in Denmark before his AE victory, and Gopichand as well, I think) to improve their physical condition, reflexes and stamina. That's when the combination of skills and excellent physical conditioning got them the results. But then again, its all a question of finding the right balance for the period you are in.
However, I do believe height and size will make a difference. Greater height means the ability to create sharper angles of return or finishes, and better reach to the sides. All else being equal, this might be the decisive factor especially in singles. They just might be a slightly less mitigating factor on the women's side. But look at Saina Nehwal: the antithesis to the Indian skill and subtlety factor, and not much height at all. She has been able to get so far only on stamina, strength and sheer determination, but comes up short (pun intended ) in the major events when there is a depth of other top players. Too many fundamental weakness in her game. Unless she gets lighter and adds some subtelty to her game, she won't really be able to take the next step up comfortably. In that sense she makes a good case for the integration of the subtler skills with the physical conditioning.
Training abroad for Indians Prakash Padukone played for a club in Denmark after the AE victory as far as I can remember, anyway he was 25. There is a book 'Touch Play' on him which narrates the events which followed his victory. As far as I know Gopichand never trained abroad. Vimal Kumar trained in the UK for a long time and had something to show for it. Kanitkar played for a German club and has nothing to show for it, people don't even know his name. In one part I agree completely with you. If at a young age you do not develop reflexes, speed and the jump, building on that later becomes difficult.
