Hello, I've been doing some serious searching with my partner about the best doubles strategy that suits us. We came to a conclusion with incorporating a few of our most-liked strategies posted on this forum. As the forum is very large, forgive us for repeating what someone else has already said and/or for any presumtions that we make. What we devised was: The server takes front covering most of the net shots and smashing or dropping any misshots from our opponents, while the other partner takes back doing clears, smashes and drops Even though we splitted the cour front and back, we will usually stay on our sides to defend for smashes When the bird is in a wierd spot in the centre (difficult to decide who gets) the person in front will get the bird. The partner of the person receiving the serve calls if the bird is out or in However, we are still unsure as to how to defend great drops (person serves, opponent drops to the opposite side from which I served from, I return it and they drop again on the opposite side. We are both in Grade 10 and we both have fairly good arm strength and endurance. I use a Pacific Sports racket 77Ti (very similar to AT 300 but more evenly balanced) and my partner uses an AT 700 (brand new) Our main goals are to have good communications but we are having a tough time devising on an outright plan (wel already call the birds). The plan above was tried out this morning but it seems to work better on paper than the court- just like communism Are any basic foundations of our plan wrong or do we just need some more time to let our bodies get used to this and perfect it?
there is no all amazing all purpose detailed plan u can have before you enter the game...u can decide how you want to play...ie a fast paced game, slower paced game, shots to avoid, shots that target a particular weakness in the opponents etc here are some basic guidelines, im sure they have all been said before in the forum: if u serve it short, have your racquet head up after u serve, and get ready to cover everything that is in front of your own front service line. as long as your partner has normal reflexes and doesnt stand outside the back of the court, he/she should get any other shots that go past u too fast or too high. if u flick or drive serve, then go to sides if it was a poor serve (too low, not long enough) so cover the normal smash/drive return. therefore u move back into the side u served from and your partner goes to the other side. if it was a good serve (u caught them by suprise, it was nice and long, or fast) then the opponents will only be able to make a relatively weaker return. therefore I myself normally stay at the net and hit the drop shots and weak pushes to the front of the court. if they clear it back, my partner can deal with it. however this does depend on the opponent as well, if they always play a drop shot when u flick serve, then u should stay at the net. If they always hit it hard down the lines, then a sides formation is better. if u have lifted the shuttle and the opponents are ready for it, or hit a poor shot that the opponents can attack (ie hit down) then it is advisable to go to a side by side formation....nearly all the time. If u play an attacking lift, drive, push ie. where the shuttle goes beyond the immediate reach of both the opponents (and drops below net height), then u can if u like stay near the net as they are unlikely to be able to smash it. if u are attacking (playing the shuttle downwards) then a front and back formation is advisable. the person at the front plays net shots/pushes drives to make the opponents lift so the back player can keep on attacking (hitting the shuttle down). the rear player is trying to either score a winner by dispatching poor returns (half courts clears etc) or setting up the front player but hitting the shuttle downwards, with power and placement so that the shuttle is travelling in a downwards direction and is below net height when the opponents hit it back. They will therefore be hitting the shuttle up again, and your front player may be able to intercept these shots if they are low. the front player either forces another lift (as mentioned above) or themselves tries to play a winning shot, or a series to shots leading to a winner. if they can't do this, then the front player tries to make the opponents lift so that their partner can try again. about the "great drops".....if u serve short, you stay at the net, and move a little towards the middle. try not to be moving when they actually hit the shuttle, as they can hit it in the opposite direction to your movement, and so u will find it harder to change direction. say u serve from the left hand court. you serve short, and the opponent plays a net shot to your right corner. if u are in the middle of the court, then it will take less time for you to reach that shot. after you have played that shot, do not stand too close or towards the right to the court, becuase that obviously leaves a gap on your left side. What shot do you play to return the net shot to your right? do u hit it back over on the right hand side? maybe you could try a cross court net shot as well? Do u serve from a wide position, that would leave a big gap on the other side of the court... also for point 1 on your strategy......the server (if serves short) takes ALL net shots wherever they are directed. to do this, you must therefore take up a postition near the middle, so as to not leave any big gaping..gaps... point 2...its a good idea to go sides when defending against any attacking shot (smash, drop, attacking clear) becuase usually you will not know if it's a smash or a drop... point 3....what if u are standing parallel, and no one is in front of the other... point 4...yup that's very handy. they would probably need to take up a position astride the middle line and at the doubles back service line. obviously after they call, then they move into a proper playing position, hopefully before or just after their partner returns the shuttle....BEFORE the opponents hit it back to you. play more with your partner and you'll figure out what works for you and what doesn't. try to change what doesnt work (by trying something new, or learning from other pairs) and try to refine and use what works well. In the end, just think about how to cover the opponents return as effectively as possible and that should help.
yep all of those seems like good doubles strategy. one more thing to keep in mind is that if the bird goes down the centre, FOREHAND player hits it
Thank you guys^^ I tried it out a few more times with my partner and although things are still quite rough, we are trying to work out the flaws in our strategies. However, when playing quick doubles, strategy doesn't seem to stay in our minds- more of instinct. I guess we have to practice a lot more to get our instincts to follow the strategy Thanks once again^^
You might want to have someone knowledgeable to watch your rotation.. sometimes we aren't doing what we think we're doing, or would like to do.. and a third pair of eyes helps a lot...
Yes I followed your tip and asked a friend to look over our overall playing and he said that we seemed like "two stupid fish going after one baitand bumping heads before one of them eats it..." I thought we did better than that... I guess a third eye is truely important^^
