I'm an intermediate level player and I haven't had a shut out since a very long time in doubles. I believe everyone has up and down days but sometime I can't believe that I couldn't make a single point when we get back the serve. The funny thing is our opponent weren't harder or didn't play smarter than usual. I admit that I wasn't in my top shape due to lack of sleep but being washed out to 0???? I'm sure every badders have encountered these sort of surprises, no matter the excuse or reasons. Sometime we just didn't have it!! (how frustrating) Are there any way to prevent these sort of things? Tayo
I haven't been shut out in a while but I can sympathize with that feeling when things just aren't going right.When you get emotionally attached to your game sometimes nothing goes right.I find that a key is to find a focus point to take your emotions out of the equation.For example focus on hitting cleanly every shot by focusing on the cork and not focusing on the end results.Another example would be to focus on the shuttle and watch the spin occurring .This helps you tune out your opponent which you have become emotionally involved in defeating.This is an important part of mental training which has become more and more recognized as a key component to high performance.Anyways give it a try and remember it is a only game .Concentrate on your performance and let the results speak for themselves rather than the results becoming what you identify with.Hope any of this helps.
Hehe, don't worry, even pros encounter that also..One very recent example is the match between Tony G./Howard B. against Fu/Cai in the German Open. Tony and his partner got shut out in the first set of their match:15-0....(sigh)..whatever the excuse is/are, that was embarrassing and shouldn't happen esp. to Tony.. Anyway, personally, in order to prevent that, i probably wouldn't have a "cocky" attitude in playing against other opponent and always have an "underdog" mentality..once we have that "cocky" or lazy attitude, our game will suffer..
My partner and I got 'shut out' last Sat when we played against two young men (undergraduates) in their early twenties. We received duck's egg for both games in this graduate versus undergrad annual series.. But I knew it would happen. First our opponents, who represented the varsity, were very strong and attacked most of our lifts with their powerful smashes. Second, my partner, who was not in a good physical condition, made worse by his overweight, hardly practised with us even once a week. I doubt he played elsewhere either. He was rusty and slow and self-destruct by hitting out or into the net on many occasions and who can blame him? Even if we were in form, we couldn't have received 5 points for each game. Poor me, I just couldn't do anything much to help the proceedings and just had to accept the wholesale defeat without even a whimper! I only wished the Captain was his partner instead of me!
I didn't receive anything on me but humiliation. I don't know why I did not break their momentum by taking a break after they were leading 7-0. I was too focus at trying to win the serve back. I think it is crucial to take some time out during the game when you realize that you're losing too much. Although for your case you will maybe still get eggs after the game but i'm positive that it won't be a shut out.
Another reason why we encounter shutout is perhaps we play too much badminton. Hehehe Unless you meet someone of caliber Lin Dan or Zhang Ning. I would expect a shutout.
Even though, we have some excuses, but the hard fact should be, the opponents are simply better than us, and should be able to beat us on any given day, maybe just not 15:0. I can't see how we going to lose 0:15, to a pair is way below our lvl, unless both of us sitting on wheel chairs or something. Therefore, if the other pair is better, losing should be expected. If we want to be competitive, just give out the best we have, now and in the future. 0:15 might be embarrassing, but i don't think things like 5:15 deserves any celebration, either. If you want to get the respect, and make the game to be more meaningful, have to train and put in a lot of hardwork. I am sure the sweet taste of revenge is great.
Couldn't agree more. On the flipside, some people who are a lot better than us might ask themselves "how could we NOT shut them out"? Lol. On another note, dealing with it is as people mentioned a matter of mental training. If you can take it lightheartedly, it really helps-- yesterday night, I played badminton, and lost doubles games 15-0, then 15-2, then 15-1, then 15-0 again... (totally destroyed!). Problem was that I've never played mixed doubles before and it was just horrible. But the people I was playing with weren't asses about it, and we got to talking while playing, friendly taunting and all that... and what you know, when i got my mind off concentrating on the points, I played better. The games we lost, even the 4th game shutout, didn't seem so devastating-- as Lazy Buddy mentioned, it's a matter of training. As shocking as a shutout was, I had to ask myself, did I really deserve more? What did I do wrong? And the answer is, I didn't have to do anything explicitly "wrong", it's just that the opponent did a whole lot more "right" than I did. They had more technical skill, more teamwork, and better doubles strategy. But surprisingly, just the awareness of all the odds against you sometimes makes it easier-- "what have you got to lose?" After all, if they,re the better players, they've got a whole lot more dignity at stake than you do! In the end my team actually even won a few games. (It did take our opponents about 2 hours to tire out, I suppose if nothing else we had more endurance than them ) The thing one has to keep in mind when losing is if you're losing because: A)that occasional game where a disturbed mental or physical state (which might be corrected the next time you came to the gym, or during the game if you're disciplined enough) is affecting your gameplay B)you are actually giving it all you've got, and your opponent is "simply" better. I have nothing against losing to better opponents-- it's when I play someone who is around my level that I am more hard on myself, and if it's someone I know I can beat, well, that's where the mental discipline comes in-- if my physique is fine, then all I gotta do is keep a cool head, and not mess myself up. Just be hard on yourself for the right reasons. In situation A, if it's a mental thing, you gotta work hard to get your head straight. In situation B, you simply gotta train EVERYTHING to come back, as was mentioned, for revenge.
i suffered one just last night. granted i wasn't changed (jeans, t-shirt + sweater), playing in a gym i haven't played in before. but still, no excuses i think. first set, we lost 15-7 or 15-8, around there. second set, shut out... no idea how that came about. i had 4 short serves that went into the net, consecutively. 2 mid-court smashes that ended up in the tape, consecutively. uh... but ya, off-day. real off-day. just have to accept these things as part of the game. the more you play, the more opportunities for wierd things to happen...
