Ive tried a lot of techniques and I still cant seem to reach the back tram lines in clears from deep in my side of the court in singles ,im 14 and like 5ft 7 ,not very strong either. help please !!:crying:
Search the forums! To reiterate though: Cock your arm back so that your shoulders are almost perpendicular to the net, racket arm and racket foot back. Then use hip rotation, lead with the elbow, smack while using pronation of your wrist (use your forarm muscles to rotate your wrist). Your stroke should be such that it will feel natural to follow through with your racket ending at your opposite hip, and so that your racket foot ends forward. Get behind the bird before striking, hit the bird in front of you-- hitting a bird above you or behind you will make it difficult to coordinate all your muscles to act at once because of the awkward angle. Also, try to hit the bird with the sweetspot of your racket. If your racket is stiff and has high tension strings on it, try borrowing a more flexible racket and/or one with lower tension strings.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, though raw strength does help, timing is very important-- you've got to use your muscle groups in an order that makes their usage multiply the effect of other muscles. Meaning, you don't rotate your hips, stop, and then use only your arm to hit. You have to use it in such a way that you acheive maxium velocity through fluidity of muscle engagements, and it all has to be timed so that when your racket hits the birds, you're swing is at it's fastest. As ahhs_1980 suggests though, practice is the key.
practise practise practise!!! dont expect to be good so fast....i think iz been 1 or 2 years my entire junior team has problems clearing baseline to baseline. we're also 14 years old and i'm 5'9. also i dont think height as anything to do with it. my friend plays like hes on steroids or sumfin cause he spins the bird when he plays.
go touch your back with the racquet each time, this obligate you to make the good movement, when you'll get better, there no need to continue this technique.
I would not only suggest the proper arm & racket technique but the proper body turn so you put more of yourself into a clear than just your arm. I coach some juniors and I have a 10 year old girl who can hit just about a metre short of baseline to baseline. Where abouts are you in Scotland?
the key for me is focusing on the speed of the racket head, not on 'power'. start with good form, without power, and power comes as you make the movements faster and coordinated. I know petite fifty-something women who clear baseline to baseline, and it's not done with muscle power. start with the racket head 'scratching your back' as someone already suggested; that way your arm is back, your elbow is fully retracted, and your wrist is fully cocked. your body is perpendicular to the net your motion begins with rotation from the hips, if you do this correctly you should feel your abdominal muscles pulling your torso around. then your arm swings up, and your elbow extends, then your forarm rotates just in time to hit the bird. it takes **practice** to coordinate the movements, and you need to start slow enough that you can control the motion, and hit with the sweet spot of the racket. your body rotation provides some acceleration, your shoulder adds some, and your forearm rotation provides still more--try holding the racket in your hand while your elbow is on a table, and swinging the racket back and forth just by rotating your forearm to feel this part: the racket should be essentially perpendicular to your arm as you rotate it. this forearm rotation is the source of much of your racket head speed. and the back-swing motion in this position is where you get much of the racket head speed for your backhand.
IF u just want to go for DISTANCE only , then using brute force by a fast arm swing can help. However, this only goes for if you are playing with a plastic bird. No offense to anyone, but i really don't see how anyone can't clear with a feather, because u don't even have to swing very hard (that is, if u have a $200+ yonex racket )
Yeah.. I the best way to achieve maxiumum distance is to put your entire body into it. Try to have the longest range of motion.
Reach as high as possible to hit the shuttle, hold the racket at the end of the grip and think about wrist movement most of all. If you are still having trouble, it may be that you are holding the grip too tight before the point of impact. Remember, the distance that the shuttle will travel depends on racket head speed rather than brute force.
It is much, much easier to perform a full length clear if you contact the shuttle slightly in front of your body (like you would for a smash). Done correctly, a full length clear will almost feel like a dropshot - that's how easy it can be. You will have to slow your swing down to make sure you don't hit the shuttle out This technique also has the bonus of turning lame defensive clears into attacking clears that put your opponent under some pressure.
Because it is not effective for big swings - like clears and smashes. Finger power is useful for very short, sharp swings - but it will not generate as much power as a full smash. Finger power can be used for net kills, flick serves, lifts from the net, some half-court drives, and smash defence. These are all short, sharp movements. Yes, the racket grip tightens on impact, providing a small contribution of finger power, but it is not the same technique as for net kills and the rest. If you try to use finger power in smashes, then you will probably hold the racket too loosely. This will reduce power and accuracy, because the racket face will be unstable.
Actually, finger power is very effective for baseline-to-baseline clears. One doesn't even need to use toro twist and shoulder rotation to clear the bird. Elbow rotation, pronation and finger-palm contraction allow one to clear quite effortlessly during warmup. Just ask Mag . For smashes, finger-palm also plays a role just before the stringbed contacts the bird. The extra angular velocity produces a more powerful smash.
I think we have different concepts of finger power. Yes, tightening the grip will contribute to the racket head speed, but forearm pronation is the major source of power for overheads. My concept of finger power is a specific technique that is incompatible with a big swing. It cannot provide enough power for a smash, but kills, smash returns and even half-court drives can use it.
Maybe you can enlighten us on your method of finger power for the purpose of net kills and half-court drives . . . etc.
Okay. Let's consider net kills. Instead of using the wrist, use the fingers. Hold the racket still, in position ready to hit - this improves accuracy and reduces the swing. Just as the shuttle comes to your racket, squeeze the fingers suddenly. The racket head movement can be as little as 5 cms. This generates more than enough power for a net kill. Other shots may use a combination of finger and wrist power. In general, when finger power contributes all the power to a shot, the swing is very short (no backswing at all). When finger power is combined with wrist power, the swing is slightly longer (half-court drives, perhaps). I agree that finger power is a part of smashing, but the smash technique is not determined by finger power in the same way that the net kill technique is. I think most people naturally tighten their fingers when they smash, because otherwise the racket will fly out their hands! That is why I don't believe finger power needs to be coached for the smash.
