how hard should one grip the racket when receiving a smash? Using universal grip. Does it change for lifting it or blocking it? Also, could someone clarify when to contact the birdy? What I mean is, people say to contact at the highest point and to contact it in front of you. What I dont get is the fact they contradict each other. The highest point is not in front of you, its right above your shoulder with your racket arm stretched fully.
For returning a smash, the grip should be loose. Not so loose that the racket wobbles about erratically, however! The aim is to use finger power, by squeezing the fingers to tap the shuttle. This produces a very short movement - almost no backswing. The same grip is used for lifts, drives and blocks. You don't have time to change grip, anyway. For overhead shots, like smashes, the point of contact should be above and slightly in front of you. It is not the highest possible point, but this allows you to hit downwards.
One should never grip the racquet hard. Muscles won't react as fast if one's tense all the time. The only time (more explicitly: moment) one should grip the racquet hard is at the point of contact with the shuttle when smashing/clearing. That's "timing" a stroke.
i tend to grip the racquet a bit harder if im doing a block just to stop the head moving backwards too much.
its not good to contact the birdy behind you so yea thats what they mean by contacting it in front of you
There is a saying that if you cannot fit the cork of a shuttle in the space between the V and the handle your grip is too tight. A good way to train for this is by using a tube of smarties (UK chocolate), to be healthy give the sweeties to someone else and put the tube along the grip where the space should be, you can tape it if you wish but after a practice the tube should be unharmed, if the tube is crushed then you are holding your grip too tightly.
I think that would encourage players to use too loose a grip. It has long been popular to recommend a very loose grip in badminton. Many beginners - especially tennis players - tend to clench the racket like a heavy weapon. But you should not hold it like a dirty nappy (diaper) either Holding the racket in your fingertips is a good "waiting" grip, but if you try to smash with this grip, the racket will wobble about in your hand. It may even fly across the court. So, how hard should you grip? Neither too tight, nor too loose. Different firmness for different strokes, and different firmness for different stages of a stroke.
I've read a discussion involving lee jae bok on here where he says that at the point of impact, (if grip stength ranges from 1-10) then at impact for a smash it should be 10. I was wondering, is grip stength 10 the maximum possible grip stength at that instant?
very concise. I've always tried to generate more power by more raquet head speed. Obviously I've increased my grip stength at impact, but never to the maximum.
Maybe I should elaborate. It's possible to be too concise. Grip strength 10, in this context, is the hardest you would ever want to grip a badminton racket. Not quite the same as the hardest you could possibly grip! I don't think you will get much benefit from trying to grip as hard as you possibly can. It should remain comfortable. On the other hand, you don't want any movement of the racket handle within your grip at this point. So long as your grip is firm enough to keep the racket face stable during a power smash, then you will be fine.
