Whats the correct overhead grip for clears, drops, and i guess smashes? What I mean is, should I use the standard forhand grip? Or use the slightly rotated counterclockwise ljb grip? What I do know is that underhand forhand shots should be taken with the standard forhand grip and ljb grip should be used for smashes, however what about the other overhead shots? The more experienced players please help me out.
I use Lee's slight panhandle grip (the "ljb grip") for all forehand overheads. It feels much more natural now, and I find it hard to go back to the ordinary forehand grip for these strokes. Badminton England are teaching a "new" forehand grip, which is almost like a reversed version of Lee's. So where Lee deviates slightly towards panhandle, BE deviate slightly AWAY from panhandle (clockwise, in your terms). They recommend this grip is taught for overheads to beginners. I have no other advice about overhead-specific gripping from BE.
Wow! This is some really weird news. I've been currently using Lees, but I'll try out the england version. I think with the england version, you get more deception if you turn your body all the way to the side, and its also easier to switch to back hand. Other than that, I see no advantage.
Note that BE do not give clear advice about using their "forehand" grip for overheads. What they do say is this: Note the caveat, "On the Level 1 Course". This suggests that at a higher standard of play (or coaching), the grip for overheads needs to be different. On my Level 2 course, however, we were not given any indication of this. There is nothing about it in the Level 2 manual either. Perhaps I need to move on to Level 3 to get more information! I find this BE forehand grip great for midcourt work, but nearly impossible for overheads. As always, one should beware dogma! Try all the options, and see what you think.
Please try to get more info, I think I'm going to use Ljb grip for my overhead strokes, however I dont understand why they would purposely teach the beginners wrong technique? Why not just teach them the correct technique from the start? I still think it is because it will be easier to switch from forhand to backhand grip, thus teaching the beginners how to keep a loose grip and switch from forhand to backhand.
Would you teach GCSE maths students the real definition of trigonometric functions? That would involve teaching them about power series, and you should really teach them about the complex field as well (otherwise you can't really understand power series). But that is far too hard for GCSE students, so instead they get told that "cosine(x) = A/H, where A is the length of the opposite side of a right angled triangle, H is the length of the hypotenuse, and x is the angle between them."; and they get to look at a graph. What rubbish -- that's a geometric application, not a definition. Experienced players might have a similar attitude towards coaches teaching beginners a simplified set of grips. "Why are you teaching them that grip, when it is not the best grip?" BE is reluctant to become too technical too early. I sympathise with their concern. On the whole, however, I believe they would be better off giving more detailed advice to coaches on grips. But at least they have improved recently! Until the last revision of BE coaching, they were still teaching a full thumb backhand grip! This hopelessly confused teaching of the backhand has done a great deal of damage to the techniques adopted by many badminton players in England. There are plenty of other examples of outdated BE teaching that has been updated recently.
