Has anybody noticed something interesting about Kim Dong Moon's overhead smash? He has a slightly different preparation now quite uncommon in the modern game. When initially preparing for the stroke, his right arm is quite low. So he has to bring the arm up and do the forward swing really fast. If you have ever seen Han Jian playing, the stroke is quite similar. Nowadays, most players bring their arm up early. I wonder if Kim has had shoulder problems..in addition to his back problems.
who in your opinion has the "model" strokes? Xia will get my vote, and then Bambang Suprianto. i also noticed many MD players have varied their stroke from "non-standard" to maximize speed and power. not too many of them rotate their body anymore.
I think many players have their own styles. Players like Rudy, Mia Audina, Hendrawan and Rony Agustinos ,Dong Jiong tend to extend their arm full length before punching downwards.Commentators call them 'Explosive styles" where you can never see the racquet head. Some players like Liem Swie king Chen Hong and Zhou Mi cut the shuttle all the time, Most players open the face of racquet and emphasise on guiding the shuttle for maximum control and economy of stroke. I suspect it may be to suit 7 points system.
Kiss body rotation goodbye I have also noted that many of the pro MD players don't use much body rotation, especially players with a strong build. One extreme example is Simon Archer. He smashes with both feet firmly planted on the ground, paralell to the net... Power comes almost solely from strong forearm pronation. It looks kinda weird, definitely not "model" badminton... but I think we will see more and more of this. I think this could become the norm for MD in the future. It does have some obvious advantages -- if you're strong enough to do it. You will save energy as less of the body is involved in the stroke production, your shots will be harder to read for the opponent, and you need less preparation time... the disadvantage is of course that your need one hell of a forearm and some serious trunk musculature. Kim Dong Moon is half-way there. He (and Michael Sogaard too, to take another example) doesn't really do a "proper" body rotation. Instead they just sort of hold their left leg out in the air before the smash and stomp it down as they hit the shuttle... they've done away with a proper split step, so to speak. I think this is also why they can "afford" to wait with bringing the arm up. The stroke is much faster as a whole.
I'll tell you something amusing... I know someone who has a very similar build to KDM, and he also plays the EXACT same way, only not on such a skilled level, but his smash setup, and prep is exactly the same. I think I've also noticed some national team players with a similar stroke... you mean like winding up with a bow and arrow correct? and then the quick swing release. I tried this technique, but could not generate ample power, so i went back to the arm pronation technique that the Chinese Pro's use. Much more effective for me.
I also find it quite difficult to do and I can feel the strain on my shoulder when trying it out. It's the drawing back action which bothers me. Also, I always feel a bit "late" on the shuttle.
You need to study the mechanic of your body to see if the certain swings would give you the most power, speed, control and could be repeated again and again for sustained perfomance without causing physical injury to yourself
