hi, i would say im a pretty good allround player. service is good, net play is good, attacking is good, footwork is ok. two things im trying to wrok on and just wanted opinions on are: backhand clear - can anyone give some tips on this as i cant get full distance. any nad habits that can happen or why i may not be getting full length. drive serve: im trying to add another serve to my armory - backhand drive serve designed to go flat and towards opponent or straight down the line. im struggling with consistency though as sometimes it goes high or wide but most often too long. thanks a lot guys/girls
The bad habbit of doing backhand is that you will start doing it over and over (well that what happened to me because it was easier and I got lazy). I use to have weight training at school so I worked alot on the muscle that worked my risk alot and my back hand clears are stronger than normal people, but still hard to pull off at times. Drive serve sounds really difficult. Reading your explanation sounds like you broke one of the rules in serving a birdie.
no, i can assure you my serves are perfectly legal - thats why i struggling to get the drive serve flat. im 6'3 so have a good advantage. i was coached by england internationl paul trueman on serving so i know my technique is right - didnt do drives with him tho.
I would not be so confident about your drive serves. At impact, the whole of the racket head must be discernably below the whole of the hand holding the racket. Even flick serves can break this rule quite easily. Drive serves almost always break it, although some drive serves -- less aggressive ones -- are within the rules. Very hard to tell whether your service is legal without the help of a service judge, or a precise video recording.
Aren't drive serves extremely dangerous? I mean, an over-average player would just drive it right back or perform a faster net drop than he would against a simple short serve? Last time I tried that I almost ate it. My ducking's awesome now, though that's nothing to brag about...
Good point. I know the rules, of course, but what I think is happening and what is actually happening at point of contact could be two different things. I try to keep mine legal and rely more on surprise than power so I have thought they remain within the rules. I use them mostly when serving to a right-hander in the deuce court or to a left-hander in the ad court. I find that even if it is slow and rises a bit, if the receiver isn't expecting it, the reaction time is too short for them to do damage and it accomplishes the same as a flick serve in keeping a receiver from assuming a short serve is coming. I'd like to take your advice on the video though.
technique, timing, and practise There must be a thousand threads in here about backhand clear by now, but it's hard to beat a) getting a coach or b) seeing it done, e.g. a video from www.ibbs.tv, or by watching people
practise. you need to get the right timing and your wrist speed must be very quick. Also playing badminton for a few years helps this so have you been playing long? You also need to concentrate all your power in your arm and fuly extend it to maje the shuttle go very far.