Supporting a Weak Partner

**wedgewenis** · 03-02-2006, 09:40 AM

playing with a weaker partner Can make you a better player....

**vip_m** · 03-03-2006, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by silentheart

hi vip_m,

if you are much better and experienced player like you said, play the weak player in front and you stay at mid/back court. since you have more experience and playing back row, call out who's shot. also, by asking your weaker partner to stay up, he/she can just lift the shot back and drop a net shot once a while to mix it up. yes, you will be playing 2/3 of the court. you need to labor for your win. i would not worry about the other person's feeling if i really want to win really bad.

Right. Since I play with different people, I guess it depends if my partner, though weaker, would really like to win and is open to suggestions. If not, then I'll just not push him/her and just try to enjoy the game (although there'll be some opponents who'd wanna win at all cost, even if it means having a corny game where they target my weaker partner all throughout and never get a decent rally).

vip

**DivingBirdie** · 03-04-2006, 01:02 AM

lol partnering a weak partner can be really boring. sometimes when i partner an obviously weaker opponent i really don't seem to get to hit the bird at all. it's a dilemma because if u play back, you won't get to hit the bird but if you play front, the weaker partner usually don't play backcourt too well, so u end up snatching their balls. it can be frustrating when u create opportunities for the weaker partner but he simply blows it. so i think most imptly u must tell him where to stand

**cappy75** · 03-04-2006, 01:48 AM

It's a fallacy. Usually it's the weakest link who benefits the most in a strong group. Ever experienced better performance in a similar level game after playing with three other superior players?

Originally Posted by wedgewenis

playing with a weaker partner Can make you a better player....

That's if you play against opponents who are either super strong who knows how to toy with you or noobs who blindly hit anywhere you stand. Players in the midrange who just wants to win will target your weaker partner more. Correction: 'more' is not the right word... 'exclusively' is more apt

.

It's better to play two on one if I want a good workout. At least there won't be any possibility of racquet clash or any doubt of who's taking what.

**chibe_K** · 03-06-2006, 02:36 PM

I am getting the same treatment, I always get the weaker partner. For me, I am ok if the weaker partner is serious and consistent in a sense he/she does not make unforced errors easily and give away points. But, my patience runs out if my partner is not serious and makes many unforced errors.

In any case, playing with weaker partner only holds you back. Your weaker partner improves after playing with you, after a while he/she is getting better while you are not going anywhere. Only playing with stronger partner or opponents benefits you. So, given a choice, I will play with or against stronger player for my own benefit.

**cappy75** · 03-07-2006, 08:36 AM

If both players are determined to win, they should be able to plan together and hash out areas of coverage responsibilities. They should play like a classic mixed D pattern where the stronger player tries to cover the backcourt. The weaker player has to remain alert to any opportune kills and force lifts via netshots and blocks from the opponents while the stronger player has to make shots to support his partner.

The most difficult part of the game is hitting the right shot... the back player must get behind his shot and hit carefully. He might even have to position himself further back on the baseline if his footwork is not strong enough to prep him for the right shot, which means less back up for his weaker partner in case he screws up at the back.

The challenge for the weaker player is to keep pressure on the opponents to lift and restrain himself from taking shots meant to lure him to the back. If he does get pushed to the back, he must follow his smash or drop to the front when his team is still defending (side by side). To affect a rotation on offense, the back player must smash to the straight tramline and follow in. His partner, upon seeing that, will move back up to attack the expected lift. In that way the offense is continuous until exhaustion

.

General rule of thumb: it's much easier to move side to side than backwards. Keep that in mind when you work out rotations for your team.

**coops241180** · 03-07-2006, 10:02 AM

okay.. i know this one.. over the last two seasons i've experienced the range of the spectrum. played below my level with weaker players (in competitve league matches) and triumphed.., i've also played closer to my level with a weaker partner and lost. both have been an education. the key facts to remember are this if you are significantly better than the people on the other side you should be able to restrict the shots returned to a predictable set which you can cover on your own, or even restrict it to a shot you are confident your partner can cover. if you are better than just one of your opponents the same applies but it won't be as easy - but you will quickly learn to anticipate and force predictable returns - if your partner is of a reasonable level he should be able to spot the pattern - or you can at least tell him / her and hope he/she will follow instructions (which they usually do if your the better player) if both your opponents are your strength or better all you can do it focus on your game and hope your partner can play out if his skin under pressure, but accept that it's pretty likely you'll lose. hope this helps Coops

**Josh²** · 03-30-2006, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by cappy75

It's a fallacy. Usually it's the weakest link who benefits the most in a strong group. Ever experienced better performance in a similar level game after playing with three other superior players? SO SO TRUE!!

It's better to play two on one if I want a good workout. At least there won't be any possibility of racquet clash or any doubt of who's taking what.

I totally agree with what cappy75 said here. I feel so lousy and letargic playing with weaker players (most of my friends are) but when I join other ppl and play with them who are better, I find myself improving so much and BEST of all, I feel SATISFIED after a good game like that.

Same with cappy75 I would rather play a 2 on 1 than a proper doubles game than to partner with a weaker player. At least I get a better workout and get the shuttles over to their court more often

But many ppl hate playing a 2 on 1 as they find themselves 'superior' to you and tend to give stupid unforced error shots. sigh

**lilmizserena367** · 04-08-2006, 01:01 AM

Originally Posted by cappy75

If both players are determined to win, they should be able to plan together and hash out areas of coverage responsibilities. They should play like a classic mixed D pattern where the stronger player tries to cover the backcourt. The weaker player has to remain alert to any opportune kills and force lifts via netshots and blocks from the opponents while the stronger player has to make shots to support his partner.

The most difficult part of the game is hitting the right shot... the back player must get behind his shot and hit carefully. He might even have to position himself further back on the baseline if his footwork is not strong enough to prep him for the right shot, which means less back up for his weaker partner in case he screws up at the back.

The challenge for the weaker player is to keep pressure on the opponents to lift and restrain himself from taking shots meant to lure him to the back. If he does get pushed to the back, he must follow his smash or drop to the front when his team is still defending (side by side). To affect a rotation on offense, the back player must smash to the straight tramline and follow in. His partner, upon seeing that, will move back up to attack the expected lift. In that way the offense is continuous until exhaustion

.

General rule of thumb: it's much easier to move side to side than backwards. Keep that in mind when you work out rotations for your team.

-_- yup but my partner kept backing up and not staying in her position so i ended up having to worry about 2 areas and when i told her to stay in her position she would just keep backing up. Tryed giving her advise and encouraging her, i tryed supporting her the best i could but the first set we lost 2-15 which is really bad then the second set was 12-15.... i guess we lost because we lacked teamwork XP

**cappy75** · 04-08-2006, 03:53 AM

Your partner might not have enough faith and trust in you and thus kept backing up when she should be holding the position. However, it may also be due to inexperience and knowledge. A strong team inspires and motivates one another, as well as move as one. The back player bears heavy responsibility to make shots judiciously so as not to endanger his/her partner. Your team needs to talk more about teamwork and strategies. Keep improving and learning together and soon you'll both play better

.

Originally Posted by lilmizserena367

-_- yup but my partner kept backing up and not staying in her position so i ended up having to worry about 2 areas and when i told her to stay in her position she would just keep backing up. Tryed giving her advise and encouraging her, i tryed supporting her the best i could but the first set we lost 2-15 which is really bad then the second set was 12-15.... i guess we lost because we lacked teamwork XP

**cendolabc** · 05-06-2006, 04:56 PM

“The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.”
Don Shula

**joshww81** · 05-15-2006, 03:41 AM

I've just started playing in a club and they play by putting random people together into a group. Every week we'd rotate to play doubles, so at times I'd get to play mens doubles while other times mixed doubles. I'm not good myself (neither are my group members cause we're in the 'fun-loving' game section while the competitors get to play in another section) but I guess the whole experience forced me to better understand the badminton game play and how you coordinate doubles. looking forward to this week where we'd hopefully get the game right after losing some 8/9 games. :P I'm obviously more interested in getting my game right and definitely playing better now.

say, how would you want to improve your game if your partner isn't really into the offensive/defensive stance and you're almost playing left/right the whole way?

**surge** · 05-15-2006, 03:56 AM

my group has a very strong doubles player that always gets to pair the weaker one among the 4 players.

somehow they usually wins. i realised that one thing that he always do that makes it very effective ( assuming the weaker player can play, just that is weakest...like cannot take the smash or slow footwork to go to the front) is that he will anticipate the opponent to attack the weaker partner ( eg. the lift is on hte opposite side of the weaker player and he will get ready to move infront of the weaker player to drive the smash back at the smasher and then cover the front to kill the smasher's return.

usually he will cover 2 points on e court and pay very close attention to the weaker point that his partner is covering. essentially covering 3 points.

needless to say, he has got lightningn fast footwork to provide the coverage for his partner.

to sum up....he just makes sure that he takes away the chance when you attack the weaker link by being in front of the weaker fella yet he is usally fast enough cover his own court when you do decide to hit to his court instead.

**LazyBuddy** · 05-15-2006, 07:07 AM

I believe there are different situations when we talk about the team work of "strongest + weakest" pairs. Of course, situations various, but in general, we can group them into 2 kinds:

1. A + C vs. 2 B+: If the C knows what to do, and what not to do, and takes care of his/her own business (reasonable serve / defense, good understanding of roatation,etc), then, A/C pair has a good chance to win.

2. A + D vs. 2 B or C: Usually, if A really wants to win, but D is a total newbie, frustration grows. Unless A is far more superior than his/her opponents, there's pretty much no way for them to win or at least win easily. Just imagine in a team, if 1 player can't even serve or hit effectively (or worst, doing pop to "help" opponents setup), how they even have a chance against 2 reasonable competitive opponents?

**surge** · 05-15-2006, 06:34 PM

in my regular group, when you are paired w a weaker player, the stronger side usually dont kill the shots, but they will purposely hold the shuttle and place last minute to make the stronger player run for it( cos the weaker D player won even know what to do). i find it a rather good excercise routine as it really makes you move and let you know if your footwork is there.

**Oggie** · 06-07-2006, 11:33 PM

Its a pity that "stronger players" look down on weaker players and says to himself "why this guy?, why me?". I've seen this many times. They (the stronger player) play half heartedly just for the fun of it. If that is the case, many newbies will be discourage to take up the sport because of snob "superior players". When I was a newbie, I got partnered once to a more experienced player and he was so frustrated and rude. I'd almost given up badminton knowing that the next time I play again, I will be partnered again with a "rude strong player".

All I can say is: if you know that you are the "superior player", take charge be the leader, communicate your strategies and the strategies being employed by your opponent with your weaker partner so that he/she will know what you intend to do, and he adjust accordingly. You may have to work a little harder like covering 2/3 of the court as an example, if you really intend to win.

peace

**nelsonkong** · 06-07-2006, 11:45 PM

lol...doubles only is fun when both team are on equal strength...if not...i would sugest you don't take it so seriously..just have fun...especially you have having a weaker partner...just have some laugh together...XD...that's what i will do.