Hope you wizards can help on this one.... My up and coming youngster is coached and trains regularly can be in a match and hit a run of mistakes - out the back, sides, into the net. The match can be in danger of fast running away without contest. Other than changing the shuttle, refixing shoe laces, what two or three specific points do you suggest she should tell herself on court to get back on track and make a match of it??
I am certainly no wizard, just a very long time player (retired from playing high level tournaments). My advice is to have a strong, fighting, and positive mental attitude. This, of course, does not include "perfecting" other physical attributes and techniques which are also equally important. Cheers.
Another thing you could advice is "not every shot has to be that perfect" ; we all run around to be so perfect & thats where most of the mistakes comes from!!!! But if you train yourself to be "not so perfect", the number of mistakes will go down considerably...
This is where I have to respectfully disagree. That is why we are so unique with different point of view and experience. If not, the world will certainly be a boring place. Personally, during training, I much rather aim for perfection. However, if I don't attain perfection, that is ok with me too. At least I am aiming the highest goal, even though the result might not be the same as the goal. Here is another different way of saying. I aim for 100% perfection. So if I attain, say 98%, that is the highest I can achieve at that time. I certainly will not be depressed but will strive to achieve that elusive 100%, with practice and perseverance. However, if I aim for 90% for example, I might achieve that 90% and perhaps a little more. There is also the chance that I might achieve less than 90%. Knowing human behavior (ie very proud of their achievements), contentment might set in and sometimes come up with various excuses if one fails. So if you build up your mental attitude during training, it will become natural during competition, easier to transfer over. Now one only need the competition experience to improve on. Cheers.
There's a lot to be said for muscle memory in this type of situation. When a person starts to make mistakes, they'll try to concentrate harder, and with many people it breeds more mistakes. I have a friend who, if he hits a smash into the net, will continue doing smashes concentrating harder and harder, hitting it into the net every time, getting more and more angry with himself, and it costs him games. Try to get your youngster to concentrate a little less, and let his muscles do the work for him instead of trying to use his brain too much.
Get a time out. You mentioned changing the shuttle, refixing shoe laces... do that! Give yourself a moment of time to refocus. Maybe take a water break, maybe mop the floor a little bit, anything to break your focus from being worried about making mistakes.
What you should tell her- all you have to do is get it over, so long as you can hit the shots over the net, you'll give yourself a chance to win What she should say to herself- just get it over
I agree with Jayes. I've always played to hit the best possible shot and even if I make a lot mistakes, eventually ill get it right. 3 yrs ago my coach told me the same advice of just getting the bird over first and at first he seemed to be right because i was making a lot of mistakes but right now, I believe that those painful moments have paid off.
jayes, I think you misunderstood malayali. he's simply saying, when you try overly hard, you tighten up, and start pressing, and make more mistakes. to relax, you need to tell yourself that the next shot does not have to be perfect, just get it over the net. wait for the feel to come back, don't go anxiously searching for it. that is counterproductive. you need confidence to hit the perfect shots, and you won't have confidence if you have just hit it into the net four straight times. doesn't have anything to do with how you practice or what you aim for. when I get into trouble with serial mistakes, I tend to fall back on the basics. hit the shuttle hard, hit it deep, and slowly work my way back into the game.
Thanks for the response and varied views. It is helpful to hear how people tackle a problem like this with different solutions! I put the same question to my daughter and she thought and responded with two specifics: " 1. Play higher above the net and more into court 2. Plan out the rally so that you aren't paniking into a bad shot." (must get on to her teacher about spelling tests!) I particularly liked the Vilkbad analysis, and the need expressed by others to interrupt the 'bad' flow in some way, incidentally possibly, I guess, interrupting the opponent's 'good' flow! The same situation in doubles introduces more dimensions with partner pressures possibly having a negative affect.
my advice would be to teach them this thing i call margin of error for example you are doing a training session and all of a sudden 2/3 shots go into the net. stop the training session and ask where they are trying to place the shuttle usually the reply will be just over the net. now tell them to aim alittle higher hense the name margin of error so if this happens in the match just stop do up your shoes, calm yourself down and think to yourself margin of error hope that helps
What i like to do, Is the next time my opponenent serves is i get into my ready stance and after it looks like my opponent is about to serve i look at the ground, making serve he won't serve and hopefully breaking his rhythm.
Are you referring to unforced errors? Then nothing can help but to try to slow the game down a little - maybe it is nervousness that is causing the errors. Other than that, it is skill that matters. If the errors arise from good attacking returns from your opponnent, then I reckon a change of tactic may be in order, depending on the situation and the experience level.
Well...if I keep on doing that... i just talk to myself...and circle the sweet spot on my racket and just always aim for that spot...I dont drop yet...Just focusing on hitting the sweet spot...then...when im back to normal...meaning...hitting 8-9/10 then i go for the drops
for me, i usually take 2-3 deep breaths. this will calm me down and put more oxygen to my brain. then i focus again on the game. also don't put too much pressure on yourself so that you commit less mistakes.
What I do is, I take every rally, point by point. If I lose that point I think about winning the next point. I look at the racket for a few seconds, think about the next point and get on with it. Take a few breaths between points. If you pick up the shuttle, then *clean* the shuttle before the next point.
