This is a video of my smash - file is not that big, and filefront site is very fast http://files.filefront.com/Smash_Practice_July2006wmv/;5221496;;/fileinfo.html http://38.118.213.207/mucgptbyql+/personal/w/Wedgewenis/Smash_Practice_July2006.wmv if you think you are good at seeing problems in technique, please have a look at this video .. this is me practicing my smash just a few days ago notes about the Video: I do not have a problem with hitting angle - my smash is very steep and tight to the net from almost any height or spot on the court - my problem is power My swing has gotten better recently but is still lacking - it feels as if i'm hitting about 70 percent of what it should be for power. It is hard for me to practice like i'm doing in the video - I have shoulder tendonitis and my shoulder becomes tired very fast - however typicall when I play doubles I can smash and it does not become tired or sore I also smash better when playing than training.. and sometimes if my timing is on I will jump on most smashes - but its very difficult for me to jump on a smash from a hand feed (dont know why) I might have hit a few decent smashes in the video ..but most were powerless - and as you can see i'm not happy with the result as i'm doing this.
hi, thanks for the video. I'm not a coach but will point out my thoughts as smashing happens to be my best shot. Firstly everyone seems to want a more powerfull smash. Allthough I have probably the most powerfull smash in the league I play in I tensd to take 20% power off and concentrate on the angle instead i.e hitting it down and not flat. It is true that the harder you try and hit the shuttle the less control you have on where it goes. If you can keep then control and hit hard then go for it. From a defending point of view, you can hit it as hard as you like but if it's flat it'll get driven straight back at you. ok from the video - it seems to me that you look really tense and rigid when hitting the shuttle. you shouyld be completley relaxed and literally throw your racket at the shuttle. Its the flick in the wrist that gets the power not your arm. most shots in badminton require a 'flowing' motion. feet position: watch the video and watch your feet. as you go back to position yourself for the shuttle you should take a sideways stance which sometimes you do and others your feet seem to be all over the place hence misshits / slices. grip: what grip are you using there as it doesnt look like a proper forehand grip to me. ill look again at this thread tomorrow and see if i can help out more.
i saw your video. To me, it appears that you are holding your racket a little higher. It's almost near to the cone but you should hold your racket at the bottom of the grip while hitting smashes. Another thing, the way you hold your racket is unusual to me. There is some weird angle between your forearm and palm and you maintain this position while taking back your racket for hitting the shuttle. I guess it should a straight relaxed grip. hth,
Great video The good news is this: your basic overhead swing looks great. There's very little that needs changing. It's just a matter of finding the small errors that are holding you back. The most striking thing I saw was that, most of the time, you appear to be slicing the shuttle. Sometimes it looks like you are practising sliced dropshots! You can hear the slicing in the video, and also see it sometimes. Your grip looks about right to me, but it's hard to tell with a video. You could try checking it against the BC grips guide or other sources (the guide has errors, but it is broadly correct). I think that your forearm rotation is too gradual and gentle. For a power stroke, the forearm rotation should be suddenly accelerated and "snappy", rather than soft and smooth. Your smoother, slower method is more like the technique used to hit a deceptive dropshot, where you brush across the shuttle. You also usually don't turn your shoulders enough. Like you, I find it harder to hit good smashes in practice that in games. Strange!
im not a coach or anything, but this is what i saw: i think you're gripping the racket a bit high. if you want power, hold your grip at the very bottom. like gollum said, some of your smashes seem like slices. when you contact the birdie, make sure your racket is facing forward. you should rotate your shoulders much faster too. also when you're coming out of your arch when smashing, make sure your snap from one said to the other.
if you look at my grip - not my fingers but the way my wrist is layed back that is the position the wrist must be in before you 'let go' of the raquet - in other words when the forearm turns over or rotates ... I dont have the control or the timing to let my raquet fall back to that position during the swing so I just hold it that way before I swing yes i agree I am not 'letting go' and the swing is too tense - I am actually trying to relax as i'm doing but I can't seem to ... I need to be relaxed but if I try my swing is usually a lazy swing there is not enough whip at the end but i'm not sure how to change it I used to swing much different than in the video, i've only been swinging with this technique for 4 or 5 monhts - before that I had a much different swing where the forearm rotation went in the opposite direction - I played that way since I was a kid and its very hard to change and yes my feet are often all over the place - which is why I have a hard time doing a jump smash when practicing - I literally Cannot jump smash when doing feed drills like this - In doubles games I can jump when my timing is on but it comes and goes. oh, and thanks for the replies so far !
You might be too relaxed! It's good to be relaxed as you get ready to hit; but around the point of impact, you need suddenly to tighten several muscles. Your forearm should pronate more violently, and your grip will need to be tightened on impact. Bear in mind that you can perform an attacking clear using only a short rotating flick of the forearm. See if you can get more power from your forearm rotation. Holding your wrist cocked back in preparation may not be helpful, because it can introduce tension into your swing. I wouldn't worry too much about what the wrist is doing. Your footwork is actually pretty good It can always be improved, of course, but I don't think that is your main problem here.
Actually, the first thing that came to my mind was the footwork, more specifically the scissor kick. In terms of covering the court, your footwoork looks very smooth and it seems to be effective in that respect. However, in the scissor kick portion of the movement, you don't seem to be getting the necessary explosive rotation in your hips. In fact, for some of the smashes, you appear to be floating back, which will really limit the effectiveness of those smashes. I make this observation from watching you plant your left foot after smashing. From watching videos of professionals, it can be seen that their non-racquet foot hits the ground very aggressively after a full smash, and it drives them forwards immediately after they hit the ground. In contrast, it appears that you're landing softly because your hips aren't rotating quickly enough. I suggest that you watch some videos of Chinese womens players, particularly their doubles players. Watch how they use their non-racquet arm and leg to initiate the movement, and how explosively their hip rotates when they smash. My reasoning is that women are less able to bomb their smashes across with raw power, and instead rely more on maximizing the effectiveness of their technique to draw power out of their smash. Also, the Chinese team probably has the strongest women's team in the world, so they would be the good one to check out.
What I see predominantly is simply a huge lack of body power being used. Your smash power is generated using only your arm. I also find that your swing does not incorporate enough wrist in it. The swing I use for all my shots is all about turning the wrist as opposed to a "flick." Basically, for an overhead shot like a smash, my wrist turns outwards, which essentially leaves the face of the raquet facing outwards. However, it quickly and automatically swings back down and in front of my eyes, allowing me to see the next shot quickly. Next is the lack of body power. Your hips and your abs should be the main power generator for your smash. Watching your scissor-kick, you seem to just glide through it. You should be turning your hips using your raquet hip, driving your hip forward, and causing the scissor-kick to occur very quickly and powerfully. When you turn your body to ready yourself for the smash, your mid-section should be stretched out. When you strike the shuttle, your abs should tighten suddenly. This is what will give you explosive power in your smash. It also helps it to be more deceptive.
Thanks for the replies to everyone I think you are right about the hip rotation - I do realize that there is too much dependancy on just the 'arm' for power - I'll try to work on that and mabye tape it again and mabye see if it improves BananaOfDoom - please explain, what do you mean by "your mid-section should be stretched out" - by this do you mean that you arch your back prior to the swing?
It's not so much that your back is arched. It's more that your body is straight, and your abs are not tensed at all. I guess it's most important that your abs aren't tensed, as the more suddenly you tense them, the more power will be generated.
I cannot see your video because there's a problem with the link. I just try to explain this 'mid section stretch out' from my experience. Although badminton is a very dynamic game where you move rapidly on court, the thing is: The more you get stable before a stroke, the more accurate and powerful you will play it. I've spent longtime correcting grip and arm techniques, but (after 2 years), realized how important it is to get your legs and body help my strokes. Basically I think we need to use legs to help stabilize the body. For the smash, it is ideal to get behind the shot, jump and hit. When I don't have enough time for those steps, I find it is good to try to get my right legs behind the shuttle (I am a right hander), i.e. reach my right leg backward and keep in bending back until the moment right before the stroke. This helps me stabilize my upper body, because when reaching my leg back, my body stops moving. I can thus get immobile on air for a while. It is difficult to try it with a smash, but you can try a clear instead. Jump backward, keep your leg bending back and clear with a scisors kick, you will see how effortlessly you can clear. There are many other situations where we need good use of racket leg. Look at how a pro reaches forward to play underhand clear. If he's righthanded and is stepping to his right, most likely you will see his right foot pointing outward. With this foot position, his lower body is locked before the stroke so he could play it much more accurately.
Well today the link works for me. Your smashes look very good, . Your body is stable during the smash too. I hope you can keep smashing like this in real matches. I think the only problem is there lacks a little bit of exposiveness.
you should read this thread about grips for smashing. either one will probably improve your power. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21018
