Winning Half Court singles

Playing half court singles is a good way to prepare for those exhausting long rallies. All you need is to ensure your shots to the back are of excellent length and that your drop shots drop near the net instead of reaching the front service line. The maximum distance between your drops and your clears is one to aim for, as it is the only way to force your opponent to expand the most energy.

 

me and my buddies play half court singles with no smashing allowed to prolong rallies and push for better quality clears and drops.

 

Long clears followed by close net drops seem to work. Would stand about 2/3rds back on the court normally.

 

I think your position on the court depends on the shot you just played. I can't remember where I read this but changing direction takes more energy than accelerating forwards or backwards. So the author of the book/article stated that if you've just played a shot from the back, unless you can comfortably make it back to your normal return position, you should stand a little bit further back, that way you don't have to change direction suddenly. Conversely if you've just played a shot at the net you should stand a little forward of your normal position. The advantage is that when your opponent hits the shuttle you are not scrambling to get back to your ready position and also you are not expending energy in sudden change of direction. Hope this makes sense. Sorry I can't remember where I read this!

Also, I would treat half-court singles as a means to an end ie improving your clears and drops rather than winning but I suppose one thing leads to the other!

 

repeated clears(especially when u see him running front), is able to force your opponent into making a bad return. although no left right deception, u still have plenty of front back deception to play. try not to smash unless you're close enough, because it's easy to retrieve smashes at half court

 

first of all: treat half-court singles like a training-form, not a life-or-death-match (overstating, offcourse)

second: deception is very usefull: fake-drops that urn out to be clears and visa-versa.
if you're a strong smasher, ir he/she is a bad defender: force a lift at the net and smash it; soemthign ncie to do is first a smash to the body and then a smash alogn the lines (or visa versa) as can be read in
http://www.badmintoncentral.com/badminton-central/content/view/11/35/
all those 'tactics' can be used in half-court singles...

also keep a mental note that even in ahlf/court singles there´s still a backhand side to play at...

EDIT: you could also trie a doubles-type-tactic. keep hitting down, and down, and down. there's no cross-return, so you should set yourself up nicely. a netkill is still the easiest winner you can hit...

 

Half court singles...just hurts my knees.

 

I personally use both methods (attack clears/drops, smash), but I think the first one would be more demanding on both player's footwork, which is a good thing, for me. (I have lousy footwork)

 

i also have this problem w/ playing half court singles.
in my badminton class, there are too many people so we always have to play half court instead of full court, even for mock tournaments. Now recently we had a mock tournament to see who would move up to the higher level in our classes, which really sucked for me since i am horrendous at half court games. My play style is to place shot at the corners well and hit it deceptively. This i foudn was nigh impossible in half court games. I still got a few fake netshots that turned halfway into clearing lifts in here and there but i found i could never trick my opponent into thinking i would net it one way when netting it the other since... its half court. Ditto for drops. Even my netkills were returned once in a while cause i couldnt do a brush to the corner.
Needless to say, i did not move up. I was however, lucky enough to get secound or so in my group, which places me 1st-3ed on the group rankings with the better people having moved up.

So after that lonf rant, i guess my point would be that half court is hard to win when your play style is based more on deceptive netshots/drops then hard smashes and kills. It is good practice for 'playing with' your opponent by continiously doing clears and such to get them annoyed, but it is definetely an unfair way of testing your skills. This unfortunately is what it is used for in my club. It makes you practice different shots i guess.

To the orginal question:
I find that the best place to be is where you anticipate your opponent will shoot it This doesnt help a lot i know, but in half court it is relatively easy to guess where your opponent will hit it. If that dont have a killer jumpsmash, you can usually tell if your clear will be returned via clear or drop. Plan accordingly. After you drop it, 80% of the time they return w/ a netshot, so get ready for a kill but dont telegraph that your going to jump forward or else theyd lift it. When clearing to their backhand side and they are going into the backhand overhead position, 95% of the time my opponent will drop it since at my level almost noone can to a backhand overhead clear (me included) so its alright to jump forward since they cant get out of that position without missing the shuttle.
My strat in halfcourt singles,
Step 1: Attacking clear to their forehand side (make sure they cant intercept halfway though)
Step 2: then if they dropshot it, net it to their forehand corner. If they clear it, skip to step 3
Step 3: attacking clear/lift to their backhand corner. 90% of the time they'll go into backhand overhead position. Then get ready to kill the incoming dropshot.

If your opponents are good at backhand overhead clears then you should not depend on the above strat, though they still will drop more often then not in that position i find. Basicly just force lifts and smash away.

My Opinion ... goodluck with your games

 

half court is a game of stamina and speed...these are the two main things you should work on if you wanna win.

 

Half court singles is practised to improve stamina and speed. It is an entirely different game from normal singles. A player who loses half court singles to an opponent could very well beat him easily in normal singles.

 

Half-court singles are meant to train stamina and consistency. It is an excellent opportunity to practice your "hold" shots.

It doesn't matter whether it's half-court or full-court, you still have to utilize the ENTIRE playing surface to maximize your chance of winning. If you're only thinking about the length, then you're giving your opponent a much easier time.

Deception should be considered all the time. In half-court singles, it's "holding" your shot. Confuse your opponent with your overhead clear/drop shots. If you can make your clear/drop to look the same, you'll win. Your wrist has to be explosive enough to hit a clear with minimal preparation/movement. Very tough to do, but this is what the practice is for.

Smashing is rarely a good idea in half-court singles, as your opponent knows almost all the valid smashes are within reach. You'll just be wasting your energy in long rallies. However, you would still use it after you confuse the heck out of your opponents with your "hold" shots.

Summary of tactics for half-court singles:
- use overhead clear/drop deception
i.e. draw your opponent to the net, then flick any net replies over his head
i.e. push your opponent back with semi-attack clears, then drop to the front when they're out-of-balance at the back
- use the width of the court
- throw in some smashes after they got confused with your "holds"; aim for shoulders and hips
- can even do some double-style drives rallies, then suddenly take the pace off for a drop

O yeah, be sure to learn how to "conserve energy" in a half-court singles match. The most obvious way is to stay upright all the time, and not lose any balance.

I can go on forever on half-court singles tips; I luv this game.

 

You are right about this if you are planning on smashing to the lines the whole time, but I find it good practise to try and go for the lines to improve accuracy. I will then mix it up with some body smashes to practise these. This is probably my best tactic for finishng a rally in half court singles as returns from body smashes are pretty difficult in half court singles (much easier in full court) without lifting it high enough for a kill.

Therefore still smash to the sides to keep your opponent guessing so it doesnt become obvious you are always body smashing.

 

huge smash, be consistent