Hey Everyone on Badminton Central. I know a friend who is pretty good in badminton and i'm trying to find a strategy to beating him. HE is EXTREMELY VERY VERY fast. like in 100 m sprints and stuff. He has excellent control of the birdy and placement. he rarely or never makes unneeded errors. He also has extremely skilled net play with fakes and trick shots. I don't know how to beat this type of player. His clear is also very deep. baseline to baseline. The only skill he doesn't have is smash. HE constanstly plays drop, clear drop clear, placement. DO you guys have any strategy as to beating him? im more of the smashing offensive type player. thanks you all
no way for me . This guy could possibly beat me 15-0. Deep clear, quick footwork and excellent netplay - too strong an opponent to beat if you can't compare with him in any of those departments.
You seem to be saying this guy is dangerous at the net, so how about trying to keep him away from his good game by just keeping him mostly in the back and smashing when you can?
Actually from your description, i doubt it very much that he cannot smash Maybe he just takes pity on you and doesn't smash against you, or doesn't want to risk injury by unnecessarily smashing when he can win easily by playing drop-clear. When I see top level players like Lin Dan, Taufik playing in the R64 against world rank 101 type of players (who are pretty good in their own right), they HARDLY smash and win handily. Instead they constantly play placement type shots in order to test the drift and court conditions.
Its a toughie, calm your game first if he is expecting you to smash then dont, drops and clears will not only extend the game but expose the space for you to occasionally kill the birdie. Anyway best of luck.
Don't attack too early. You need to try to set up your smash so that it's likely to be a winner, or produce such a weak reply that the next shot is a winner. Bang the shuttle fast and deep into his backhand corner over and over again and wait for a weak reply. (mix it up a little to keep him on his toes, but concentrate on his backhand) When you do play a smash or drop, make sure are behind the shuttle so you are ready to move forward in case of a net reply.
sounds to me like he's a level above you. wich isn't a downside, keep playign against him! eventually you'll adjust to this faster gamepace and improve a lot! try to keep the rallies going and use your head! if winning is what you want, don't let him play his game. get on his backhand (like neil said) and start a netgame ónly when he's at the back (he's better at the net, so don't do a fancy netshot when he's that close) try to varrie the gamepace as well, if it's up to him the entire match would go at 110% (for you, 90% for him)of a normal pace. so vary your stroke to upset the rythm...
I agree with this one. From the original post, I think the opponent is more likely "don's smash" rather than "can't smash". Once you reach to be his competitive level, I am sure there're more "surprise" will come out from his game. Maybe describe yoursel a bit, to see any particular weakness and strength you have. In general, you need to cover/hide your own weakness and attack his weakness.
Just my 2 cents.. ..i don't really know the level of both of you guys' ability, but my guess is, by reading your post, your friend's level is in the "intermediate" to "advanced" level, esp. when you said "he has extremely skilled net play with fakes and trick shots", which means he has a strong wrist and plays a lot with it (and i'm sure your friend is capable of smashing too)...my feeling is, i think your friend is testing/training your footwork(esp. in retrieving his drops and then having you to pedal back to retrieve his clears and back and forth)...or vice versa, he's training himself...in a way, he's also trying to find your weakness... I woudn't say you can't "defeat" him, but i'm quite sure(like jerby mentioned), with enough and more and more committed training, you'll be competitive enough and able to cope with his shot selections..
The best thing is, keep playing with him, you don't have to change your style, it's okay to lose most of the time or all the time, that's how you get better. I wish I can play with players who beat me all the time at the practice, it will keep me motivated, it will improve my game fast. In the mean time, you also analyze your own game, what's your weakness(es), you can also ask him, don't hesitate. It seems like you are one lucky guy who has good opportunities to learn from a better player, use it, Man!
Lets look at this assuming that there's no surprises and that if there are surprises, you'll deal with those when they come up. So, that in mind, lets just assume for a moment that he has no smash and that everything else you say about him is accurate, just to be as constructive as possible here. You describe that 'he doesn't have a smash' but lets look for other weaknesses. How is his backhand? Or does he have footwork to cover his backhand corner with round-the-head shots? If he has a good base to base clear and a good drop shot, how is his own midcourt deffense against your smashes? Have you tried using drives directly at him at times to try and 'cramp' his responses? The only thing i can think about if you say he relies on fast footwork, as well as playing your net and your baseline is to see if you can pin him down and disable those techniques. As far as disabling quality drops and clears go, fire drives at his chest level and that reduces the ability for him to get angle and swing to clear, and it also tends to eliminate the threat of sharp net drops. Your description highlights his strengths-- but you really have to let us know about more of his weaknesses (or at least, his least strong aspects) as well as your own strengths and weaknesses if we're gonna help you put together a game plan. (Yes, i realize that the opponent does sound stronger than him but lets work on bridging that gap!)
One way that we may not have discussed is the need for stamina. Even though I highly doubt he has "no smash", I'll assume for a moment that you don't have much trouble returning them =). In that case, the game will end up coming down to your footwork/stamina against his, which in most cases, is a by far tougher game to beat him. In my honest opinion, you need to train more rather than find a strategy to beat him. You have to play good shots that force him to move and use up energy to stay in the rally. In summary, practice footwork, shot precision, and stamina is going to beat him. If you can push him to his endurance limit while you still have gas in the tank, then you can win. Otherwise, you can't keep up with his speed and precision.
Sounds like playing against a "rally-type" player.. ..i concur also...that's why the opponent would rather play the simple clear/drop back and forth(and make you run all over the court), rather than going for the big jugular in the form of a smash/jumpsmash, to tire/use up his opponent's energy/stamina slowly..and add to that, as AznDude mentioned his buddy "rarely or never makes unneeded errors".. In a way, it works for AznDude as well, as s/he will also train up his endurance/stamina..and over time, the more s/he goes thru this, who knows..
how you can beat him: keep playing him for the next year; when coaches ask you to pair up, jump on him. Then after working your butt off for a year you should a around his level
Hi AznDude I have to agree with others on this. Your friend is definitely a level up on you and is most probably doing the "wont smash" thing on you, but I really do think that is a good thing. I have experience this in a county match myself where one of the guys I played against did not smash at all. I was then told by my team mate, after we lost, that he did not need to and if he did, we would not see the shuttlecock, let alone return it. Playing with players like this is very good to improve your game. There is one thing though that I strongly recommend you do, which is to try some trick shots yourself or ask him to teach you as, in my opinion, it add a little un-predictability to your game that can unsettle players that are better than yourself. Good Luck Ken
Trick shots? I disagree totally. If one is losing points because of the overal quality of the opponent in comparison, trick shots will win you at most a few points per game. It will add fun to the situation, sure... but in the long term, basics, even incremental 'unnoticible' improvments will always be more useful than a trick shot in the long run.
