hey guys. i've been playing badminton for sometime now....about 1 year and a half with constant training. i prefer a slow rally type style but when given the chance i do attack and up the pace. my coach wants me to, and i agree with him, to lengthen the rallies before attacking. however, i can't seem to play many rallies above 10 shots. is there any tactic or way of playing which forces a longer rally. the opponents in my junior province team are all fast attacking styles. when i do get a good long rally, they get really frustrated and start to lose quick points. but the problem is it doesn't happen enough for me to tire them out and win. ideas, suggestions would be great.
I prefer to play a long rally style with short burts of quick attacks in between. For me the key to getting to that long rally is playing in the "safe zone". This "safe zone" are all the shots that you feel comfortable playing if you woke up in the middle of the night craving badminton. This tend to include long defensive clears, down the line drives, and basic drops. Now to use them effectively, you need placement and a easily rule system: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/badminton-central/content/view/15/26/ I really like the 'abcd' corner system. This keeps me playing basic fundemental shots that move my opponent around keeping the rally's going. Of course if your opponent keeps messing up there isn't much you can do.
Why does your coach want you to play longer rallies? To improve your cardio? If so, just play half court singles. Otherwise, you should try to finish a rally as fast as possible, if there is the opportunity. Prolonging a point does not benefit you at all.
I think I have to disagree on the fact that prolonging a point does not benefit you. Of course the definition of the word is dependent for each of us, so my definition of a prolonged point is one where you don't try to do forced smashes or overly risky shots. In that case prolonging the point helps with a more consistant game, a more tired opponent, and more mistakes by your opponent because of that fatigue down the road. A good example of this can be seen in hidayat vs lin dan at japan open finals. It might also help to specify what you play, since I'm not sure this is true for doubles.
From a tactical standpoint, you still have to divide tactics between singles and doubles because of different factors at play. It's like the analogy of apples and pears in the other thread; you can't cut a pear like you would an apple (well actually you can, but yea.) I am taking my stance from singles where a prolong rally does tire the person out. It may not show, but if you are playing agianst somebody of similar level, fatigue is a real factor. You probobaly won't win out right with just that, but just it can be seen on the shorter scope with the frustration of you opponent. This can also set up the psychological part of the battle which helps in the long run. I mean, I just can't agree that there is no benifit to prolonging a rally. I can, however, agree that needlessly prolonging a rally does nothing.
i think stamina and footwork is the crucial factor in long rallies. prolonged rallies are more effective against people poor in footwork, impatient players who tend to commit errors. whether a long rally benefits you usually depends on who you're playing. since your coach told u to lengthen rallies, most probably that's your strong point, so you shall heed his advice lol.
Generally rallies will be longer if you: a) Play more safe shots (shots where you are unlikely to make an error) b) Play more clears and lifts, and fewer smashes and drops. ....but it also depends on your opponents. If their attack is very strong, then these choices might actually produce shorter rallies And, of course, you must be careful not to defend too much in doubles especially. There is always a balance.
ohhh i see lol. yeah...that prob explains a lot. cos at the junior stage, most of my opponents are the smash and bash type, playing with out thinkin. the reason for me trying to play longer rallies is to damage them mentally because all of them have really short pateince and tempers. and the other reason is to out run them because they're all europeans nd i'm asian nd at the junior stage especially, i think europeans are much stronger so i can't match them smash for smash. one game where i did a lot of prolonged rallies had evident results because after each error, my opponent threw his racquet. i don't play all long and slow though. sometimes i attack straight away sometimes i vary the pace and shots, like playing slow then playing a few fast attacking clears. works a lot. so what i was curious about is, when gollum said playing slow against fast attacks will shorten the rally? how's that?
If their attack is excellent, then you don't want to give them too many chances to use it. If you play slow, then you will be lifting and clearing a lot (and perhaps quite high, defensive lifts and clear). This lets them attack, so the rallies might become shorter -- because they will win them quickly! When you play against players with very good attack, you usually can't afford to play slow. You have to hope they have a weakness in their attack; find it and use it against them.
ah i see what you mean now. but i think i may have mislead you when i said i play slow long rallies. what i was trying to mean by slow is not smashing as much but not always high clears and such. i think a good example of what i'm trying to describe is LCW. when i say him play against Lin Dan in AE this year, he played long rallies with few smashes but that didn't mean his shots were high, deep clears. in fact, most of the clears i see him play is a deceptive jump clear which is flat and fast. he played slower than Lin Dan but not actually the slow deep clears and lifts. so do you think if i played a flatter game and played the shots with more speed(not neccesarly a smash) but like flat clears, half smashes, faster drops, i'll be able to contain thier attack more because i don't give them as much time. this way, there'd still be longer rallies.
Yes, that should be effective. In particular, lots of flat clears will lengthen the rallies while making it harder for them to attack.
yeah....so guess that's it. play fast long rallies. is there a type of training which helps that? i heard half court singles is really good for lengthning rallies
It also helps to play singles vs doubles. It forces your placement to more exact with more consistant strokes and fast footwork.
i guess his coach wants him to extened the rally untill he gets the prime-shot...i mean the perfect shot to finish off,like a good psitioned smash rather than smashing many thimes where his opponent keeps sending the feather back high and he loses stamina...
yeah. we've discussed it a bit more and he said yes. there's no point trying to kill the shuttle when it's not the right time. so i guess playing longer rallies means being safe until the time is right. i see Lin Dan uses this strategy a lot. most people think he's a very aggressive and offensive. but in a few matches i've seen, after going over the matches wit my coach, we noticed most of the rallies were actually slow and only attacking out of the blue after at least 15 shots most of the time. the other, "less exciting" points which people didn't notice were from unforced errors or out running his opponent.
