My question is... what are some specific drills and tips to achieve fluidity? One of my coaches describes fluidity as 'the effortless movement from the centre to the bird and returning, where the stroke is an extension of the flowing movement of the player.' Most high level players are extremely fluid, look like they're floating across the court, especially Asian players. I've been training at a high level for 11 years and still look like a loud rhinocerous having a seizure on court. My coaches all point it out, other players tend to mock me for my terrible lack of any sort of fluidity at all. However, I just can't figure out how to fix it, and deliberate, intensive footwork training doesn't seem to be helping yet! Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!
All things being equal (footwork, strength, fitness etc), the key to fluid movement on court is not to be rushed. The key to not being rushed is have a good awareness of the game. Have you noticed how the quickest people often don't look that quick at all? It's almost like they know where the shuttle is going before you've even hit it. That's because they do. As for specific drills etc - seeing as you've already been training for a while, there's probably not much I could add that you probably haven't already done or tried. However, what I would suggest are two things you might want to try; 1) work on your leg strength - and I mean REALLY work on your leg strength. Explosiveness is the key, meaning plenty of plyometric type exercises, and 2) work on court exercises where your feeder is actively trying to deceive and wrong-foot you to make you pay attention. Wayne Young
hmm, you mean smooth footwork? that needs practice, also the correct footwork, and you need to have make sure you make yourself bouncy, but i dont mean jump and leap all over, its that kind of reactivity or whatever you put it, if you stay flat you cant move smooth
take some irish dancing classes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddWaVG9XLCU or take some ballroom dancing classes or fencing classes.
Haha, I like those ideas. I did fence for a few years, couldn't get the fluidity in that, either, my coach was always angry because I fenced like a knifefighter
I used to do the collapsing building building thing, and still do a bit, but what improved it for me was mental + fitness. Slowing things down in your mind so you aren't rushing so much.
Fluidity in moving around the court means you expand the least amount of energy for the type of strokes or shots you want to execute with, repeat with, your body in balance at all times. Visually some say such movements are seemless. "Explosiveness" that results in a strong and vigorous arm or body movement is not being fluid or seemless. It looks crude. If player A can hit a shuttle faster with a mere snap of the wrist in a relaxed and almost lazy movement than player B who contorts his face, body, and arm for his mother of all jump smash, then the former has fluidity and the latter no fluidity but tons of explosiveness. Fluidity requires vision, body position, center of gravity, coordination, a good "feel", all put together to keep you in balance at all times-before the stroke, during the stroke, after the stroke, and many strokes ahead. Explosiveness is not effortless, far from seemless, and has nothing to do with fluidity.
Taneepak, fluidity is based on strength. Who are the most fluid and graceful atheletes? High on the list must be ballet dancers and gymnasts. It's no coincidence that these people are pound for pound some of the strongest and most explosive athletes around. Having good control of your movements and balance requires good strength by necessity. It just doesn't look like it unless you know what you're looking at. Wayne Young
Oh, and in addition, the importance of leg strength to fluidity is not so much for the initiation of movement, but for the end of it - the recovery. Wayne Young
I definitely agree with that. I'm starting to realize that fluidity, to the front and sides at least, greatly concerns the lunge. 'Fluid' looking players seem to cover a lot of distance with the lunge and the recovery from this extension appears effortless (which must take an INCREDIBLE deal of leg strength!). I am working greatly on my lunging which I have neglected for years due to injuries (which I still have, but I'll be in pain either way, so I figure I'd rather be a better player). In only a few days it has seemed to have some beneficial, promising results, far more so than intensively practicing my current footwork patterns. Is this right, or am I completely barking up the wrong tree?
Yeah Taneepak, I have to disagree with you slightly, as Kiwiplayer says, explosiveness can still be graceful. Like the snap of the wrist you mentioned, to me that is the explosive power people talk about.
Work that lunge. Feel the burn! But seriously, yes you're right, it takes a great deal of strength to recover quickly from the lunge. If you look at any of the top players, you'll see their racquet leg is always much larger than the other. While leaping around all over the place obviously takes a lot of strength, I think quick recovery from a lunge is even more demanding. Just make sure you don't re-injure yourself with the training! I don't know what level you play at, but another important aspect to smooth footwork is the "step and slide". Taneepak is right in that conserving energy is very important (especially for singles). What the slide (ie bringing the trailing leg up) does is change your centre of gravity to make recovery from the lunge easier. Wayne Young
hmm westwood.. i think you should look at taufik's matches, if he is in the "motivated to play well" mode then you should see really smooth, relaxed and graceful strokes
One question to build on to fluidity: I have poor footwork, at least I think. Maybe I am just heavy and have poor stamina. I sometimes get into the situation where a bird is dropped to my side and I return to my opponent (be it drop or clear or push) only to realise that he/she pushes far to my rear court. In this situation, I still reach the bird but sometimes with the bird behind my body. Therefore when I return, it is bound to be weak. However, in my club, I still see other tournament level players in such situation but when they do return, they are still deep clear baseline returns as opposed to mine. I notice that because the bird is behind their bodies, they return with the arm trying to reach the bird which is already behind their body and then with purely, and I mean purely, wrist snap, the bird is boooomed to the other side. Has this got anything to do with wrist explosiveness? Given the perfect footwork but still in such situation (perhaps due to wrong anticipation), does fluidity of the body and arm helps with this "wrist explosion" ?
Rhythm in one's footwork must come into play. Fluidity implies smooth movement, minimum amount of steps, good balance and I'm also guessing, being able to change the pace of one's footwork.
When you are in this extreme situation, use only your forearm (no upper arm) with a strong wrist snap. Do not pivot your body-you are taking the shuttle behind your body-as you wrist snap. You can then turn your body towards the net after the shot. It is almost all wrist snap without any assistance from body rotation. This is not a wrist explosion which implies all sound and fury. It looks effortless, almost graceful because you are using your body core for balance, and the shuttle is sent away at great speed with very little arm movement. This is fluidity. Footwork is only one element of balance.
but you still can't generate lots of power hitting it behind you, sure it may give you time but a smart opponent will capitalize it becuase no matter what, this clear will never be high and deep. if you try to put it deep, it will almost always be low, and a smart opponent will cut it off and punish you harshly as you are just recovering. if you make it high to try and give yourself time to recover, you risk hitting it short and so, give your opponent a short clear to thunder down a smash. i saw this happen to Lee Choong Wei playing against Lin Dan in the All Enlgand Smeis in 2006. Lee was often being forced take the shuttle behind him frequently and whenever he cleared, it put him under pressure. when he tried to clear it low and long, Lin Dan would leap up and beat it down before Lee had taken two steps in his recovery to base. when he hit it high and short (in their terms, short is often 6-12 in from the base line, which is normal in our case) Lin Dan would punish him just as harshly. so to put it simply, try as hard as you can to move quicker and not get caught like that, move faster, but when you do get forced to take it behind you, do whatever you can to dig yourself out of trouble, and worry only about the next shot.
Being in the wrong position will always compromise one's ability to play the shuttle. For the situation you describe, I notice that players have different strengths around the court. Some may be quite good at getting out of a difficult situation like that but weaker on other parts of the game. In short the answer is yes.
