Mix doubles Help

Serving positions

When you are serving, you should have your mixed partner stand as close to the middle as possible -- just a little offset so that she does not hinder your serve & does not unsight the receiver. She should stand on the side that works best for the both of you.

From her initial position, she should be to get to drop returns to either corner. If she is too far from the middle of the net, she may have trouble getting to one of those corners on a good drop return. Does she move quicker to one side than the other? If she is leaning away from the center (to provide a clear path for you to serve), can she still get to the opposite corner quickly?

Other things to take into consideration: are you both right-handed? do you use a FH serve or a BH serve? Taking all these things into consideration when deciding where she sould stand for your serve.

You might also want to change her postion depending on who you are serving to. It is usually wise to serve primarly short serves to the guy (unless he is very close to the front line). On the other hand, it is a good idea to a lot of hit flick serves to the girl to get her off the net -- thus forcing the opposing girl to play the back court (assuming she is weaker in the back then her partner). If you plan to hit a lot of flicks or high, deep serves to the female player, then you may need to modify your partner's starting position.

 

Really important to work on those communication skills with your partner. You should try to make it a 2-way democratic communication rather than a 1-way dicatorship.

What exactly do you mean when you say that she slices every drop? Why do you perceive it as a bad thing? I assume that you are talking abour net drops rather than overhead drops, correct? Does her racket move excessively when she attempts net drops?

Your partner should not normally be reaching back for shots that are starting to get past her -- especially on her backhand side. Which other shots seem to be unclear as to who should take them?

Your partner should not be driving very much unless it appears to give her an advantage against certain opponents. Quite often, if she drives shots to most guys, it allows him to maintain control of the rally. Instead, she should do more drops and push shots to try to force the other team to lift to you so that your team has control of the rallies more often.

If the shuttle is a foot or two above the net, your partner should not smash or drive. Instead she should be doing a flat net kill. This is a very short, quick shot that is supposed to put the bird down on the floor. It should not be hit like a smash at all.

She should only hit a smash if the shuttle is a lot higher than that and is still in front of her -- if she can't get behind the shuttle to smash, then it would be better for you to come forward to put the shuttle away.

If she can get to the shuttle above the net, then the kill shot is usually her best bet. If it is just a little bit above the net, then she should employ a brush net kill rather than a flat kill (so that she duznt hit the net).

For the flat net kill she needs to learn how to use a finger power technique. Let me know if you need more info abt this technique.

For more info about push shots and kill shots, refer to the posts by me and by stumblingfeet in the following thread:

badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41885

 

Personally I think that one of the most basic problems a new pair has (especially if they are not experienced or advanced) is figuring out who gets which shots, specially those that fall into the fuzzy middle area where neither is really standing. Other than that I would say talk a lot about positioning and stuff and just.. practice. As a girl I think its very difficult to adjust to playing mixed doubles as opposed to regular doubles, so the pressure is usually very high. But yeah, seems like systemicanomaly has given a lot of good tips. Good luck!

 

Since your partner is playing the forecourt most of the time, she should be holding the racket handle near the top of the grip. This should give her better racket control at the net and should make it much easier to move her racket into position much more quickly (which is very important when playing the front). Altho' this grip position will shorten her reach slightly, the benefits greatly outweigh this factor. The net player should also have her racket up all the time so that she can catch the shuttle above the net or, at least, as high as possible.

If she is popping the bird up when hitting net drops, the shuttle may be contacting the stringbed too close to the sweetspot (which is near the middle of the strings). It is preferrable to use the sweetspot when hitting pushes, drives & net kills. However when hitting net drops, she should avoid the sweetspot so that the shuttle does not rebound too high. Instead, she should be hitting the bird higher in the stringbed or somewhat closer to the frame (away from the center of the strings) so that she has improved control of the shuttle.

This should also make it easier for her to tumble the bird on net drops. The only time she should use the sweetspot for net drops are when she gets to the shuttle late and it has already dropped quite a bit below the top of the net -- her racket will be in a low position in this situation so she may need the extra string bounce at the sweetspot to get it over the net.

The other problem that many ppl have with net drops is that they employ too much racket head movement. This happens most often when a player trys to tumble the shuttle or when they are trying to hit a drop crosscourt. Even when performing these actions, the racket head should be fairly quiet = minimal racket motion -- no excessive movement is required to accomplish these actions.

The leg lunge & a slight arm movement (w/o very much racket motion), should be the primary actions needed to slightly cut the cork for the tumble action. If she cannot do this w/o a lot of racket motion then it might be best not to attempt to tumble the shuttle at all.

To hit a crosscourt net drop with minimal racket head movement, she should drop the handle end of the racket while keeping the racket head up. This action will change the angle of the racket face (with very little racket head motion) in order to hit the crosscourt shot. When she initially reaches for the shuttle, her arm should be almost fully extended (nearly straight). Just prior to contact, she can suddenly bend her elbow a bit more (or bend her wrist) so that her hand (& handle) drops lower to change the angle of the racket face to hit that crossourt shot.

Your partner should practice these changes (choking up on the grip, using different parts of the stringbed, minimizing racket head motion, etc) a lot during practice sessions so that they become new habits. Be patient, cuz it can often take ppl weeks, even months, to replace old bad habits with new better ones. Do a lot of training with hand-fed shuttles. If a player just plays a lot, w/o doing controlled drills, the are likely to stay with their old habits becuz it just happens automatically when playing games.

 

Movement after a drop:

After your doubles partner hits a net drop, they should move back (with their racket still up) towards a central postion but not all the to the middle. Realistically, she should only move one step, maybe two (at the most), away from the position where she made the net drop. If she tries to move more than that, then she will still be moving when the other player hits their reply shot. This will make her very vulnerable to a re-drop -- which is often the best reply when the opponent is still moving toward the middle.

When taking take that step (or 2) after her net drop, the net player should be on the balls of the feet with the knees flexed so that they can move quickly in any direction for the next shot .

 

Actually, I strongly disagree. If the net player has played a net drop (assuming it's a good drop and the opponents aren't there in time to play an attacking shot), then they should stay where they are to pressurise the return. They need to "hustle" the opposition to make them think twice about playing back to the net, and if they do, they need to be punished for it.

Wayne Young

 

My thinking is to tempt the opposing player to re-drop by taking a step away from my own drop (2 is usually too many) -- I am still prepared to pounce on a re-drop. I tend to win these exchanges, or at least gain advantage, since my drops are usally very tight & my brush kills are a serious threat. However, the optimal handling of this situation will really depend on the relative skills of the players involved.

In Vinh's case, his partner is not particulary adept at hitting good drops. I believe that these are high school players & it sounds as if his partner is, at best, a fairly low intermediate player. Vinh also states that his partner is not getting to drops to the other (front) corner becuz she is not moving. It would seem to me that she needs to take a least one step to remedy the situation.

As her drops, anticipation & mobility become better and her ability to read the situation and her opponent improves, then she might consider your strategy for the situation. But for her present level, I wouldnt advise it.

 

SystemicAnomaly, yes you're right about tactics being dictated by the level of ability. I can see why you may want to tempt your opponents into playing back to the net, especially if your rear court player is not particularly strong. However, I would normally still advise the net player to put as much pressure on the return as possible. Delicate drop shots are easy to play when there's nobody on the other side, but they become much harder to pull off when there's someone looming. It's more about putting stress on your opponent than anything else.

Wayne Young

 

It sounds like not so much a problem with strategy at this point as skill. I suggest doing drills with her to work on her push shots, net shots, and kills. After all, once she had confidence in her shots she'll get more that would generally be 'hers' rather than leaving you to scramble for them. And as much as telling her what the correct shot at a certain time would be, this isn't much help if the skill is not there to back it up.

 

Yes, quite often I play with a partner who is perceived, by our opponents, as the weaker player (even tho' I'm older & not as quick as I once was). The last couple of nights that I played, i noticed that I normally would take one (or even just half a step) after making the drop. Guess I actually never take 2 steps in this situation.

 

I would still advise that your mixed partner and your other doubles partner use a short grip when playing the front. Check out the various short grips in the BC grips guide (I think that they show 3 or 4 short grips):

badmintoncentral.com/badminton-central/content/view/81/26/1/4

Have your mixed partner keep practicing those net drops and push shots in controlled situations while training. It might take weeks (or even months) but eventually she should get much better. If your mixed partner can hit drives (as u mentioned b4), then she should be able to master push shots w/o too much trouble. She should first try push shots for shuttles that are a bit above net level. After mastering that, she should then try to push shuttles that are right at net level or slightly below net level.

You didnt mention anything about clears. High clears should be avoided in mxd doubs. However, you or your mxd partner can probably hit some offensive (attacking) clears when it seems appropriate (when it will likely elicit a late or weak reply).

Your other doubles partner should work on their net drops (including brush net drops), net kills (flat & brush types), pushes, drives, and attacking clears. A good shot to develop is the hold-and-clear. They approach the shuttle at the net as if they are going for a straight drop. They hold that deception as long as possible and then, at the last instant, hit an attacking clear (or some other shot). If successful at the deception, they might get an opponent to take a step (or, at least, shift their weight) to play the expected drop.

Of course, in level doubles, the partner has the option to play a high clear and then drop back to play a side-side or an offset formation. You buddy should develop the mind-set as a net player to be the setup guy. He should place a lot of shots so that the rear player can take the offensive or can gain & maintain control of most rallies. As a net player, he should also be ready to pick off any weak replies in the forecourt.

 

Sounds like a good assessment. Heed these words, Vinh.

 

I can't agree with more than this.

Seems there's a role change for your partner, and clearly she's not yet comfortable (and/or with enough skill) to play the front role at this moment. Don't expect a short cut which improve her game play within 2 days. Your guys have a long way to go, and drills will definitely help. Once she gets her confidence, then throw her into the pressured situation (i.e. games) then let her build the experience and your 2 can start to communicate.

Another thing is, don't over push her. Everyone has pride, and you can't expect miracle happens in 2 minutes. Encourage her and help her (i.e. drills). If you need to analyze her game, do it off court, rather than screaming at her during the games.

 

There's a lot to be said for old age and trickery overcoming youth and vigour. I also find myself to be the "old man" of our provincial team, with many teammates being half my age or less. It doesn't get any easier with advancing age, but it's nice to know one can still show the young 'uns a thing or two (with or without the zimmer frame).

Wayne Young

 

one advice is get her to work the switching position technique between defending and attacking... i find not many girl can actually sense this... they do know it in theory they should back off when defending and move forward playing back and front when attacking... but do they really do this at the right timing?... the man on the other hand playing at the back should be the one controlling the game.. we have to ensure she wont be under too much attack ie dont lift it half way.... less cross or some other stupid fancy shot...

get her to learn to getaway from attack.. for example.. assuming she is a weaker player than you..and opponent is right hander... when she has to lift and be ready under attack... make sure she lift it to their left hand at far back... and she move back to the left hand side... so it will be diagonal to the attacking shot and would be on their back hand... just one example here.. but little things like this ensure her in safer position..

 

well i think your partner (the girl) should be standing on the side of your bakhand so wen u serve she can cover your bakhand but if the opponent lifts or pushes or drops to the other 3 corners b ready to get your ass over there.