I play with 2-3 people at my local university, and I find that so far my biggest problem is that I am too used to playing them and their play styles that when I play someone different in a tournament, I need 5-10 points to adjust to their play style. While I try to keep my play as random as possible, my opponents seem to have very laid out patterns which I have come to expect.. Have any of you encountered this? I feel like I am only getting better at beating my regular players rather then getting better at badminton in general
This is a big problem for me too. But I play with 40 different people. You get used to there methods and shots and it gets alot easier to predict. Even in professional badminton, you get the chance to study your opponent and what kind of shots they play and how often.... ..when playing strangers i approach them and the game in a manner where im expecting anything. My position will always been feet side by side, at moment of impact split and then ill chose my direction depending on where the shuttle goes.... this should be the way for every game really, but realistically, we get so used to certain people we can start moving/predicting way before they have hit the shuttle. I think mental preparation and good foot work is what you need to over come. It should not really matter who your playing. Playing people where you know there next move should give you a great chance to perfect the shots
Be careful of waiting with feet side by side in singles. I would prefer you had your racquet foot slightly forwards.
singles? i play doubles But still have my raquet foot half a foot forward to cover the three corners better
Well mostly ok - sometimes you need to angle your stance to cover the spaces that your partner leaves.
Here are my suggestions: 1. If possible, participate in other public clubs, usually, you meet a lot of more players from different skill level. 2. If you think you can beat your regular opponents with your eyes closed, you can vary your own game play. Say you have a superior power smash, but not confident about net play. Now, try to "hide your weapon", and try to beat them with your "weakest link". This way, you will train toward a more complete player, which can be very useful when you need to face different opponents in big tourny. 3. Come to the tourny well prepared. If you know who's your next round opponent is, try to observe his/her games, when you are not in play. Sometimes, you can spot his/her weak spot easily when you see in the court side.
You cannot play random. You need to have specific tactics according to your style of game. Then you need to adjust those tactics to the player you play against. In essence, winning a game is a lot about yourself. But there are other things, like adapting to the court, adapting to matchplay and tournament conditions, and very importantly recognising the opponent's strengths and weaknesses....
I know that nobody can play truly randomly, but what I meant is, if a given situation can have 4-5 different shots which are equally good for you to gain position or throw off your opponent, I try to use all of those shots equally. For example, one person I play with, if I clear to back court to is forhand, he will 90% of the time hit a cross court drop shot, so I have become accustomed to moving to that position almost immediately after hitting that shot. When I play other people I sometimes forget it and they end up re-clearing and I am now caught off guard. The one thing I do fairly regularly is 'same side' hitting, which I am a big fan of. I find that facing your racket direction to the opposite side of the court, and then returning to the same side throws them off a lot. They start to expect you to hit it to one spot, but your shoulders / racket make them think you are going to hit it to the other spot, so it is a good mental game.
i say..your best strategy is offense, lay down the smash hammer, keep them on the defensive. thats usually how i play strangers. Keep them guessing.
ok, now i'm really confused. Why do people associate racquets with offense/defense. A racquet like nano9000s is often thought as defensive, but can you not attack with one? What i'm trying to say is, its not the racquet that makes the player, but the player that makes the racquet. In other words at250/mp100 does not matter, its the strategy
