Hi everyone, today at my badminton club, someone (player not coach) looked at my backhand serve and said my technique was wrong. I hold the shuttle a little bit further away from the racket head than most people but I've never had any consistency problems so should I keep doing what I am now or change my technique? I'm guessing I should just keep doing what I'm doing now as his serve was hardly great and I often picked it off with a kill. However, he's made me feel a little uneasy by saying my technique was wrong. Could someone give me some advice please?
As long as the serve is within the rules, there is not really a "wrong" technique. There may be better techniques that allows you to be more consistent or have different balance of merits. The only way to tell is to experiment. If his technique gives you better results, use it. But until then, stick to the one that gives you the best consistency. I am also in the process of evolving my serve. I had the opposite problem of starting too close to the racket. This affected my flicks badly -- too obvious and/or unstable. The new (2 week old) evolution is becoming more consistent than my previous one so I'm switching to it -- my 3rd change this year. IMHO, the short serve is the easiest stroke to train. Heck, you do not even need a training partner for that and you do not even need a court. I used to practice this at home with a string. Quite unpardonable if you are serious about the game to have a bad short serve.
That's not helping is it?! HAHAHA... Danstevens, I hold the shuttle very close to the racquet face, and then a short flick will do, for the backhand serve... But if you're consistent at a larger distance, I think go on by all means. Only disadvantage I can see is that your opponent will be able to read your service VERY easily by looking at ur racquet take back which becomes more obvious now
Thanks. I tried holding the shuttle basically on the string bed and I just couldn't do it. My serves went far too high and could easily be smashed back. As it is now, I rarely make mistakes with the serve and it stays close to the line most of the time. I can move the shuttle to both sides, so I think I'll leave it as it is.
The important thing about serves is the quality, not how you do it. You can backhand serve however you want as long as it's tight, low, and you are able to bounce off to move after you serve.
Well, the quality is good. The serve isn't the strongest part of my game (that would be my smash ) but it isn't too bad either. I was thinking the same thing as you posted, consistency is the most important thing but when someone criticises your technique, it can really make you worry. Although I'm a good player, I'm not experienced, so I often get rattled when someone says something about what I do. Anyway, I took great pleasure in ramming that guy's serves back down his throat so he probably wasn't the best person to comment. Thanks everyone for your replies.
Q: Where do you hold the shuttle when you serve? My Answer: I hold one of the feathers by its tip, and make the shuttle's cork face towards the racquet face like Tony Gunawan.. This way, there is more time for the shuttle to face the opposite direction..it makes it a little bit harder for the opponent to attack the shuttle.
Serving backhand and serving forehand require different ways of holding the shuttle. Backhand serves require that your non-racquet hand should hold the tips of the shuttle; forehand a sort of "cupping" the bird.
Serving is quite an individual thing. There is a basic technique, but you must be comfortable with your serve as it is the most important shot. Many people hold te shuttle with the cork directly facing the racket. I find this extremely unatural so I hold the shuttle halfway facing between the racket bed & the floor - so the first contact is still the cork.
when i hold the shuttle for a backhand serve i hold it with my left hand and hold the shuttle with cork facing the strings with my index finger and thumb on the spines of the feathers near to the cork about mid way between the cork and the start of the beginning of the actual feathers. ontop of that i hold the shuttle basically almost right up against the strings then go from there and serve.
I teach my students to place the shuttle directly onto the strings when preparing to serve backhand. I find that this helps them contact the shuttle more accurately. It's perfectly valid to have a gap, however, and some players prefer this style -- including some international players. Ultimately, all that matters is the result. There's nothing wrong with your technique if your serves are consistently accurate, and you are able to perform a full variety of service variations without giving away your intentions.
the blue is what it should really say, it must have gotten cut out when i was typing it i didnt even notice till now, thats my fault.
