My son used to do leaping smash when he was younger, now he is 15yrs old he decided to do normal smashing, he is a double player and his reasons are 1. Leaping smashes are not necessarily effective and is very exhausting 2. Hard to recover the footwork after the leaping smash. But if U look at major games all players whether single or double use this technique, so how to be effective in leaping smaashes, thanks......
I'm mainly a singles player but i do occasionally play doubles. I find that the leaping smash is a very effictive move if its done correctly and at the right time. If not, the jump smash, as i like to call it, can be a complete waste of energy and yes, i agree can mess up the footwork. I'm 16 years old and i still feel that i am fit enough to do this move. I use a jump smash when i want to return a high serve with a smash. These types of smashing are most effective in my game whenever i have the opponent suprised. Often, most average to intermediate players don't smash from the back of the court so i do this move often as a cross court smash as my first shot of the rally.
Of course if the smash is not a very penetrating one in the 1st place, then jumping may not make a difference. Of course, the objective is to take the shuttle earlier to give the opponent less time to react and also to make the angle steeper. But what is the objective? Is it to win the point? Actually, not all the time - in many cases, it's to create a weak return for an easier kill for the partner covering the net or help pull the opposition out of position.
jumpsmashes are effective, but only when used appropriately. i see 3 different advantages to it. <li> angle - this is probably the least important unless the shot is mid court. a feet or so at the baseline is not going to make that much difference. <li> speed/earliness - by this, i mean getting to the shuttle early. as Cheung pointed out, the earlier you get to the shuttle, the least time you allow your opponent to get ready, the shorter the time of travel of the shuttle to them, giving them even less time to defend. <li> power - jumpsmashes allows you to more effectively utilize your whole body to generate power. the recoil of the whole body when you arch back (ie. abs muscles) can be quite powerful. eg. Allen Budi Kusuma do jumpsmashes, but he hardly jump high at all, most of the advantage will be the power he'll obtain. and maybe also intimidation. if you can jump up 2 feet into the air and execute a thundering smash, it is quite intimidating. it is true that jumpsmashes are slower to recover, but that's when you need to rely on your partner to rotate, and also the more you do, you will soon learn the recovery time for various situations. so you can switch between them appropriately. jumpsmash is a difficult shot to execute. it requires very good timing and coordination of the whole body. i often do jumpsmashes, and mostly because of the speed and power. being a skinny guy, i need to use all the muscles i can get. and also being a skinny guy, jumping around in the court doesn't use up that much energy.
"angle - this is probably the least important unless the shot is mid court. a feet or so at the baseline is not going to make that much difference." Not so sure about that. A steeper angle even from near the baseline would make the opponent hit upwards rather than give him the option of a quick drive cross court whiilst you yourself are still recovering position. Having to hit upwards means you yourself (in doubles or singles) will have a better chance of making the next shot more attacking in nature.
hm... ok. let's do some math. so assuming the player is smashing right from the baseline, and he rises a foot, the opponent is at the middle of the court on the other side. by similar triangle, the shuttle will be 6" lower... hm.. ok, may be you have a point, 6" is quite a bit...
