So i was at badminton practice for 2 weeks already and about half the team has told me to hit harder dose anyone know what they mean by hitting harder? also how do you make a popping noise when hitting the birdie? could any one give me some tips on improving my game? I guess im a mid intermediate player im working on increasing my muscle strength via weight training im a male 5' 5'' age 14 between weak and strong im trying to maximize my accuracy and speed of my shots i've been playing badminton competitively for about 1 year and im currently playing badminton for my high school as a freshman im very good at being deceptive but i get defeated by super fast shots my recent games : 2 - 3 (loss) 3 - 2 (won) 3 - 1 (won)
You make "the popping noise" by absolutely middling the sweetspot with a fairly hard shot. High tensions make a different, nicer pop but that's no reason to string at a tension you can handle. They'll mean just hit faster and more powerfully if you know what I mean. As for hitting harder, you're reasonably young so I'll assume your team mates are. A lot of people around their sort of younger teenage years think the most important skill in badminton is to be able to hit the feathers off the shuttle. Yes, I'm fifteen and yes, I hit hard but it's far from my only skill. Hitting hard can help but good placement and deception are much more important. Work on your basic game and once the fundamentals are good, your power will improve naturally. Then, you'll be able to work on hitting harder but by that point, I doubt you'll want to.
Sorry, I was in a rush to get to badminton practise when I posted that, I missed a bit off. You'll get stronger and hit harder anyway with age, technique is definitely more important now. I don't care if you can smash harder than Fu Haifeng, if you a.)can't place it and b.) can't do anything else well, you're still not gonna be a great player. People will just play shots that prevent you from smashing and you'll be stuffed. A much better way to develop power is to just incorporate it in to your game. Work on your technique for things like clears, make sure they always touch the baseline. Work on your smash, make sure it always goes sharply downwards and where-ever your opponent isn't. Make sure your drives always go in to your opponent's hip. Those are the sort of things you need to work on more than how to hit hard. Hitting hard usually comes with age (if you're a junior) and technique. Technique comes from practise - you know what to do.
I think at 5'5" you're going to have to jump-smash to hit really hard without the shuttle going long. Having said that, I'm not suggetsing you go practice nothing but jump smashes - there are more important things to worry about than power. Also, Dan's definitely right - power will come as you get taller, stronger, and more experienced.
Yeah, I'm 5'5"-5'6" and play the power game. For most people of that sort of height, it's probably best not to play an all out attacking game - you could take more advantage of your height by opting to be a control freak. Despite my body shape not being ideal for big hitting, I feel that I do it better than most so it can be done, I just think you'd be better off ignoring your friends and focus on improving aspects of your game that need improving. I'd recommend you gear yourself more towards control and deception. Also, consider the fact that big hitters tend to suffer more shoulder/arm injuries and generally, have shorter careers than gentler players.
its nothing to do with trying to hit it as hard as u can...concentrate on your technique and add in shoulder rotation and wrist flicks to increase your power. as you get better and more consistant you can start putting more and more energy and power into it.
Hitting harder doesn't always equate to smashing during high school practice (coming from personal experience). Some times they want you to hit deeper clears or faster drives. But hitting hard is all about technique.