May anyone give my friend and I tips or constructive criticism on our technique and how to play better? Or anything we are doing wrong. Thank you : D. Here are the two videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FsZKq2Gtdk&feature=related - Kent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91iyfv9Wblk - Nancy Thanks Also, sorry if I posted in the wrong section, we are new here.
Kent - Just needs more practice. Seriously, though, the feeding is really slow and he doesn't need to move much and imperfections won't show up as much. The movement of the arm to the ready position can be done faster - the head of the racquet moves in the path of an arc - it can be brought straight up. If he really wants to put a good clear in consistently, then he needs to rotate the body and hips more during the stroke. For Nancy, nice movement of the racquet to bring it up in the ready position. When hitting the shuttle, rotates the shoulders but doesn't rotate the hips. As a result, the legs don't move. Well, I see many top chinese women have this kind of movement (especially doubles) so I won't say it is wrong. I would say the disadvantage of not rotating the hips and legs is that moving around court for the next shot would be harder (unless you had the sort of training that the chinese have)
hmmm, kent, your movement is stiff, your hitting arm need to be more flexible. Also, after you hit, always remember to keep your albow up. NEVER DROP YOUR ALBOW. It is so that u are ready to hit the next shot. Your leg movment also need to improves. Your playing is so similar to a friend of mine. =) Nancy, Your hitting is good, (kent, learn from nancy, that is the basic kind of movement that u are lacking). Train on your footwork as your left leg tends to move back more thn your right. It should be your hitting arm and leg move together forward so that when u hit, u are always in a walking position which is easier to handle the next shot if the opponet drops. I will be coming down to US for a holiday, maybe i could come and see u guys play or something. =) Both of you have potiential to play badminton, keep trying. Hard work always pays off. =)
Neither of them are particularly bad - I've seen people with worse clears. However, I don't think either of the players put enough of their bodies in to their shots to make them particularly venomous. You couldn't see where their shots were landing in the videos but even if they went fairly deep, I wouldn't imagine they really "penetrated" the court. There is a difference between hitting a loopy clear that goes deep and hitting a clear that doesn't go quite as high but reaches its destination a lot quicker. From the feeds that both Nancy and Kent were given, I can't see why they didn't really go for the shuttle and hit it with some conviction. In a game situation they might be different and step up - IMO they would need to. As suggested above, twist in the body is key to getting a clear that goes consistently deep and hard from anywhere on the court. Also, please note that I'm not saying that loopier defensive clears have no use and you shouldn't ever play them, I'm just suggesting that off those feeds, they could have done more in the way of aggression. Kent would improve his clear (and as a matter of fact, his other overhead shots as well - no wait, his entire game) if he moved earlier so he was in better position to strike the shuttle. There were times, even with these easy feeds that he seemed to be in a less than ideal position when he had to strike the shuttle, better footwork and foot speed are the obvious ways to improve this issue. Also, it is likely to begin to rectify itself with time as Kent gains more experience and begins to understand the game more. Eventually, he will have better anticipation of the shuttle and so, will be able to move earlier, resulting in him being in position quicker.
I think you both should widen your base a little when waiting for the return. Also, as everyone else said, always keep your racket up. Furthermore, to get any better and to show us more if your movement the feeder needs to hurry up. If you have access to multiple shuttles the feeder should be sending you shuttles as soon as the shuttle you hit goes over the net, and the area of the feeding should be varied - as in left back corner, right back corner, etc.
Thank you guys for the wonderful tips! Also, we both have a few questions : ). What do you mean by widening our bases? Like make our stance wider? Also, what does it mean to ? We both have a hard time using our bodies : (. For some reason when we try to it doesn't work that well and the birdie goes into a different direction. But we will try to keep practicing. lol. Thank you guys! We really appreciate it!
Kent - let's exam the stroke at 1.20. You move over the forehand side a bit to play the overhead stroke. Granted it's a little difficult because the feeder isn't very consistent For a technically good basic technique here are some pointers. 1) Use a sidestep footwork motion to position yourself properly under the shuttle (you only take one step back) 2) You don't turn you body enough so the body and legs are too square on (you rotate the body better on round the head shots) 3) because of (2) you limit the maximum power you can get into the stroke. 4) when you start your overhead movement of the racquet and hit the shuttle, the right side of the body moves forward and you take a step forward. Look closely at the left foot. It's planted to the floor. Instead of such a big step forward, the body should be rotating so that the left leg goes backwards slightly. What's the big deal about this? It's all about shifting your centre of gravity to get ready for the next movement and using energy more efficiently. This point leads me back to (1), position under the shuttle better 5) I can't see the racquet head very well but I'm guessing you don't get a good sonic boom on impact with the shuttle. The racquet head on preparation is too square on to the net so you cannot get good pronation action. I'm talking about when you lift the racquet and hold it up. Have it facing more to the leftside of the court. Then you will be able to have more pronation action. 6) Follow through of the stroke - the elbow is a little awkward. That's because the elbow doesn't come across the body right to left soon enough after hitting the shuttle. Therefore you look rather stiff during the stroke. After hitting the shuttle, bring your elbow from right to left slightly so the the forearm and racquet come across to the front of your body. In order to make this easier, rotate your body and shoulders more after hitting the shuttle As for the "never drop your elbow", I disagree. You have to relax after hitting the shuttle.
He means widen your stance. In fact, we can't see it being very necessary here because 1) the feeding isn't very consistent *cough*, and 2) both of you don't walk forward nearer to the centre of court after hitting the clear. Therefore, you are not pushed for speed for getting to the rear court.
for Kent... too much side arm! it is ok for some shots, but for just regular clears he should be facing the side of the court and swinging directly overhead, foot position: left toe towards where he's hitting and right toe like 80 degrees to the right of his left foot. (sorry for my poor choice of words) Maybe search those footwork vids from Peter Gade? he has some up on youtube. check out the numerous vids i've collected in my playists on my youtube channel. youtube.com/lowdown3007 so far i've almost maxed out 2 playists entirely of badminton vids. Nancy i think may have a slightly better extension on the stroke, but still side arm... mainly b'cuz her body, same as Kent, isn't positioned properly. ______ lol, and if u decide to watch the poor quality vids of me playing... u can lol all u want... cuz i am also in need of much improvement. (even tho im better now than i was in those vids).. always room to improve
funny audio in this slow mo but I hope it helps too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haMmokBFgk0 ^ LCW, LD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b_LuXfKwRE
Thank you all again? But we don't really understand what you mean by "side arm." May anyone explain it to us? Thanks! Also, how wide should our stance be when we are doing overhead shots?
Sorry that I misunderstood you. I thought each of the strokes in the video clip were clears. I didn't realise that they were supposed to be drives. Please discount all that I wrote. Sheesh, I must really be getting old. I really think that those shots are clears. I can't see a single drive in the clips.
your preparation of the racket and hitting technique are pretty good in that you let the racket do the work and your wrist is not too stiff. As others have commented your body rotation could do with some help. To help you need to set up the routine to put more pressure on your movement and make the shot production more game like. Currently your only movement is upwards and static. Move your base further forwards, to the midcourt. Move from base to rearcourt, hit and recover back to base. The feeder should be a competent player in order to feed consistantly. There are different types of footwork in moving to the rearcourt and there will be various discussions between coaches about the merits of them all! (chasse, running steps, rear crossovers, one foot jumps and two footed jumps). You'll probably use them all in various different situations and shots. To begin with I would suggest that you set up a routine where you get into a rhythm and count the steps in your head. For example 1, 2, 3 hit, back 2, 3, 4 (on the first three you should be ready and prepared to launch up for the hit, on the 4 you should be back in base with your racket foot slightly ahead/nearer the net.) Basically, try to incorporate the full stroke move. Good luck
Kent - practice your stroke while standing next to a wall . Face the wall square on about 6-10 inches away, then look over your left shoulder at the imanginary oncoming shuttle. Then slowly rotate the hips, and play a clear. IF youre close enough to the wall,the way you currently swing, youll hit your elbow . Practice swinging the elbow up instead of out, and keeping slowly playing the stroke next to the wall until its learned. This should really clean up your swing. Also, open up your chest as much as you can when getting ready ( pull back arms, puff out your chest almost ). Everybody else has said everything else.
