Flick serve to the head

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by bigredlemon, Oct 26, 2002.

  1. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Here's two serves I'm having some trouble with.. what would you do?

    If I'm standing in my normal recieving position (between middle of the court and front of service line), the guy flicks the serve at my face, which is really hard to return! (And rude too, I guess.) If I stand near the back, he serves to the front of the court, forcing me to run and clear it, confining me to the defensive.

    How would you counter this?
     
  2. Californian

    Californian Regular Member

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    Either you're very tall or he has a very high waist.:confused:
     
  3. |R|S

    |R|S Regular Member

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    practice...
    concentrate...
    i had problem with that last time... everytime someone flick serve to me i will either lob back or miss totally...

    now, i can easily smash it!
     
  4. Byro-Nenium

    Byro-Nenium Regular Member

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    yeah true..... how does he flick to your face?? Either of you must be really tall.....

    Well firstly, make sure that your in position before he serves. About 2-3 steps behind the service line. Be on the ball of your feet and make sure your ready to move back or forth, left or right. And keep your racket up, if u do this, you won't have any problems.... ;)
     
  5. jwu

    jwu Regular Member

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    Flick to the face...if you just slide to the side a little bit and with your racquet up, that should be perfect smashing height or good angle for an attacking drive to an open court. How tall are you and your opponent?
     
  6. TartanSparkle

    TartanSparkle Regular Member

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    When playing doubles, I always await the oppositions serve with a low stance and on my toes. If you were to stand crouched down and waiting, you can capture the "shot at your face" with your raised racket.

    Whilst being on your toes you can be ready for a flick to the back of the court and go to retreive that.
     
  7. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    We're both 6 feet, he stands about 3 feet back from the service line, so he's got a shot of my head :(

    I usually hold my racquet up, slightly to the right of me. Holding it in front of my head is rather akward, and hard to control anyway. I guess I would need to work on that
     
  8. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    It's not the typical flick serve above your head... its right at my head... and comming TO my head... to my neck or my mouth actually.It's too low to smash. Come to think of it, it's a illegal serve cuz the racquet head is way above his hand when he serves! I guess thats why I dont see it more often.

    The obvious counter would be to call a "fault" though. Maybe i'll take photo so you know what I mean... it scares the **** out of most people when they first see a bird flying to their head (I've been hit on the neck in this flick and choked for a few minutes)

    I normally stay low and on the balls of my feet anyway so i'm sure that's not it.
     
    #8 bigredlemon, Oct 27, 2002
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2002
  9. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    He serves at near-chest level.
     
  10. jwu

    jwu Regular Member

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    Calling it a fault and telling your opponent that it's an illegal serve and ask for him to stop it might be a way out. If he refuse to change the serve, you can always start tossing the shuttle over your head and serve overhead like in tennis since your opponent choose to disregard the rules of the game.
     
  11. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Actually, that sounds kind of fun :D
     
  12. modious

    modious Regular Member

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    Stand at a position where you're able to attacl the front, yet cover the back. We're not international players so I doubt many of us stand right on the T line! Rem that if it's a flick serve or high serve, you've more time to hit it than a serve to the front, providing sufficient footwork and skills are in place.

    If it's coming directly at your face, most probably it's an illegal serve as others had mentioned. If it's a legal serve, then use a backhand grip and put the racket at your face level. When he drives (flick?) at your neck, just drive it back! Even if he serves one to the back, you should have time to change your grip and hit the shuttle.

    And anyway, are u playing singles or doubles? If it's Singles, it's perfectly fine to clear it IMO.
     
  13. Swordfish712

    Swordfish712 Regular Member

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    ?

    If he's standing 3 feet away from the service line, then why is your reaction so slow?

    You can easily smash it down with 1 quick hop to the net.
     
  14. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Flick serve to the head

    He's serving with the racquet at chest level, with the racquet shaft parallell to the ground.

    Swordfish: maybe it's closer to three size-8 shoe away. It's not that my reaction is slow, it's that a find it hard to to return a bird that close to me, since i can't swing thr racquet, merely "push" it. And it flies to me pretty fast, no the traditional curve path of a birdie. His shot sends the bird STRAIGHT to me, like an up-side-down backhand smash.
     
  15. Winex West Can

    Winex West Can Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Re: Flick serve to the head

    Illegal serve. Print out a copy of the service rules and show it to him. If he refuses to believe you. Why don't you do the same serve.

    As for returning serve to the head, you don't have to swing hard to hit the return. Have the racquet up and in front of you. Once the shuttle comes towards you, crouch and flick your racquet. The return will be just as fast back to the server. Other options is instead of flicking it back directly is to turn the face of the racquet a little and redirect the shuttle cross court to the forecourt.
     
  16. jwu

    jwu Regular Member

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    Re: ?

    Have to agree w/ swordfish here, if you are 6 ft tall, and it is coming at your face, that's 1 foot above the net and I really don't see why you can't hit it right back at his face with a drive if not a smash.
     
  17. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Re: Re: ?

    When you say smash, I'm thinking of slamming down a birdie 3 feet above my head... any lower and i don't have enough room for the scissor-kick. If you mean a fast drop (quick hit down without the body twist) then that I can do.

    Actually, I've never been told what constitutes a smash, drop, lob, etc. so for all I know, our definitions could be way off. I've just picked up the lingo from watching others play.
     
  18. jwu

    jwu Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Re: ?

    I apologize for my lack of knowledge in badminton terms. What I meant was the "fast drop" that you refer to.
     
  19. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    Re: Re: Re: Re: ?

    That's my specialty :)
     
  20. Californian

    Californian Regular Member

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    I see more fudging on serves these days than ever, but something this blatant shouldn't even be allowed, especially when it causes problems for the return and may even be dangerous. Is it possible he doesn't know the rules of serving?

    The serve was intended to be a defensive shot. This takes some of that away, so if you guys want to make up your own rules, why don't you compensate for it by telling him that if he wants to serve that way, the receiving box will have smaller dimensions, or that it you win the rally on his serve, you score the point and get the serve back?
     

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