i play doubles most of the time and my main problem is clearing smashes from my opponents. i find it hard to clear the shots high and far back to the baseline area which end up letting my opponents returning with a fast kill. guys out there have any idea wads my problem? which part of my techniques should i improve in? forearm power or wrist? and how? any suggestions are much appreciated
Really hard to tell without seeing you in action. If you look at the top players from the side profile, they lean forward and strike the shuttle well in front of their bodies. The closer the shuttle gets to the body, the harder it is to flick it up to the back of the opponents court. Of course, there are other technique issues like timing, fingers, wrist, moving the arm in preparation etc.
Also depends on whether you're talking about an overhead clear or underhand clear. From which part of the court?
from mid court? trying to clear with an underhand clear. lets say everything goes right with timings and etc. i just dun seems to have the strength to make a proper clear
practice, practice, practice? have someone do the drill with you. start with serving high to them and let them smash lightly against you and stand with your racket hand foot forward and try to intercept the bird early. then flick back as hard as possible.
agree with jchan04 but is there any particular muscle group tat i can train to help me better in this area?
I'd say mostly forearm. Get fairly light weights, sit down on a bench, rest your forearm on your leg so the hand hangs over the knee and curl the weight around your wrist as a pivot point.
its mostly wrist speed which u need. Same principle as getting a fast backhand smash or full backhand clear. The extra power comes from the wrist speed you generate.
defense FYI: backhand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gm9t6i6x1I forehand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Awwy84hZfU&feature=related
When you return smash you should focus your eyes on the shuttle not the person (most people focus on the person). Have you legs wide open, knee bent aligned with your shoulders. racquet in front of you and below your waist. Try to keep your foot flexible because your opponent obiviously wont smash at you so you will have to move so you can swing your racquet to return the smash. Hardest thing is to control your power when you return smash a major issue is if your opponent has really strong smash just the rebound and a light swing the shuttle will go flying to the base line whereas with weak smashers you tend will need effort to lift their smash.
you should be MORE RELAXED while defending. And try to BEND LOWER. i haven't seen you play but i'm just making a guess. Many people think they're lacking in strength to clear in back but in fact they're just too tensed.
I think from my very limited playing experience the key is to not lift the shuttle for your opponents to smash. Keep it low and if you really have to lift, go for the backhand.
Then i can asure you that u can't really pay attention in your gameplay already psst: if the chick is hot like reiko shiota
The greatest difficulty that I had to overcome with returning smashes was actually believing that I could do it. I used to give up hope completely if I lifted, but now I see it as a challenge, and a fun one. When the smash is headed your way, just reach your racquet out in the right direction and don't be surprised if you actually manage to hit it - if you're mentally prepared to hit a good, thought-out clear then your chances of actually doing it are much greater.
Sound advise, as always from Brad. You shouldn't really be making much of a swing with your arm, just a firm flick of the wrist coupled with a small arm movement should be enough. I disagree somewhat with your emboldened statement. Doubles is all about getting on the attack; generally, if you're attacking, you have a strong chance of winning the rally. Therefore, for smash returns, I think it's good practise to keep the racket a little higher than you suggest. About head height and out in front of you. This encourages you to take the shuttle early and makes it easier to punish any bad smashes you might get. As an added benefit, keeping the racket around that sort of height protects your face from any incoming smashes to that area.
I guess that depends on how good your opponents are - if they can jump smash, the shuttle is more likely to be going towards your feet than your face. Also, in the contingency of the shuttle approaching at head height, the action of flicking your racquet up from below your waist to in front of you is a single motion rather than the double-action of moving down from head-height then back upwards to propel the shuttle.
That's generally a bad idea, although it does work well in specific circumstances. You should train your smash defence to cope with powerful, steep smashes. If your racket is up near head height, you have no chance of returning these. If your opponent constantly smashes flat, then by all means bring your racket up to head height (this is "crouch defence"), and improve your counter-attack. Generally, however, it's better to be ready for the steeper smashes. If a flat smash comes, you still have time to switch into crouch defence (flat smashes are necessarily slower smashes, or they will go out the back).
There is the added issue that if your racket head is too high you will be blocking smashes that are going to go long. Lee Jae Bok, in one of his online coaching videos, suggests having the racket head no higher than chest height; if something comes in higher than this you can leave it to go long. Of course, if the opponent can get some mental angles, or is very close to the net, this doesn't always work...
I try to keep my racket at waist level with a slight downward angle and unless I'm playing very hard smashers I like to keep my elbow in close to my side to allow for a forehand shot if needed.