I know its been said that the S-serve (sidek/snake serve) is only effective with feathers, and i have never seen it done before, until today, kind of! This was with a nylon bird, by the way. I was returning a smash with a short return (a drop?) I'm not sure what I did, i think i might have sliced it. The bird on its way back started going straight, then veered left by an entire foot, than turned right instead, and ended up more right than the begenning by a few inches. Basically, it moved left by a foot, and then right by a foot and a half, over two or three seconds. This is a huge turn, and i've never seen anything done like this before. I tried to duplicate this by intentionally slicing the bird, but no luck. It did the snake path thing a couple of times though, but it only moved slightly, by a few inches at most. Has anyone experienced this? If I could reliablely reproduce this, then that what improve game by leaps and bounds. Or am I just getting excited over nothing since you can all do this? Wish I had a video to show.
I've seen players who can slice the shuttle (feather) so hard on an overhead drop shot that it starts out by going up, then drops fast, taking a wiggly path. It's probably too hard to control to be practical. A hard smash is difficult enough to return without trying to put extreme slice on it. More power to you if you can do it.
So it was a slice afterall. Any idea how the slice causes the wiggle? From what i read about the S-serve, the racquet has to slice the feather or nylon skirt or the bird, but only the cork will hit the string bet from a smash, so a slice in a normal play shouldn't be producing a wiggle effect at all
Sounds like two different things there. Suspect that BRL's case may have something to do with the shuttle deforming so taking a different flight pattern and then straightening out again. (since it is a nylon shuttle) I don't think BRL's case has anything to do with the S-serve,(even remotely...sorry!)
I have no idea what was going on... i just want to do it again I dont think the shuttle deformed though, or at least no more than usual during flight, since it was a new bird (mavis 300). The bird did turn, as in steadily changed angles. If you ever seen a video of the sidewinder missile, you would know what i mean. I'll draw a crude diagram for you. The bird went up, and come down steadily, as one would expect. While dropping, however, it turned left, and then turned right, and then started to turn left again before hitting the floor. Notice how it strifes left and right by almost 1.5 feet? The bird has pretty much always gone straight whenever I played, which is why I was so puzzled. S-serve phenomenon is the only plausible explanation I have, although it doesn't fit the explanation there either. The only other possibility I can think of is that my opponent is a Jedi, and is trying to psych my out with Jedi Mind Tricks (tm) and the force
Sure, I don't know exactly what went on. Doubt it can be repeated and then could you ever do it a feather shuttle?
If it could be done with a nylon, i'm sure it could be done with a feather, unless it was due to the nylon skirt collapsing in an unusual way, as you suggested. Hey Cheung, you sound to be pretty good at badminton. Next time, have the other side smash at back at you, and try to return it with a left-to-right sideways slice with just enough force for it to reach the service line. I tried it about 20 times yesterday, and got very small side-to-side direction changes a few times. I would it tried it more, but i keep missing the bird when I slice fast.
Not quite. No nylon shuttle comes close to the characteristics of feather shuttles. hmm, it's been nearly 10 years ago since I last played with a nylon shuttle so maybe technology has moved on. And thanks for the compliment No point in doing a side slice against a smash - as you say, it's not easy to hit the shuttle. There is one shot that is similar but that is for forecourt net shots.
slide/slice No, ... Cool shot. what you did with the plactic shuttle properly made it collaps(folded) forcing it left, and as it unfolded it returned to its original path. Hardly possible with a normal feathered cock. My suggestion is; leave it.... (the payoff rate is way too low)..or...try, as you hit the shuttle with a slide/slice/cut, to hit the feathers more. Generally, I won't encourage any of you guys to learn this "technique". It is a waste of time IMHO because the payoff rate is way to low. But have fun practising....... focus on cutting/slicing/sliding instead. There are so many variations to master...far more interesting....
Was your shirt collar up when you executed that shot? If so, it could be the work of the magnetic flux that probably transferred from your neck all the way down to your hand. I can't really explain how the magnetic force may have flowed "through" your racket (unless its a steel racket!). But the sudden release of your "qi" upon reacting from the powersmash, could have somehow "forced" the energy "through" the racket and to the shuttle. [Hehe! Just kidding! Can't resist myself! ]
I have a coach who used to play with one of the Sidek brothers in doubles, and used to do the S-serve until it was banned. Every now and then he would do it for fun. It is an amazing serve. The trick is to put a lot of spin on the bird, and the feather is hit before the cork. That is what makes it illegal now. He has a variation on that where he would hit the cork first, so that technically that should be legal. However, it gives the impression that one is trying to cheat so he doesn't use it during game time.
I absolutely hated having to hit that spin serve. If it hadn't been banned, I think I would have retired.
well fourcas said, you won't have to worry about it seeing it with every shot seeing how it appears to apply only to nylon and in rare circumstances.... That, or the force, which ever you think caused it
