I am a 16 year old girl, 5"2', who plays girls-doubles. My partner is extremly good at short serves and drives. I am better at long serves and smashes. Level of Play: Intermediate? We are not perfect players by any means. We have obvious weak points suck as occasionaly faulty footwork and clears that don't manage to go all the way to the back. We have been getting better at those lately. However, in the recent games we've played, we often lose because we can't return smashes. We have asked our coaches about this. However, since we have two coaches the opinions on this issue are divided. One coach tells us to lift to the back. The other suggest drops. When we tried the lifts, they were often smashed back at us until we missed a shot. When we tried the drops, we had littlte time to recover when the opponents lifted. I am not sure what we should do. We are obviously weak in both areas, but which stratergy should we try to perfect first? Should we be trying both at alternating times? Any advice/suggestions are welcome.
Takanari You've asked a great series of questions. There's lots of ways to tackle this, but I think we need to work with your existing skill level and then as you develop, you'll need to post the question again or email me direct and update you. First of all, virtually all defense is played using a backhand grip or bevel grip. If you don't know what they are, then look them up. Work with your partner on lifting but try to get some power so you lift in the opposite corner to where your opponent is hitting from. This makes them have to move to hit again, rather than have a second bite at smashing the shuttle from one area. When you get bettet at this, try blocking the shuttle both straight and cross court. Look where your opponent at the net stands. Are they on the T or to one side. This will help you assess how much court they need to cover to return your block. When you can play these shots, mix them up in a game so that you're not predictable. When you can do these shots then you'll need to learn how to drive the shuttle. Hope this helps. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
Paul, thank you! That was most definitely helpful. I think you are correct in saying that perhaps we just aren't planning our shots well enough. I will share this with my partner and we will practice our lifts. Hopefully, we'll soon get better so that we may learn other techniques from here. Once again, thank you! --Takanari
Firstly, noone ever lost a game by being bad at returning smashes. You need to avoid giving away the lift in the first place, as much as possible. In doubles, it should mainly be used as a last resort to buy yourself time. This is especially true if you can't hit right to the back of the court - however good your returns, it's always going to be very tough to defend a smash played from mid-court. The next thing is positioning. Try taking a step or two back, to give yourself more time to react. If you're playing other girls your height, they'll probably have a pretty flat smash, so it's ok to wait even further back. As far as stance goes, you should be standing facing the smasher, with your racket well out in front of you, slightly towards your backhand side, and fairly high up. A lift is the most difficult return (especially if you lack power) and it invites a repeat smash. However, the next smash may be weaker and more easily attacked. A simple block to the net, can be quite effective - but it does need to be very tight or it will be killed. A more aggressive option is a push out wide to the mid-court. It needs to be angled away from the opponent at the net, and hit reasonably hard or it will be intercepted. However, once it passes your opponents' front player, it immediately puts them under a lot of pressure. With practice, you will be able to quickly recognize which smashes you can attack, and which you should lift.
Keep in mind that you should also work to increase your reaction time, the faster to you react the better your chances of making a good shot. My old coach used to have us use a squash court and one person would take 15 shuttles and just wack them at the other person. The point here is not so much to play a particular shot but to get your racket on the shuttle as fast as possible.
Working to increase your reaction time is fun! Vodka is good... (Actually, no, vodka is not so good for 16 y.o. players. You'll have to wait before you can explore these advanced training methods.)
I will try this. However, I have been given contradicting advice as many girls my age aren't able to return shots to the back. It is often the way to get easy points. Does this still apply? This is one of our weaknesses. Thank you for pointing it out though. It might be this that we need to work on. I see.....I think I'll do without that "advanced traning method". Thanks for the help guys. --Takanari
If you can return to the back at your level and age then that's probably a very good shot, your opponents would make a poor return and you'd go on the attack. I really should have said, "increase your reaction speed" not time... this can be trained as any other skill can. It also helps if you are using a good, light racket. What rackets are you currently usng? A 4U or lighter might be better if you're currently using a 3U.
So practice getting it far back and then it's an okay shot, but try to refrain from it? Okay. Thanks you druss. --Takanari
Using a lighter racket would speed up our racket speed, though it might have a negative impact on your power shots - drives, smashes etc. While you work on your lift defense against smashes, may I suggest you try blocking the smashes straight or cross-court. I personally find that easier to do against hard smashes, esp. smashes with speeds you're not accustom to. It has the least wrist/forearm movement and thus you're less likely to miss the timing. Your blocks need to be tight to the net, and you need to be aware of where the front player is, however.
I'm sorry but I don't see where I said to refrain from it. I said if you can do it then it's a good shot. Unfortunately, I know that many cannot.
I think I combined the fact that you said that one shouldn't clear if it doesn't reach the back with my comment about how I can't get my clears to go all the way to the back. Sorry for the confusion.
is there anyway to train mentally to get "variety" into smash returns? In practice, I can do both block/drop and clear/drive, but when it's real game situation, my habit is just to try to clear/drive the smash back. Maybe it's a panic thing? When I'm playing against really good front players I'm just worried if I simply block/drop a smash back the front player will lunge and kill my return
You can make use of your thumb strength on backhand grip. At 16, you may not have enough power on your grip therefore when u receive smash, you may try to put your thumb on the grip and use it to increase the return power.
Maybe carry with you a small note reminding yourself before a game starts. If this is important enough to you, I'm sure you'd find a way to remind yourself. Then in your games, you can deliberately feed a shorter lift for your opponents to smash at. Maybe pick some pairing weaker than you to start with, until you can control your shot selection. Also maybe a good idea to let your partner know about your practice intention. You also need to practice "sensing" the opening to choose your block - straight or crosscourt. Against good players, you need to have varieties,which is what you're trying to achieve here also. Furthermore, quality of your returns must be good. But then again, you see at top level tournaments, blocking is seldom used, perhaps for a reason. So it all depends on how good is "good".
I have a question too. When you do return a deep and far clear following a smash from your opponent, and if you do it with a backhand grip, do you return such clears with power only from wrist or would it be more like a backhand clear (ie involves your arm) except that you don't turn your body and that the contact point is low but the stroke/swinging is essentially similar as if you were to return a backhand clear at your backhand corner?
I've found something which I really hate, because I can't perform it. When the bird goes down with an angle, it easier to clear it up, because in theory if ur racquet hit the bird squarely 90 degree, then the bird should come back at the same angle However, if it's a flat smash, you have to turn your racquet angle to create more angle, which is hard for me. Don't know why, don't know how. So yes help out if anyone have tips and hints
Yes, lifting a flat smash is usually more difficult. However, don't forget that a flat smash gives you a great opportunity to play counter-attacking shots instead (drives, pushes, and blocks).
I know that, however, just sometime I want to get my opponent tired and give them the mentality that they can't smash on me, and sometime that force them to do more drop or clear which I like that way.
If you're having trouble with flat smashes, it's because you're dropping your racquet down when you receive them. Keep your racquet out in front of you with the head up around the height of your shoulders. Flat smashes usually = suicide because if I'm on defense and my opponent smashes flat, I just drive it back flat. If the smash is so flat that it's above the net, as a receiver, I can even drive it back down, which usually ends the rally. If you want to give them the mentality that they can't smash on you, it's far more effective if you end the rally with your return.