Hey guys I'm really having a difficult problem that I have not surpassed it over the 7 years of my badminton career. Anyways I'm a provincial B player and I have the worst smash whatsoever. My consistent is like 70% to keep the bird in and majority of my shots but the smashing part I'm just horrible at it. I don't know what it is but I cannot get a pop how professional players do. I'm not worried about speed right now as much, I'm more concern about the pop that comes out of it knowing that you hit it correctly. Can anyone help me out like do i have to use more of a swift arm swing then a hard flick? is it my racket head not contacting it proper? Oh in other words when I smash I feel as though I slice it alot or not slice but drag the bird instead of having that pop! Any suggestions to fix this problem?
Hi there I have been playing for 20 years now, and still does happen to me sometimes lol.. anyhow to adress your situation according to what you have explained it sounds to me like the face of your racket being wrong as well as your timing flicking. -to generate that pop power you need to flick at the right timing -your swing speed -you technique if you dun mind me asking what's your racket and string and tension setup? that will give me a better idea of what you are using in relation to what what you will can do with the setup. for now i would suggest practice and keep in mind stay relax before impact.. most play beside pros or advance... tend to stiff up when they want to smash therefore they loose a lot of power. hope that will help you. feel free to pm or post here is it help. gluck
I am currently using YY armotec 900p bg65 as i've used this my entire life(the string that is) and it strung at 22-24lbs mainly 22 if it's double knotted 24 if its 4 knotted stringing(i hate this way of stringing btw) side question; when snapping do you want the bird to hit the end of the snap or the middle of the snap? what do you think? or what will help, and another side note; once upon a time my varsity coach told me my strings are not strung enough, but i know people will 22 tension and still get a decent pop but is it that much dependent on that?
to answer your question #1 from your first post, your setup seems about good only thing that bothers the power side and many will have different opinion but in general the ticker your string is the less repulsion you = the less power you can generate. - i have been using BG=66 and sometimes bg80 at 24/26 lbs. If you want more repulsion and power try a thiner string to get more bounce out of it. i would recomment BG80 to start.. since BG66 is very thin and very easy to break if miss hit. Also keeo in mind that the higher your tension is the smaller your sweet spot is. so you don' t have much of a margin to miss. As for your side question, generally speaking you want to contact the birdy at 2/3 of the flick, this is what i do at 1/3 of the flick i start a counter braking to direct the energy to the head of the raquet then contact at 2/3 and the release .. i hope this will help you. And most important is practice your timing and stay relax pre smash.
thanks for the information i didn't know all that information about the strings tension and thickness. i will definitely practice your flicking part today and i will remember to stay relax always but i was wondering about timing, if you can give any advice on how to time the bird better. as for where i used to play the ceiling was lower so it was so much easier to time the shuttle compared to now since i'm in more of an high space ceilings its harder to time the bird cause all that time and air in between, any advice on that?
To improve your timing, you'll need practice. Some people are naturally better at it, while others seem to struggle a bit more. Have a friend or coach hit a bunch of shuttles to you (one after the other, of course), while you try your smash. At first, try swinging much earlier than you are accustomed to, and don't be afraid to completely miss. On the next shuttle, delay your shot a fraction of a second and see what happens. Keep doing this until you hit one shot that is dead center. Now, remember the timing and try to repeat this many times over. If you jump smash, the timing may be harder initially since you are now introducing another factor (your jump) into the equation. Check out this video for the proper smash technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKC1Depuf6Q My feeling is that your technique is not entirely correct, which results in a slice feeling. Your racket face should be square in the direction that you want to hit upon impact when you smash. You should be relaxed before you smash, especially in your fingers. The finger-tightening as soon as you contact the shuttle will provide additional power and make the shot more crisp.
How would you go about telling me how to adjust my technique so when I snap the racket head is flat instead on an angle. Because I feel that it is my snap that causes the slice, I've been taught to have an smooth stroke but the snap is probably most likely the cause of the slice action, and maybe the stiffness as well. What do you think I should adjust to my snap to avoid the slice?
hmmm... from your few post you sound like you have good stroke and techniqie but then again .. at some point you wrist snap in a different direction causing your snap to slice the bird... that is what i understand... i think it would be best if you could record a few rally and youtube it .. then we can have a better view at what you are trying to explain and as well see how you are doing it.. and it would be a loteasier to explain...
Ok so I won't be playing badminton until Tuesday which is westerner's Wednesday I'll try to put it up ASAP once I play.
Ok sorry just an update. I ordered a racket last friday and it was suppose to come on tuesday but it didn't and now I must wait till thursday or friday so hopefully I can record myself then. Sorry guys! >.<!!
No worries, we're always going to be around on this forum anyway. Take your time, and post a video whenever you'd like us to try and help fix your technique.
OK! so drum roll please!..ok cut, sorry my girlfriend record this video its a small video the file isn't the greatest and my opponents are far from good so they didn't make me play my 100%. Anyways please feel free to make any suggestions and advice and criticism to help me get that proper sound/and or technique. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3WqHqGAe-M I'm the one in the dark blue; which by the way my girlfriend didn't know how i wanted to record so she had the camera on me most of the time. hopefully next week I can get a better view for you guys.
I took a look at your video and your overall playing is pretty good. It would have been great if you were doing a smashing drill or something but at least you did a few smashes in your doubles game. From what I saw, it looks like you're throwing your arm as hard as you can, but without too much pronation. This results in your shot being more of a slice, rather than having the racket hit the shuttle squarely at the point of contact. To fix this, start by breaking down your swing as if you were watching yourself in slow motion. Your initial posture before you are about to swing is more or less correct, but as soon as you start to swing, you should bring your elbow forward ahead of your forearm. This may be hard to picture so the closest way I can get to it is if you get in your pre-swing posture, and then try and lick your elbow. Notice how your elbow has to come forward in order for you to get as close to licking your elbow as possible? By bringing your elbow forward, you're preloading your entire arm in tension. It just naturally wants to unwind. To unwind, you want to extend your forearm (that is, increase the angle between your forearm and bicep), and when it is about 70 degrees or so, start to pronate your forearm so that your racket face is perpendicular (not parallel, as would be the case if you lay the racket flat on the ground) to the floor. You can study this by watching the video I posted earlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKC1Depuf6Q Notice how Lin Dan's elbow leads his entire swing? Then, it's the pronation that really gives the racket face a fast swing and makes the nice pop. Of course, if your string tension is too low you won't really hear a really nice crisp sound. If you're still having trouble, I wouldn't mind recording a video to show you.
Be a nice guy and help us all The link that thejym post is very good as it explains it in motion. Justin.
Oops here's a right handed version which might be easier to understand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhvQYS2rgYs About the video, it's almost 11pm here so if you want I'll record a quick video in the house (don't know how well the video/lighting will turn out).
hey thejym Thanks alot for your feedback, i would love it if you would post a video of yourself doing it. i have some questions though, after yoru post i realize what you said was all correct and i was wondering i have a habit of dropping my elbow and not even leading with my elbow. what would you suggest to help fix this problem besides practice or just having someone feed my birds. just wondering how would i cut this bad habit cause i just can't go cold turkey...>.<
So it's nearly 3am right now, I won't be making the video tonight. I would recommend first making sure that your motion is correct and that you are comfortable with it BEFORE trying to hit any shuttles. This change might initially throw off your entire shot because the timing will be a little different and you might not be adjusted immediately with respect to the angle of the racket face. It's really helpful to practice in front of a mirror first, because you first need to be comfortable with the motion before you can try and actually hit shuttles in the court. So this means making sure that you always lead with your elbow, etc. A few players in my club had a similar swing as yours before I tried to teach them how to change, and it wasn't an overnight fix. I noticed that you're from Toronto. You don't happen to go to the Mandarin Badminton Club do you?
No way man, Mandarin is too expensive for me. I've been there once or twice by guest fee, nobody plays with me because they all too good, or think their better then me. I'm the poor guy that couldn't afford the lessons and played rec and made it on the university team to actually get proper training, but that didn't suffice because university wasn't for me.
Ok I took the video a few hours ago, now I'm piecing it together and doing the voice over, and then I will upload to Youtube. I was just asking about Mandarin cause one of my teammates trained there.
Whats his name? Do you know what level he competes at? So are you from San diego or reside there and your from philadelphia? I go to Philadelphia ever so often to visit family there, but its the west side, where all the trouble makers are. I was just saying because if I were to visit again I would love to play badminton where you play?
