I don't know what I can do. I'm a decent player. Not the best, and my footwork may be lacking a bit. My technique and form are solid. In my school, I play singles. I'm competing against this other singles player for a spot. And I'm going to be completely honest, he's really bad. When he swings he throws his arm around, yet somehow he still hits the shuttle in the direction he wants. He has absolutely no footwork as when he runs, his legs are flying all over the place, but he still gets to the birds. His defense is solid, but he can't clear at all. And he also can't drop at all. When he tries to smash, he does some weird mid-air split. Yet I'm still losing to him. A lot of the times, I'm hitting easy shots out of the court; either too far back, or missing my placements. And a lot of the times I'm also mis-hitting the shuttle. It'll be a midcourt smash, but somehow he gets the bird, or I hit it into the net or out of play. Sometimes it'll be an easy shot that bounces off the edge of my racquet, or sometimes I'll just completely misjudge and hit it into the net, or give him an easy net kill (that he may miss because he waves his entire arm around). Even worse is when I completely miss the shuttle or return it at an angle easily smashed at. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong because I'm very consistent doing drills and he's a terrible wreck. But when it comes to game time, I can't manage to pull off a win. My last sets against him have been from oldest to most recent, 21-18, 21-16, 21-8, 25-23, in favour of him. It bugs me that technique isn't enough to getting this, and that punishing myself isn't getting me anywhere. Being harsh on myself is usually my way of forcing myself to stop stupid mistakes in academics, but it seems to have a completely different effect on my badminton. And losing this much is really bad for my own confidence. I can't understand what I'm doing wrong because everything I tried is not working. It's even more troubling that I can't even pull one game off of him. Maybe I'll try for a best-of-three. But maybe he's actually naturally better than me. I just simply find myself getting annoyed whenever I make stupid mistakes that I've done a hundred times in drills, and that he does drills terribly yet somehow can pull his game together. I have a lot more ranting but it's too annoying to think about. Can someone please help me beat this guy?
you just have to concentrate on playing your game and forget about how he plays in singles, make sure you're pushing him to all four corners, especially his rearcourt backhand stay calm, focused, and play your game!
Well I don't really pay attention to how he plays during the game, although sometimes I stay rooted to the spot because his actions are sometimes quite distracting, even though I should never be rooted in the first place. Just something to improve on. The problem when I'm pushing him around is that I make those little mistakes like hitting too hard for clears and hitting too hard for drops, so it ends up being very easy points for him. I'm trying to focus now, but those mistakes are such a downer. But I understand, and I've asked my coach and some other people. I need to focus more on playing what I know I can play rather than getting upset about every mis-hit. I don't know what it's so difficult to do so though. I need to practice more. Thanks for the advice.
Hey I am not that great either! but i know what you mean! (i think) like you KNOW you can beat this guy but yet he still beats you. Like Visor said, i think you have to treat him like a competitor and take him head on. Treat him as someone thats comparable to yourself and crush him. Just keep a calm mind and take him head on. Don't be too rushy with things as you mentioned that you hit the net or it just goes out. Just forget about it and go for the next point. MOVE ON. don't be too harsh on yourself. Even if you do a million drills there are still room for errors. tactics wise, just clear to him if he can't clear. Attack his backhand make him run! if his defense is really good just smash away from him or drop. Make him run everywhereeee Plus, I really know that feeling... when someone thats not even on your skill level that just starts kicking your ass. Then you try to turn on the intensity and you mess up hitting everything out or in the net. Or you start putting everything into one shot only to expect it being returned every single time. Mannn, this is why i don't play singles I honestly shouldn't be even giving you advice because I have the same problem. But what i usually do is have the mind set that this person is comparable to myself and I should play my best game and crush him. not really sure if this is going to help but hopefully you find your solution too!
You say he can't clear all the way, so just clearing. Push to that backhand and make him mess up. If you are in fact better than him then its all in your head. If you have proper form and proper footwork you can win by making him hit into the net or getting a kill from a weak clear (as you said he has a weak clear.) A kill is a kill, a smash from the front of the court is literally impossible to block and midcourt is pretty damn hard too. Dont worry about smashing from the back because his defense is "solid" If clears alone aren't working than just drop then attack if his clears/netgame is weak. Don't force any shots just because you think that you HAVE to beat him. And mainly just have fun try not to worry about beating him.
Can someone please help me beat this guy? . I would suggest that you not pay attention to his actions, but to the flight of the shuttlecock coming to you during the rally. Often, players, who are paying attention to their opponents' actions, are fooled/deceived and/or wrong footed (whether it was meant to be a deceptive shot or an unorthodox stroke action). .
Sometimes you find yourself losing to a less skilled player because subconsciously you're saying to yourself "he looks so bad, I should win this one at least 21-5"--and then you try too hard and miss things you'd normally find easy. Just try to keep things simple--as others have said, playing a lot of clears would be a good start.
It bugs you that technique isn't enough to beat him? Than its mental strength? In your mind, you believe you are a level above him, be it, in technique or form, but when you play against him. Have it came across to you that his mindset is "I have nothing to lose, so I will go all out with whatever form/technique I have". So he just use all his weird footwork and stroke. While you on the other hand, play with a mindset "I am better than him, so I can't lose" and hence, you already start to pressurize yourself. Ask yourself this question. Can you perform under pressure? From what I read, all your mis-placement, mis-hit, seems to suggest you are putting yourself under a lot of pressure to perform well, but, yet you cannot perform shots which you find it a breeze during your drills/training. So are really competing with him in a focus mind? So I would suggest (like what the others said) just play your own game. And come up with a tactics against him, instead of relying too much on technique.
Its def a mental problem ere from what I can tell. U gotta get outta this habit of "I Cant beat him". Ur brain hears that and it give you what u want!! U can beat him and you have the skill to beat him. U need to focus on the game, not so much how bad he is or the result. Focus on the point at hand. Where is the gaps, whats the best possible shot to play. Calm urself down, I get a feeling ur all hyped up to try and beat this man that ur trying to hit everything too soon and try too hard!!! thats why ur hitting the rim and hitting things out. Think soft hands, relax ur hands, take few deep breathes before you go on court. Even before you serve, take deep breath and relax the shoulders. Find his weakness, push him about. He will struggle if his footwork isnt great and if he cant clear, attacking clears to his backhand side and then quick drops to his forehand net should get u lot of points. Focus on what ur doing, & stop thinking about I should be beating him or whatever. SHOULD is a bad word for the brain.
A video of the match between two of you will be extremely helpful . Well said. We need to see and analyse this; "When he swings he throws his arm around, yet somehow he still hits the shuttle in the direction he wants. He has absolutely no footwork as when he runs, his legs are flying all over the place, but he still gets to the birds. His defense is solid, but he can't clear at all. And he also can't drop at all. When he tries to smash, he does some weird mid-air split." .
Firstly, I suspect that you're putting too much pressure on yourself. A little pressure is good for drills because it makes you focused. However, too much pressure in matches will make you tight and that's when the unforced errors creep in. Relax, trust yourself, trust your ability and focus on the current rally. With any opponent who is less consistent than you, you want longer rallies. This gives your opponent more opportunities to lose the point. Be slightly (but only slightly) more cautious about going for outright winners. If his footwork is poor, he will be expending a huge amount of energy just keeping in the rally. If you lengthen the rallies, you may find that he completely folds half-way through. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
I agree with the others here, from what you described it's just all in the head. http://www.badminton.tv/content/item.html/winning-badminton-singles/128/ Chapter 6 should help you. The rest of the book is a good read, too.
In addition to some good comments already made, I'd like to ask how you do your drills. If they're fixed patterns, you may want to introduce uncertainties into your drills. Drills are not games. In drills, your (cooperative) partner works with you. In games, your (uncooperative) opponent wants to kill you. Furthermore, if your opponent is not that good, you don't need to try too hard to play perfect shots, like going for the extreme corner, 2nd back-line, or hitting the side line every time. You need a margin of safety. Get your shots in, and with good (but doesn't have to be perfect) quality. If he can get one shot from you, return another one to a different part of the court, and force him to play another shot, and another shot. But resist the temptation of trying to finish your rally in one single shot. Trying too hard could result in timing errors in playing your shots, which in turns could affect shot quality, and result in errors. Play in your "normal" drill tempo, speed etc.
wow amazing advice I didn't get the chance to play him today, but I warmed up with him a bit. A lot of the things you guys say are true, even if they're really general things that I should know. It seems that he's more focused on simply returning the shot consistently. And it is really consistent. Rather than trying to do something fancy or forceful, he just gets the shot over the net and not out of play. Meanwhile I'm trying to hit perfect drops, or perfect clears, and more often than not hit it out of the court. I was playing a friend and noticed that happening as well. I seem to try too hard to get perfect shots. Either it goes out, or I completely fan on it. During my drills I'll try to get consistency now rather than perfection. And no, I don't have access to a video, and it might be embarrassing. While I might be exaggerating a bit, he does swing and run like that. I have given up the idea that I'm better than him in singles. So I'm using that to force myself to work harder. I have noticed however, that it is very easy to get points from backhand clears and then cross court net his return, but I keep hitting it out of bounds or into the net or missing it completely. This is an amazing forum, and hopefully I'll be able to use the advice to improve myself and beat him in three weeks, when we next play. An interesting thing about tension. I did a bit of smashing against a friend for fun, and noticed that everytime I hit, it was basically perfectly on the sweet spot, and I hit the bird into the net only once. I haven't hit the sweet spot that many times in a row, I think, ever. And when I was doing it, I kept hitting on myself wondering why can't it be this easy when I play the other guy. Maybe because it was more for fun and we played so the other person had an easier time, but it felt a lot better than my games.
I'm glad you brought this up as I was going to. Unfortunately, somtimes just because you believe something doesn't make it true. it sounds like you're doing this both with thinking you should be able to win and in the fact that you try for the perfect shot too much. I know that as I get older I have to realize that just because my brain remembers a skill does not mean my body is in good enough condition to use that skill. when I don't I tend to hurt myself...
Well, if you really are better, you shouldn't be losing. And if he has a bad clear, you should just keep clearing until he makes a mistake. Nothing too fancy. If he has bad footwork and bad drops as well, make him run around the court and tire him out.
There are good players out there with bad form. There are also bad players out there with very good form. Your opponent is better than you. train harder, play smarter.
Simply because I have accepted that he's better than me doesn't mean I have accepted that I cannot improve to a level by the end of the season that I can beat him consistently. And the idea is that there's a certain threshold where having bad form will hold you back. I guess I'm not at that level yet, but it doesn't mean I won't try to get there, even if it takes years.
