Grip collapsing with every swing

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Is the material of your grip wrap (of your handle) slippery? If yes, it's time to change it.

Slippery grip wrap can cause all sorts of problems; from losing control of your grip on the handle... to your racket flying off your hand.

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I have this problem with the badminton bible basic grip as well. My solution was to instead use the side of my thumb instead of the base. The racket face is still in exactly the same direction and orientation. Another point to remember is to tighten your grip when you hit the shuttle, otherwise your grip will always slip. The grip size can also be an impact, I have problems with very narrow grips (small enough so that my fingers can touch my palm), I nearly always have grip slipping problems and end up with large blisters.

Changing the part of my thumb I gripped the racket with had three effects for me:

1) Stopped the racket from slipping around and shots being "sloppy".
2) For some reason I cannot pronate properly when using the badminton bible basic grip, my hand tends to tense up, which then goes up my forearm which kills power.
3) It is a lot more comfortable! Either I'm not quite using the badminton bible grip properly or there's something wrong with my thumb but the BB grip tended to lock out my thumb and hand, which is why my racket slipped.

Other people I know use my version of the grip (high ranked UK national players). I know other high ranked UK players who use the BB grip with no problems. As long as you pronate and hit the shuttle with no slice I guess there is no problem changing thumb position slightly.

Will be interesting to here from Gollum (Badminton Bible creator). It's the only problem I have had out of all the content applying to my own game.

 

hi, sevex: could you explain "My solution was to instead use the side of my thumb instead of the base." again. i am a little confused. thanks.

 

I can try, pictures would make things a lot easier and I will try in the next dew days to post a picture of what I mean.

First of all look here, at the grip guide for the basic grip in Badminton Bible:

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grips/basic-grip.php

You will notice that the thumb and forefinger are resting along the length of the bevels. The thumb at a slight side angle and the forefinger curled around the racket. What this grip does for me is make my forefinger arch up weirdly, which then locks my entire forearm. It is possible I am doing it wrong, but other people I have spoken to who use this grip say my grip is fine and what I do is correct (when I copy the badminton bible grip). With my hand and forearm locked out I can no longer tighten the grip properly when I hit the shuttle so most of the shots I hit lack power or I end up partially dropping the racket.

So to get around this problem I rest the side of my thumb (the side of the thumb closest to you in the grip pictures) against the wide bevel and my forefinger along the opposite wide bevel, again using the side of my forefinger (the side closest to you in the grip pictures). This doesn't change the position of the V shape in relation to the diagonal bevel but does make the grip on my racket a lot more solid on impact.

I know this might explanation might not help at all but once I have time I will post a picture and it should be much clearer (of me doing the badminton bible grip and the grip I use). Maybe someone will see what the problem is with my grip in the process.

 

how do you hold your grip when you smash?

 

As long as the shuttle isn't a long way in front of me then the same basic grip I use for clears. I try to use a grip that allows me to hit the shuttle cleanly (with no slice) after forearm pronation. This rarely actually works with backhands as I mis-time almost everything. The shuttle should make a sharp sound on impact if you have done it right.

If your grip collapses you won't here that sound.

Will try and take pictures tonight and post tomorrow, but can't promise anything.

 

I have changed my mind about posting a picture, mainly because I remembered the original source for the grip I use, here it is. A video by badminton central member, thejym. The grip is described at the beginning. Notice how the finger and thumb are slightly different when compared to the badminton bible grip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNVC5PVJyPQ&feature=player_embedded#at=26

 

Actually, the finger and the thumb positions are quite the same. I think the photo/video angles mislead you.

You are however right about using the side of your thumb.

If you look closely at the photos on badminton bible, you can notice that the side of the thumb is leaning at an angle on the racket handle.

To replicate the grip on the photo, here are some instructions:

1. Grip the racket like you usually do when attempting the basic grip.
2. Press the side of your thumb squarely against the racket handle.
3. Turn your thumb a little less than 45 degrees counter-clockwise (if your right-handed).
4. Tadaaa!

 

thank you, guys.

 

Your swing may be wrong too.

 

This is a really interesting discussion for me. A few thoughts:

If you look closely, the basic grip illustrated on the Badminton Bible does have the side of the thumb contacting the racket, rather than the underneath of the thumb.

At the time I took those pictures and wrote that article, I was presenting the basic grip as a grip for both backhands and forehands. This is in line with how Badminton England have been teaching the grip. This led me to present the pictures with a thumb position which would be more compatible with playing a backhand shot too.

I think BE are trying to reduce the number of grips that they teach to make things simpler. They did at one point teach a "backhand grip" too, but they shyed away from explaining exactly how it differed from the "forehand grip" (their previous name for the basic grip), saying only that there is "very little change". They later "combined" these into just one grip (the basic grip).

I've since changed my mind about this: I feel it's a simplification too far. I've decided to start teaching a "backhand grip" as well, in line with how grips are taught in Denmark. This is very similar to the basic grip but has a slightly different angle and thumb placement. This slightly complicates the grips teaching, but I believe it's more accurate.

I don't believe there is any real difference here in what England and Denmark's national coaching bodies consider to be correct technique. I think they probably do differ about how to teach it, with Denmark apparently being more precise and England preferring simplicity over accuracy (at least in their "official" statements).

I intend to revise the grips guide accordingly. I'll recommend the basic grip as a grip for forehands only. It's still "basic" in that it's a good default grip when your waiting for the opponent's shot.

My most recent teaching on this is currently only found in my grips videos. I will bring the articles up to date when I get time!

 

I realize when u put on ur grip U must do it properly to have the bevel grip feeling. I had many racket but I did not wrap my grip properly, so the handle became more round instead of the original, so even if I tried holding with basic grip, it will slip regardless whether is new grip or towel grip. I do not know if anyone else has this problem.

 

I find that if I use the basic grip exactly as BE teach it, my pronation is wrong and I slice a lot. I tilt it slightly more towards pan handle.

I don't think it should be one grip fits all; backhand grip and forehand grip play differently. While you can get away with a forehand grip for some things, like a rushed net shot, good luck playing a lift without a tennis swing. Also the bevel grip on overhead backhands, good luck playing a good shot with a basic grip there.

I see why they'd do it, it makes the game more accessible, but the coaching materials should reflect that, and provide proper instruction for more advanced or willing players.

For me, I prefer to have the side of my thumb along the bevel of the racket rather than the flat. Not so much that pronation causes the handle to hit my wrist, but enough that my thumb never inhibits my swing - which I feel it does with the basic grip.
[MENTION=118700]john1994[/MENTION]
I think this just happens. I don't think there's a way to prevent it, your grip just gets rounder and rounder the more overgrips you use. The only way I can think of to counter this is to... simply fit a bigger handle. Most of us play on G5/G4, which means there's still G1/2/3. It's like quarter of an inch each time if I recall correctly, so a G1 is quite a big grip.

I just switched to toweling grip and I love it.

 

Coach Lee Jae Bok has something similar in one of his Youtube videos, emphasising a basic grip that's slightly twisted to the side, which means the shuttle is hit square on.

 

Yeah I remember watching that video, and I agree with that technique. Not so sure I agree with the stick grip smash, though.

 

Maybe I'm missing something having only read the OP, but surely you're just using finger power upon impact, thus filling the v? Does the video below illustrate what's happening, or are you experiencing a different problem?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZzJiKDYtEc

 

I am not sure when people size grip size g4 and g5, do they mean how big ur palm is? or how long ur finger is? Because hand include finger and palm.

 

http://kulergrip.com/image/data/Blog/Understanding-the-badminton-grip-size.png