Hi Footimy, perhaps you can explain to us with a simple example. How about describing how one player does a straight reverse sliced drop shot with his forehand on the left side of the court, and the type of reply from his opponent, in your Tai Chi words? Pls explain the footwork, the hand/wrist/arm/body movement, of both strokes, and how Tai Chi is used by both.
Taneepak, I think you misunderstood the topic. He's not here to explain how it works. He's just here to say he uses it, and that it does work..
Let Footimy respond to this. In his opening thread, I believe he has extended an open invitation to us to visit his place where he will show us how it is done, the Tai Chi way. BTW, the part of Sabah where he lives is quite remote. I do travel to Sabah to bigger towns like Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan but I don't think I know how to get to his place.
A simple explanation of flow and pattern. Let us review what is "Tai Chi" definition in combat: "...appropriate change in response to outside forces; the study of yielding and blending with outside force rather than attempting to meet it with opposing force." In simple way to say, do not do what you can't do. For an example, if an opponent playing a speed and power game against you, and you do not have the speed and power to beat him, then do not force yourself play speed and power this will only lead to the faster defeat (in term of "tai chi badminton" concept in this example "outside force" is the speed and power of your opponent.) Instead trying to beat brute power with more brute what you can do is, first, blend yourself with his tactic ASAP or recognize his playing pattern. Then, lock his attacking force by using all the shot you have master especially,net shot, disguise shot, high lifting clear, drive shot, etc. When you are trying to locking his attack by the same time he is trying to make an attack move; this what we call "flow", "rhythm",or "pattern". When a "pattern" emerge in a game, the real problem comes in; you both stuck in the "pattern" until the end of the game. Now, this is the most difficult part in badminton, how to break the "flow", "pattern", or "rhythm" when you know your stuck in it?
Destroying flow Destroying flow is the most difficult skill in badminton, because when ever your are trying to change the flow, a new flow will always emerge, to destroy flow effectively this are the few things we need to constantly take care of 1. Brain (for imagination before making a shot) 2. Muscle tightness 3. Time before hitting the shuttle 4. Heartbeat 5. Footwork ( the walking footwork ) 6. Body language 7. You must understand how brain capture a pattern This 5 element is the same important as each other, fail to execute this 7 element in every shot your badminton play will like any other ordinary style. To destroy a flow 1st your brain must always know where is your opponent location, 2nd you arm muscle must be almost 100% relax, 3nd your hitting timing must be faster or slower significantly than usual, 4nd your can't be nervous your heartbeat must be normal, and 5nd your have the right footwork and body position, and lastly do not show any body language before making a hit. These flow destroying technique is very effective in tournament because almost everyone have a tight muscle when in under pressure.
Not many people can use it, some people use it unconsciously, it is a very extremely hard technique, it was a fluke when i discovered it, destroying rhythm is the hardest thing to do.
There are just too many other factors that determine who wins and who loses in a badminton match. All the Tai Chi will be of no avail if one player is not fit, or doesn't have the skills, or the most important of all doesn't have the intelligence vs the opponent. In a way "intelligence" is even more important, as it can adopt some elements of Tai Chi if appropriate and dump Tai Chi for skills if it is more advantageous. Even intelligence by itself may not be good enough if the disparity in skills is too wide. Let us use the Lin Dan vs LCW Olympic finals match. Do you think Tai Chi would have helped LCW?
first of all, before making the shot you must do all the thing in "destroying flow" thread. Now, when the shuttle is high enough to make the straight reverse sliced drop, go beneath the shuttle landing point, relax your whole muscle and wait for a while (wait until your opponent guessing) hit it faster or slower; different timing than u usually do. Hit the shuttle with different timing every time, flow will be broken!! Usually the reply will be either the opponent is not moving at all or the reply will be a net shot.
Yes I mosly agree with you, like I said, Tai Chi is a high level skill play, you can only play tai chi effectively when you already master all the shot. I saw the final match between LCW and Lin Dan in Beijing Olympic on tv, the only reason why LCW lost badly to Lin Dan is because Lin Dan does't have any "flow", "pattern", "rhythm" in his game and LCW is guessing all the time. Yes I believe "Tai Chi" would helped LCW to higher his chance to beat Lin Dan. Long ago before the match, LCW said to the one of the Malaysia commentator: "To beat Lin Dan, we must have calm and patience" at that night obviously he wasn't calm and patient. Calm and patient is one of the element in Tai Chi.
Your "character signature" is the key to broke the flow, let the opponent thinks he knows your character signature, then make him guess!
I don't think LCW was lacking in calm and patience against LD. He was hit by a thunderbolt and was rendered completely useless by LD's speed, power, agility, strength, and that killer instinct. Notice the poor net shots and the half court returns from LCW? These were not because LCW was in poor form. It was because LD's shots were so fast and so deep that LCW had his reaction time cut by more than 50%. It is this "freezing" by LD to LCW's reaction time that destroyed LCW's night. Calm and patience were of no use, except to eat humble pie.
That night the SUPER DAN real face was show, did you notice the forehand slice cross court shot twice made by LCW that made him 2 point (LD was freezed for that shot)? That is the example of flow destroying shot.
Just good footwork is quite useless. Footwork is merely one element of the smooth and fluid movement of a good player. You need to have very good reflexes and anticipation also. There are players who are very good at footwork but very poor in anticipation and have slow reflexes. Even if you can move around very efficiently, it is useless if you don't have the strokes or racquet skills, never mind other equally important factors like intelligence, fitness, and tactics, etc.
Did you see the other 11 times he did that shot, and Lin just retrieved it? disrupting Rhythm is a useful tool, and a very common tactic... I really can't see where the 'whole Tai-chi word redefinition project' comes into play...
Indeed.Badminton is like Tai Chi. Badminton is like chess. Badminton is like dancing. Badminton is like boxing. Badminton is like making love to a beautiful woman. Use whatever metaphors you please, if you think they will help. Metaphors can be a powerful learning tool; for instance, "forehand overheads are like throwing a ball -- not like throwing a dart." But don't stretch it too far. Here's another metaphor for you: Metaphors are like onanism. Once you start, you can't stop.
