what county u from? dont you have county squad to go to? every county has their under 15, 17, and 21's. and then obviously the seniors. playing in tournaments will only get you so far. if ur doing something wrong, doing it wrong more wont improve. u need somebody qualified or at least with a bit more knowledge and experience to correct it. sometimes you wont even realise you are doing it. i would suggest you contact ur counties development officer and they will be able to suggest to you relevant clubs and coaches around the area. as well as point out suitable sparring partners.
Yes, competition is good as that will improve your reading of the game , go on youtube , there is some great coaching videos there , I will post the address later on for you once I found it , watch some competitive , I mean world class badminton and trying to learn from them. Someone on here mentioned to learn from players you are playing with , not good ideas as they properly wont have the correct technique. If you want to take it seriously I would suggest hiring a coach (qualified -maybe ex-county players) , you definitely got the attitude and passion for badminton and that is a very good starting point for a decent player !!! Since you are sponsored by Victors , they may be able to find you a coach and good players within your region
There you go LDrules, this will help ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqiR2vVn-J8 Go through all the episodes (think there are 13) , this is only part 1 of the first episode Then on youtube : type in ''planetbadminton'' and there are some good singles match you can feast your eyes on however, they are not replacement in finding a coach who would be there on the court with you ..
thanks for this advice, I am going to get myself a coach, for 1-1 training in June through to the end of august in time for the new season but after my exams are over, then I am able to play when I want for as long as I want every day of the week. there is going to be a huge hole in my pocket come august all those £££s Btw the videos, are very helpful thanks.
If you don't already, it's probably a good idea to join a local club as well. By playing with a club, you'll get two of the things you need at the moment, coaching (albeit not one-to-one) and access to other people that are serious about badminton who could potentially partner you in doubles or mixed. As for your videos, there probably isn't much that I can add that hasn't been pointed out already.
thanks dan, I already play in a club, but most of them aren't serious, they are quite good, but they don play competitively, I only ever have the chance to play singles or mixed doubles, at tournaments, as I can't find any partners, to play boys doubled with (they already have partnerships) so I play mixed sometimes.
Regarding my serve... .... The other day, I was playing, another guy, (who is better than the one I am playing in the video) and he wasn't very happy with me. He said that my serve was above waist, and that it would be a foul, I have used this serve, for the last two months now, as it is the most useful, and effective, is my serve to high on the waist ? I think he was just saying that, as he was unable to return my flick serves effectively. Also he complained, about the amount of time I took between points, I usually take about 10 seconds between points, but he said that I would be disqualified, if I did that, as I was taking too long and not running to get the shuttle. I think he I'd just a moan, but does he have a point on: 1. My serve is it too high(you can see it in the 2nd video better) 2. Do I have to run direclty to get the shuttle, or can I walk slowly, and collect it ?
1. yes look at video 1 time:0.28 thats clearly higher than your bottom rib serve @ time 1.12 might possibly be legal but with the crazy angle its hard to tell serve @ time 1.24 illegal looking at the angle of your arm serve @ time 1.55 50/50 tho you racket is almost horizontal at contact serve @ time 2.19 illegal serve @ time 2.39 50/50 these are all my opinion i will have a watch of video2 now
VIDEO 2 --Note-- TIME 0.13-- When recording videos of yourself playing to post on WWW dont de wedgie yourself right infront of the camera serve time 0.24 illegal serve time 0.34 50/50 serve time 1.16 50/50 serve time 1.28 swaying towards legal serve time 1.48 illegal i give up im tired from what i can you your serve is mainly ILLEGAL but you should take a video from the side to be sure
the serve to me also looks high on the waist. however, taking a little bit of time inbetween points is absolutely fine
To answer question number 2: I wouldn't personally run to get the shuttle, neither would I walk slowly. Just a standard walking pace is fine. From looking at the videos you posted your pace is fine. He was just trying to put you off I think. Unless of course you were much slower in the other match. The problem with your serve is the racket starts off below your rib but you contact the shuttle far higher. I think it might help if you had the shuttle almost touching the racket when you serve and check where it is in relation to your body. So instead of swinging the racket forwards bring it into your body more then swing out. If you have the right technique you should still be able to flick it to the back of the court. Although it won't be "easy". You will also find controlling the serve less challenging. You could always serve it short most of the time,as that serve is better for that and flick occasionally, to catch your opponent out. Otherwise you may as well use the forehand long serve instead. Hope that helps, I really should post a video of me playing at some point... Not that I'm particularly good, but the feedback given by others here is useful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7sbzxVvFZg&feature=player_embedded#! another one this is the 2nd set of a school game
Are you closest to the camera or furthest away? My initial impression was simply "wow, that looks like pretty high quality badminton for a school game" - badminton at most schools in England is nothing like that, more just tapping it over the net with a panhandle grip, barely hitting it past the service line. Of course, club and league badminton in the UK is generally of a much higher standard than people that play at (and represent) their schools. Assuming you're the player closest to the camera this time around, the one thing that struck me first was how much I wanted to scream the words "RACKET UP" at you, especially considering what I practised virtually all morning today. You have your racket in a good position to return serve with but after every shot, you just drop it. By dropping your racket, you virtually eliminate any chance of hitting a decent net shot because by the time your racket is in a position to contact the shuttle, the shuttle is already well below net height. If you can, aim to take all net shots above or equal to net tape level. Obviously, this isn't possible always - sometimes a drop or net shot simply beat you all ends up and require you to scramble just to return them but a lot of the time, you should be looking to make contact above net height. Having your racket low also damages your net game in a different way - keeping you racket below the shuttle encourages a swinging action for playing net shots, making it difficult to get them tight. Most, if not all of the "power" to carry a net shot over the net should simply come from the motion of lunging in to it. You don't need to swing your racket, just position it correctly with a kind of "jab" (moving it straight forwards, not upwards) and let your feet and the racket do the work. Sorry if that's not a great explanation - I know what I mean but I'm not sure that anyone else will on this matter. Oh and whilst I think of it, on your first video, I noticed that your forehand high serve didn't seem to be going particularly deep. Try and make it drop in the tramlines. You also have room to hit it higher (as long as you can achieve decent depth) just to remove the risk of someone cutting it off early with a smash/ jump smash. Ideally, you want to make your forehand high serve go high and then fall almost vertically over the gap in the back tramlines. I say the gap between the two simply because it's pretty hard to consistently land a shuttle from the middle of your court right on the back line - you're bound to miss a few if you're trying to hit the back line. Just aim in that kind of area and most of your high serves should be pretty decent. I do like your backhand short serve - it seems to be a good way for you to start the rally. You could maybe make it a bit flatter (and so harder for a good player to attack) but that would come at the expense of some consistency. Having a really tight serve is more important in doubles than singles and at the moment, your backhand short serve seems to be serving you fine (truly horrendous pun not intended) so I wouldn't change it - the serve is a relatively difficult thing to overhaul because it's bit of a rhythm shot. When changing your serve, as I did a while ago, I would imagine you'd find it got worse before getting better. Tactically, I thought you were fairly good, I noticed that you got some success with high lifts to your opponent's backhand corner and you seemed to notice this as well because you did it more than once. Whether a conscious or subconscious thing, being aware of your opponent's strengths and weaknesses is the first step to beating them. I'm not sure that you're contacting the shuttle as high as you could on your overhead shots, I think by taking them earlier you'd contact the shuttle with your arm at full extension and find it easier to generate power and angles. I believe the description someone gave your smash, "erratic" was pretty accurate. To me, your smash swing looks more of a wild hack than a controlled badminton swing. You're trying to hit it too hard. It may sound counter-intuitive but you'll hit your hardest smash when you relax and don't really try to knock seven bells out of the shuttle, just focus on your technique and the racket head speed will come naturally as a result of the technique. Watch some slow-mo videos of the top pros smashing and then watch the full speed ones. You'll find that even on the full speed videos, they don't always look like they're trying to hit the shuttle through the floor. Granted, when they go for a really huge smash, sometimes they do look like they want to hit it through the floor but generally, you'll find the pros are much more relaxed when playing their shots than most amateur players do. Sorry for the long post and I don't mean to be overly critical because you're actually pretty good. The above is just a rather random collection of things that I noticed that were good and some that you could improve.
thank you so much for the advice, i don't at all mind it being long. Also yes i am closer to the camera, sorry failed to clarify. On the point of racket being too low, I've been criticized about before, and i believe i have this problem because as I've been told i am too comfortable defending. I i believe you should have your racket a bit lower for defending yes? And also would it at all help this problem if i just get someone to feed shuttles to me for net shots and I hold my racket high to hopefully gt into a habit?
Sorry for the slow response. Being "too happy when defending" could be the reason for your low racket but whatever it is, I think you'd be a better player with a more complete game if you kept your racket up and prepared for shots the right way. In practice games, concentrate on having your racket up when you split step. Make your practice partner watch you and ensure that you do have the racket in the correct position. If you're working on keeping your racket high when at the net, your racket should never drop below net height. Split in your normal singles base with your racket up, lunge in towards the net with your toes pointing where you're going, cut the shot off, keeping your racket above net height, tilting it to ensure the shuttle goes over the net but only just. Return quickly to base "turning your racket up" in to its normal position when you split for the net shot. The "turning the racket up" bit is kind of difficult to explain but try it on court and I think you'll know what I mean; basically if you can avoid dropping your racket, avoid dropping your racket. When hitting overhead shots, you can't keep your racket high all the time, in your follow-through your racket is probably going to go down. As soon as your follow-through finishes naturally (slows to a stop), try to get your racket up as part of the collection of things you would do whilst getting back to base. By having your racket up when you see the overhead shot means that you can use a more compact, simpler motion to prepare and make your swing. A simpler and more compact swing should mean that your overhead strokes will become more consistent and you'll be able to get them off quicker when rushed. To be honest, it's just something you have to drill in to yourself. There isn't a quick fix - you just have to do it for so long that it becomes automatic. Hope I've helped and if you've got any more questions, feel free to post them and I or someone else will answer them to the best of our abilities.
hey! been watching with interest, but had no camcorder! final my friend got one so here is just some drills. no game yet, playback is a bit glitchy in the games.... its Ben at the beginning, and me in the second half, im in the yellow shirt. start of with a nice juicy shank into the net. but better after that. haha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlOtf7bQlAo
