first post? you mean - first, u look at the post? and then u serve to the center? then that is a smart service! but don't do it too many times it spoil the soup ...
preparation! in service, there is the preparation (as i mentioned in early post) before you serve. the sames goes to driving or bowling, you have to prepare first and probably the last second in bowling you create an imagery line to your intended target. such preparation can be, as some of you already pointed out like starring at your opponent... or recent one even looking at the post! (subject to a reconfirmation from faris8965 post #302!)
1st at the opposition as to where they are standing and how they are holding their racket. 2nd at the shuttle 3rd as I strike to where I have hit it. Then the point is mine who ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!!!!!
I vary myself, just to keep opponent guessing. Sometimes I look at the front and serve to the front a few times, and then the third or fourth time i flick it to the end of the court. I mostly hit the serve short, in both singles and doubles, unless of course the player is standing very close to the front every time... I also vary the speed of my backstroke.
why don't you try next, look at the front but you serve to the back and vice versa? see what happens to your opponent!
I have a ritual of standing in exactly the same place every time. I see serving as an orderly line of events, if for some reason I'm interrupted,for discussion of the score usually, I step back and begin the entire ritual over again. Like the Zen archer story, its not just firing a bow and arrow, its a whole fluid movement of taking the arrow from the 'backpack' thing, fitting it to the bow, pulling the string and letting go. One complet fluid movement. I like to make serving into a similar kind of operation, it enables me to concentrate and the mvoements are very harmonious. I feel that harmony of movement and 'oneness' with a racquet is very important. Zen badminton! This works for me, amongst the people I play with I'm renowned for the 'nastiness' of my serves!
Another point, years ago my ping pong coach used to say 'there is no excuse whatsoever for a bad serve, when you are serving you control the entire situation, and EVERY serve should be perfect'. I count how many times I miss a serve. My record for one and a half hours of doubles play is 8 bad serves (net or out) and a couple of 'too highs' that got killed. Keeping count forces me to try to get to zero.
yes, when you serve, it is like the whole fluid movement of taking the arrow, fitting it to the bow, pull & let go! however, its always easy to do that during practice, a bit hard when you play games and very difficult when you are in a competition! worst still when you are in the final, its just gets harder and harder! when training my players on 'pressure service', you can see them trying to be comfortable! most of the time they don't get their coordinations correct!
Pbm, I didn't say it was easy! I think maybe you can train people to complete a ritual, an orderly sequence of events, so that they, in any situation, simply 'do' the routine. They must learn to concentrate entirely on the movements and sequence of events, so totally that it won't matter if they are flirting on the beach or in a competition final serving at 21-20. Perhaps breaking down the servie into a series of steps might help the people you coach?
yes they are trained that way but like i said when the tension is there, they try to be comfortable - most of them follow the sequence but in 'a hurry'. this is natural even adult players or even the pro! ever timed yourself serving, start from holding the shuttle till you completed the serve? get someone to time you! you will be amazed to see the results if your time is between 3 to 4 sec!
before i serve i look at my feet to make sure they are in line, then look at my opponents position and see if they are too far in/too much on one side/too much weight on the front foot. then i look directly at the T but out the corner of my eye look at my opponents movement and change the angle/speed and the racket acordingly i probably get an ace 75% of the time with my flick but i only use it at the right times, so maybe once a game
staring at opponent would actually cause fear in u, unless ur look is fiercer than the opponent's... maybe jus a quick glance at foot, net and opponent will do.
Where do you look when you serve? If there are a few babes sitting near to the court, then, with full attention.............................................................i'll look at them.....................sorry bro, just joking
Before i serve,If playing doubles, this will be my sequence 1. I'll look at my serve stance - to make sure i'm in a correct stance otherwise, i will not able to serve comfortably and react quickly after serving 2. I'll look on how i'm holding the shuttlecock - to make sure i'm holding it correctly otherwise i will not able to serve properly to the intentional direction 3. I'll look at my partner - to make sure he in a comfortably ready and in a correct stance of readiness position 4. I"ll look at my receiver stance position in regards with the court - any empty area then i'll serve there or 5. I'll look on the level of my receiver racket's head - if it is low, then i'll do a flick serve or 6. I'll observe at where is the receiver's partner positioned - near to the centre line then i'll do a flick serve to the centre line or 7. If in any way my receiver is properly ready, then I'll look into his eyes then change my sight to any space in his court but at the end i will not serve there but to any other space other than there
I look at the opponents girlfriend or mom at the side and make a face that looks like they're being woo'd at or something bad happened, it worked and still does. But only once then I just look at my racquet the next serve and serve very very slowly then snap at an instant.
