Since you're from Canada, let me make a hockey analogy. The strategy of smashing in the front and back position is like the basic play of a point shot followed by banging away at a rebound. In hockey, this is considered an ugly, workman-like but effective play- your opponent is forced to react to your decisions, and you keep the pressure on them forcing mistakes to occur. The alternative (in hockey) is to make quick, clever passes from one side to the other to confuse the goalie. In badminton this might mean maneuvering your opponents out of good defensive position with a clever choice of shots, then banging home the winning smash. This depends on your opponents getting out of good defensive position, and also your own ability to play more skillful shots. Both styles can work, but to be truly effective you need to be able to use both, with a bit more of the bang-bang attack when your opponents are more skilled and a bit more of the clever stuff when your opponents are less skilled.
Wow, thanks for the advice everyone! Looks like I got home work to do in order to take in everyone's advice alexh: to answer your questions: 1. In my opinion, my partner isn't experienced/skilled enough yet to control where exactly the smash goes. I think that he sees the thing high up in the air and then just uses all his might to kill it. 2. I'd say I'm standing around the service line. I'm still new to XD; my reaction time to things flying around the net is still a bit slow. Nanobatien: if you're at the net and slowly sneaking back to the end of the court, then wouldn't that slowly leave the front area open. If they manage to get a good drop, then wouldn't it be hard to defend that? Maybe i'm not understanding what you mean... exalted: thanks for the links! Just watching game 1...I got another noob question: I realized a number of times the female player was doing a lot of lifts at the net. As I often hear, lifts should be avoided, I thought that she would have been able to do a drop or a cross-court drop...? A few things I'd like to say based on everyone's comments...the thing about mixing up smashing and then a random drop in between sounds like a good idea...come to think of it, we've won a few of the rallies because I manage to catch something in between and tapped it in front of the net. Probably because I am playing at recreational clubs, some of the opponents responses to smashes is to lift (either they're doing it just to challenge my partner or they just don't know what else to do). I"m just thinking that since purely smashing doesn't seem to work, there probably is something else that can be done.
The reasons why I asked these two specific questions: 1. Ideally your partner should see most of his smashes as "building shots" not "winning shots" (browse http://badmintonbible.com for more info on this point). He can't expect to kill the shuttle every time, but he can create opportunities for you to attack a weak return. If you can get him to aim about half of his smashes straight down the middle, then there's more chance that you can intercept the opponents' replies. 2. The further back you stand, the more chance you have to get involved. Again, the ideal is that you're responsible for the entire front half of the court, not only the net. (But it depends on your partner. Some guys get all macho about mixed doubles, and don't like to see the lady take one step back to kill a midcourt return; they'd rather do everything themself. Hopefully your partner doesn't have this sort of attitude problem.) Standing on the service line is usually OK. But if your opponents aren't playing many net shots, then you might see how much further back you can stand without getting in your partner's way. Mixed doubles shouldn't be boring for anyone on the court! Of course, if your opponent lifts to the back every single time, then it's their fault for playing a boring game, and not much you can do about it. But it's worth changing your court positioning, and asking your partner to change his tactics a little, so see if you can tempt the opponents into trying some different shots. One other question: when your opponents do keep playing these lifts to the back, are you winning more or less than 50% of those rallies?
Thanks for your comments alexh! I guess I'll try it next time to stand a little further back; I actually saw in the game (posted by exalted) the chinese female player was standing a bit behind where I'm normally am... From what I remember from playing a few days ago in the game where opponents were lifting, I just remember we lost the game. I wouldn't say they were lifting 100% of the time...but whenever they did, my partner would always smash, of course that's a normal reaction. But I would think that after a while if most smashes were being defended (actually some smashes weren't executed with a good steep angle), isn't it time to change it up just a bit?
Depends on what level your playing. If you are playing at a high standard ( Both the girl and guy is almost par) then yes Smashing is probably your only chance to win. Supposingly if you are playing at low standard which is when the opponents girl is weak at the back and the front then its pretty easy. But if she is weak at the rear court but knows how to setup her partner for smash then your in a bit of pinch
To original poster If your attack is too weak, you need to rely on other methods. Make sure you are exerting pressure, if their defense is that great, it comes down to consistency and mind games (which is imo more exciting than power play). Try varying the speed of your smash, and mixing in attack clears with fast drops. I'm assuming they cannot smash through you either, but if they can, then you are very outclassed.
no,it's not.but if you ahve a chance to deliver a good smash,then go for it.if not,then be patient and keep on rallying til you get a chance to excecute a good smash.
To the original poster, I would suggest taking a look at the XD match videos that have been posted in the video sharing forums. What I have found from watching many XD matches is that the smash is never really the winning shot, it however is the shot that more often gets your opponents off balance enough to hit the winner in a later shot. That winner is generally taken by the net player who cuts off a week return at the net. It is worth mentioning that a change in pace is also something that should be considered as a well executed drop can also elicit a weak return from your opponents. When you mix smashes and drops together you will find that both shots will become more effective be cause the opponents will not be able to sit on a single type of shot. I am not sure of the caliber of your partner or your opposition, but I can understand how boring it is to play with a strong smasher behind you because too many winners come from that smash when your opponents are very weak. In a more balanced game, you should find that as the net player you will have more opportunities to jump on weak returns to hit a winner. Now if the smash that your partner is playing is not pressuring the opponents well, then yes your opponents will play a game of lifting to partner to tire him out. I have been on the receiving end of such play when I play against players who can easily return my smash. The key though as the net player is to be ready to take advantage of the weak reply, and that can involve a ton of movement with next to no play of the bird. Just keep your head in the play because your ability to pounce on an opportunity is really what will win points.
Thanks for the tips and advice! I've played some more after my original post a while ago and I agree with treilanin about the net player. I recently played a few games against some strong XD teams and definitely, most of the time it is their net player who beat us! I'm trying to work on improving my net play as I realize that a lot of my drops are actually quite awful! Part of it is probably also my footwork if I don't get there in time, I tend to make the drops too high and then I'm dead afterwards! To the comment about tiring out my partner, that's something I've seen too. I would be dropping the bird at the net, forcing the opposing team to have to lift and then my partner goes for the kill. Unfortunately, they seem to be able to return a lot of them and my partner gets tired over time... For a game like this, I guess I am to wait for a good opportunity for them to make a bad return, as everyone else here mentioned.
Keep in mind that since you've mentioned that you play in mostly a recreational setting you're not going to get the opportunity to train as some others might. I personally am very glad I got the opportunity to play in both high school and college and continued to play (with coaching) in mens open while attending university. Training and drills are the fastest way to learn something, you have to repeat a shot thousands of times in order to reproduce it by instinct in a game. When warming up try to practice driving as much as possible. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to practice drop shots with someone, you really need 20 shuttles (or so) and run a drill. I also suggest you practice your footwork at home when possible (tape out the lines in the garage or something). Also, anticipation and court position are critical to good XD. ALWAYS be moving in response to where the shuttle went past you keeping in mind where the open court now is and realize that the opponents will probably try to exploit that open court. For instance, if your partner is pushed to his backhand side and does an around the head smash then he's going to be a little off balance and the forehand backcourt will be open, good players will try a fast lift to that spot. Take a step to the side and back in order to try and cut that off if possible. Little things like 1 extra step can make a big difference. If you watch good XD (or any type of game), doesn't have to be world level, you'll see that players are always moving, even if it's just shuffling your feet.
