Hi Folks, I've recorded my game, so that I could observe how I play and how to improve my game. For those of you who're advanced players and coaches, please take some time to watch this video and give feedback on my shots or anything you feel I do badly, how is my technique on smash. I'm the one facing the camera with red shirt/white short. Any constructive feedback will be greatly apprciated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16BfBunC39E
You are good....you can probably improve a little on the * Drop shots, you could contact the bird a little higher thereby creating a steeper angle when you drop, right now your drops are like projectile parabolas, they seem to have a lot of air time, if you take the bird a little higher/earlier, you could generate sharp dipping drops. Could not see much of your backhand, probably you should upload a video of yourself doing drills like clears and drops, that would be more useful in checking your form
1. Footwork. Your slow moving around the court cant get power on the shuttle because your footwork is iffy. Once your footwork improves, you'll find you can get behind the shuttle which gives you a much better position to dropshot or smash. If you can get a coach, great, if you can't its going to be harder. The way you learn footwork is to have it drilled into you which needs endless amounts of drills. I have never had a coach and have had to learn the hard way from youtube. 2. Positioning. You and your partner are often out of postion which means noones at the net to finish off the rallies. In doubles, you can't just keep attacking from the back and expecting to win because beyond a certain level, its too easy to get it back. What you need to do is when your attacking, you and your partner to need play front and back so that when theres a weak reply to the net, you can pounce on it and finish the rally. 3. Be aggressive. At too many points you see to just lift off a seemingly easy shot or just lift your opponents drive to the back of the court. When they dropshot, prempt them and dash in. If they smash, step into the shot and either drive it back or block it to the net, putting them under pressure. When the shuttle is lifted to you, don't be tempted to just clear it back. Be aggressive, get behind the shuttle and start attacking. Good footwork is a definate must for this. If they drive at you, attack it, they don't seem to be that flat or fast so it should be relatively easy to blast it back down at an angle.
You're playing a solid game of badminton, with no glaring weaknesses. Your drop shots are an obvious strength. From here, the main way for you to improve is to start playing a more aggressive style of doubles. This means that you must look for opportunities to hit the shuttle downwards, and avoid lifting or clearing the shuttle unless forced. This attacking style of play is more physically and technically demanding, but it will win you more rallies if you can manage it. You can read more about this in my doubles tactics guide. You're at a playing level where it can be difficult to develop a more attacking game, since the other players around you play somewhat defensively and are weak in the rearcourt. You naturally try to exploit their rearcourt weakness by playing "defensively" (lifts & clears). The problem is that your defensive style will fail miserably when you encounter players with a powerful attack. If you want to develop an attacking style, you may just have to accept that it isn't necessarily the best way to beat your current opponents. It may also be difficult to coordinate your attack with your partner. My advice: don't be discouraged, and try to be more aggressive anyway. In the long run, you'll be a better badminton player if you try to play more aggressive doubles. In your game, all four players frequently play unnecessary defensive shots (lifts & clears). This tactic works okay at your current level of play, because the attacking capabilities of the players are not too strong. At higher levels of doubles play, the attack becomes increasingly deadly, and you cannot afford to offer these chances to your opponents. You need to make better use of the net and midcourt areas. In particular, you should be playing more net shots instead of lifting. The idea of a net shot in doubles is to force your opponents to lift the shuttle, so that your partner gets a chance to attack. The returns of low serve in your game (from all four players) were weak: you're playing mainly lifts. Try to reach the serve earlier and play flat, controlled shots: drives, net shots, and pushes. Remember that the low serve and the serve return are the most important shots in doubles, because they set up one side with the first opportunity to attack. Often a doubles rally never gets beyond the first attack.
Thaks for your feedback, I'll try taking even higher for the drop shot. I rely too much on my drop shots for my attack.
Thanks for your obserbation. Yes, my footwork needs to be worked at. I need to practice on it and behind my shots, but I forget all that during a match. As you said, rightly I need to drill that so that it become automatic, never had a coach for my footwork, learned a few tips on footwork from Youtube, even though playing the sport for over 10 years! Positioning - I'm playing with a new partner, who is not that good and doesn't understand the positioning of doubles, you're right in pointing that out. Aggresiveness - That is a weakness in my game where I developed a habit of lifting shuttles at the back of the court, instead of placing at the net. The players are not that good, so felt comfortable lifting but I couldn't afford to lift with power attacking players. Also sometimes I ran out options during my attack, after several smashes and drop shots, I couldn't penetrate their defence and also my partner failed to intercept at the net, so I cleared. I need to work on my smashes, as you said get behind the shuttle with good footwork, and hit those smashes with good placements.
You're right. My current game buddies are crap. Often I tend to get frustrated when my smashes and drop shots, keep comming back, and ran out of ideas, so I clear. Also as you pointed out, I lift a lot. I think I need to work on drives from opponent smashes, to be more aggresive. I tend to forget my pre-planned choice of shots, during a match, due to the pressure of the game, esp if it's close. How can I relax? I try desperately to win all games that, all pre-plan techniques like reverse drop shots, which I don't normally use, fall by the way side, and revert to my age old bread and butter shots!
your attack is ineffective because you're smashing with your arm and not your entire body. In fact, I wouldn't even call those smashes, they're more like weak drives. Stop hitting like a pansy and really commit to it... full body rotation from legs to hip to core to shoulders to elbows to forearms to wrist. For someone of your build, and 10 years experience, your smash should be AT A MINIMUM 50% stronger than what I'm seeing now. Lack of an attacking shot means people stand further forward to return your smash, which means your drops are also less effective, which means you'll eventually have to clear.
A lot of things you can work on. From the few minutes I watched, you can - 1. Avoid playing backhand when you're at the center line, and the return is relatively high and close to you. 2. Return back to the center line immediately after every shot, when you're at the back. 3. On downward shots, your elbow (racket arm) often dropped too low. Bring it up higher, to contact the birdy higher. 4. Standing too tall on defense.
A couple of tips that helped me to make my doubles game more aggressive: - have your racket head pointing slightly upwards in front of your body - have your racket foot slighly in front - try to attack the low serve by stepping forwards with your front (non-racket) foot immediately after the serve has been delivered Of course the first two bullets are quite obvious, but too many times I found myself playing a friendly doubles match where I neglected those points. If you allow yourself that kind of lazy attitude, it is very difficult to return to a more aggressive playing style.
There really isn't much that I can write here that will be new to you after reading all of the other comments above but I'll give my impression of your video. It seems that this was only a social game but you really didn't seem to have a competitive mindset. If you want to be a genuinely successful player in even local tournaments you need to "play properly". If you watch the pros or even players better than you who play at the same sports centre, you'll see that they never give up the attack lightly; this applies especially to doubles. As was pointed out, you seem to to lift the shuttle almost whenever it is below net height. Instead, you should aim to cut high lifts out of your doubles game as much as you can. The higher the level you play at, the more difficult it is to win the point after your opponents start to attack. If you watch pairs who have played together for a long time and are both good players, you will see that they play as a unit. At the moment, you and your partner seem a bit uncoordinated - you seemed to find yourself in the same areas of the court as your partner more than perhaps you should have. You and your partner need to have confidence in each other to return shots so both of you aren't going for the same shuttle. If your partner goes back for a shuttle, you generally need to get to the net to cover a short reply. It's important that you're ready to return the shuttle so it's a good idea to keep your racket up and in a more positive position. Your footwork should also be more powerful and positive so you get to the shuttle earlier. Using a lunge to get the the forecourt will help your net game and your subsequent recovery to a base position. As it stands, your footwork getting in to the net is quite slow and puts you further from your base position than using a lung would. The lunge also sets you up better for the shot that you'll be playing at the net. As has been pointed out already, you should certainly consider utilising the forecourt and midcourt areas of the court more, especially when you find yourself at the net. This will also become increasingly important the more you improve. Finally, you should look for the Badminton England coaching video (it's on YouTube somewhere) on the smash to get a good idea of the basic mechanics of the smash. You will probably find that the video helps more than an explanation in words only.
Good point – my smashes are weak as I use more wrist power and shoulder. As you have pointed out, I should get my body behind the shuttle and use body rotation, to generate more power. It doesn’t carry a threat, so opponents feel cofortable, lifting the shuttles to me. Thanks for pointing that out. I developed this habit after all these years, as I wrongly felt this kind smash is economical in terms of conserving energy, as we play for 7-8 games per session. I’ll use body rotation in next session for my smashes and possibly report back to you guys.
Thanks for you feedback, Raymond. Your points are interesting and I hadn't realized that I was making these errors, except for the 1. point. 2 & 3 are excellent points to remember, which I'll do next session on Sunday. Have you noticed that my grip is half way when I do the overheads shots, I try conscously to remember to hold the grip lower down, but at the heat of the game, I revert back to my usual grip. Thanks.
Thanks for taking the time to give feedback. Yes, I'm aware of the first two points, as rightly mentioned often in heat of the game, you tend to forget them. Your third point of attacking the short serve, I'm a bit confused. I thought you land with your racket foot, which in my case, right foot, but you're saying it should be left foot?
Thanks Dan for you comments. Yes, with quality players I can't afford to lift as it will be punished, maybe I should consider playing with better players. My footwork and the lounge that you mentioned, would be effective, in moving to the forecourt quickly. Thanks.
london_player, i have watched your video and i will be frank with you first, if you are going to play only socially with that group of yours, i think you need to work on your mid and front court. that is, do some setting for your partner to attack, and not only you doing the attacking like push and net or even tape. improving these 2 areas is enough to kill all of them while too much you may not have any buddies left to play with.lol second, if you think of improving your current level and go competition, you need an overhaul and this will be quite hard but not impossible if you are serious go get a coach near your area with your current footwork you will never be explosive nor will you reach corners fast enough. your hittings are too simple and incorrect, you rely too much on your arm to work for you. i only give true and frank comment and please don't feel insulted, i have no intention as a coach
Try to include the Dribble in your games . I would say that you are enjoying Badminton playing the most commonly used strokes, namely the Lift/Clear, Smash/Block and Dropshot. This is OK for recreational players. To enjoy more in your games; try to include the Dribble. It will add in more fun. .
Impact at higher point would be good when you drop, smash or lob for sharpness. More wrist work. Net at a higher level for speed. Serve with left hand straight near the rib cage height for advantage. Good experience and tricky. No booze pls... lol.
You may also want to dig out some postings here about smashes, use of wrist versus forearm pronation. Someone here once prepared a very good tutorial on overhead shots. If you don't have pronation, you'd also lose power. Even on this topic, I think their are finer details on timing, I think.
The good thing is that, it seems you're taking your games seriously. Video recording is a very good way to get feedback and help. Maybe work on one thing at a time - don't try to correct all of them at once. Just drill 1-2 aspects into your games, until they become automatic.
