But that's the point, we want a swing style that will be compatible with a larger variety of rackets. Give clears a try with the heavy racket. See if you can get baseline to baseline with it. With a racket that heavy, if your technique is too arm-y or too wrist-y, you'll very quickly know, because it'll give you bad feedback/your shot won't go the distance. I'm not proposing you change your main racket, and I can understand why you would move away from a racket like the TK9900 (having used a ZF2 myself for quite some time). I can't use super light rackets either. Visor's recommendation of an Astrox is good though. NAMD is nice. I really like my Astrox 77, but I ended up liking the N7 II more - I think the N7 II is the lightest racket I've ever used for any prolonged period of time. The rest felt weird, I got lazy with swing, or I just couldn't generate the power.
What I was trying to say is that I have done this before - my swing adjusts to the new racquet and I'm able to hit full length clears. What also changes is my touch for net/defensive shots which gets worse with heavy racquets. So when I switch back to a lighter racquet, I regain the touch, but my overhead technique gets steadily worse again. It's like my body is trying to minimise the work i need to do to pull off a certain shot. For example, if I know I want to play a drop shot, I really need to concentrate on making it look like a clear/smash to get my body into the right position, otherwise i'll probably just lean back slightly without proper side-on stance and execute a half swing around my wrist to tap the shuttle over. Of course, my opponent can see this, so it's just a terrible habit. If my body knows I can't get away with it e.g. using a heavy racquet, then I end up in better positions for overheads.
Which is why you should do the drill a lot with it practise until it becomes your normal. I do know what you mean though, I used to feel myself getting lazier on overheads with lighter rackets. It used to feel like I could put a lot of effort in, with good preparation, but the resulting shot wasn't really any better than with lazy preparation. I totally get where that mindset comes from; I got past it by using more challenging rackets that required good preparation. Surprised your touch suffers with a heavy racket though, mine's the opposite. With weighty rackets I can play good net shots from almost any position (low or high), but with a light racket I misjudge a lot more. With regards to preparation, where you said you'll lean back, it really depends on your gameplay situation. Even if you watch pros, they aren't *always* in a position to play the best shot. I emphasised previously the need to be able to play step-out shots, because you just need enough variety in there to give your opponent doubt about what you'll do with the shuttle. As MSeeley has said before (not sure if in this thread or others), but in MS you're unlikely to be in the best position to play shots most of the time. If you *are* in that best position, and still broadcast your shots like that, then that's a problem in and of itself. But what it currently sounds like is you still need to improve racket skills to ensure you have that variation from as many situations as possible. So, I still recommend you use a heavy racket for some overhead drills. Really try to focus on getting that form. Then what you can do, is everyone's favourite exercise of multi-feed drills. My coach used to feed corner to corner, with the odd net shot thrown in. The objective was to always be able to play an attacking shot. It sounds like the extra difficulty of a heavy racket, and the extra pressure of multi-feed drills, might be what you need to keep yourself progressing.
I've been doing such drills for the past 3-6 months, and the pressure seems to only be reinforcing bad habits which is why I'm looking at tackling it from a basics up rebuild. I'll probably end up going through the whole lot of preparation, footwork, posture, recovery again, but hopefully this time with understanding of what not to do from before. The net touch is more stable, but when combined with the difficulty in executing a flicked lift that I don't have the wrist/finger strength for, it leads to less confidence on nets overall, especially when opponents look at shutting down the net and I feel more pressure to play an even tighter net shot than normal.
A little bit of progress on this one now. I'm managing to hit maybe 10-20% with good preparation on an easy-medium multifeed or an easy lift/net sequence. Major reasons for bad preparation are being too square, and not starting the stroke early enough. Not being side on makes the preparation really awkward, and tends to mean I lose a lot of sideways accuracy (hitting out wide). I'm seeing the positive results in steeper smash/drops even when from a standing position - they are often steeper than my steepest jump smashes before. As @MSeeley noticed before, I get better contact when I don't jump. Still, 10-20% isn't really enough to progress to other things, but I feel there's only so much I can do of one thing in a 2 hour session. Any ideas on drill variations and or related drills to mix up a session? Or would the advice be to really focus on this for as long as it take to get to more like 70-80% (or even 90%?) correct preparation without pressure?
It’s a bit of an individual preference. I am sure you can mix it up with some other shots and then come back to it so long as the majority of the time is overheads. Are you just working on just smashes or also clears and drops? I have had times when I perform really badly on a technique, try very hard, get frustrated and then we have to move on. Then the next session, wow, it’s working much better. I also noticed if the break to the next session is about six days, I lose the benefit of the previous session. This timing will vary between each individual.
The variation I would recommend is to simply reduce the complexity of the feed for a 10 - 15 minutes to allow you to focus on something else, but whilst still attempting the preparation (e.g. practicising cross court drops and straight net shots, where you can focus on your movement and net shots, but are still also repeating the overhead preparation but it is not longer the focus). This sort of thing helps to keep working the motion but with slightly less pressure in the context of trying to perfect something else. And it gives you a little break to recover your breathe - don't work flat out the whole session if your fitness doesn't allow it, just mix up the tempo and introduce some softer drills. But ultimately I would advise you just keep at it. It sounds as though you are making good progress, and the key to getting it to stick is to nominate how many sessions you will focus on it, and don't deviate e.g. 10 similar sessions (or 10 sessions where overhead prep is the primary practice objective), and don't just move on in 5 sessions time when it all starts to feel better. Keep going at it, complete all 10, then decide whether it needs more targeted work or if something else is the most important thing. Try to avoid just turning up and working on whatever you feel like - you would benefit more from committing to the goals and really seeing it through and hence coming close to mastery after 10 good sessions. Thats obviously just an example - I am sure you will have a better idea than me what will work for you, but 10 shouldn't be too far off what's required. As the main basis for your training I would recommend fast drop shots and 1/2 or 3/4 power smashes. Forget about the full power stuff in training for a few months, and really perfect that accurate steep, effortless 3/4 power smash. It will be easy to then just give a bit more effort and produce a full smash. Well done mate! Good luck for your continued success in 2019!
Haha, so you've be recommending AX88D to everyone here. I ended up ordering one for myself to replace my TK6000. Hopefully, I'll like it as much as you do, and more so than my TK6000. How much your equipment would help your game really is debatable. If you're a beginner, certainly any decent rackets would do. The rackets with all these technological upgrades could make a difference - in swing speed, power, accuracy, control etc. This is not to say racket is more important the training. Nothing stops one from doing both. Here in US where I live, a private lesson is of the order of $90-$100+. A decent racket, like AX88D, costs under $200, or about the cost of 2 lessons.
Haha... Make sure to let us know how you do with it when you receive it! The way I look at it, a racket is like a tool like a knife for example. Once you've used and appreciated a well designed sharp knife with good heft, balance, and grip, you'll never want to go back to a so so one... It makes your job so much easier... Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
So I met with @speCulatius last week for a few singles games, and of course I asked for some feedback! The biggest issue was my posture - @Cheung has mentioned this extensively, and @speCulatius noted that the issue looks worse in real life than in videos! Of particular concern is my lunge technique, where I tend to collapse and bend forwards at the back, rather than lunge further and stay balanced/upright - this is likely because I'm too upright to begin with so I'm unable to get into the right lunging position. I've been working on getting that squatting/sitting posture and have tried working in the drills @MSeeley mentioned - fast drops/half smashes and easy net then repeat. For each corner separate straight/cross, then alternating, then random. I feel like it is going well in conjunction with the overhead technique - I feel like I have a lot more power available, and I feel much more balanced. The fast drops/half smashes are proving to be harder than I thought initially as I have to hit them harder than expected - as @speCulatius noted in our games, my idea of a 1/2 smash was his idea of a fast drop...and my idea of a fast drop was a slow drop (which he had plenty of time to choose a return with!) I'm not sure how I'll cope with attacking clears yet, but I'll work on that after im more confident in my overhead technique and footwork. I have noticed that when I don't crouch properly, I tend to end up standing tall and fall backwards, unable to pivot or play a proper overhead stroke as my body is too square. I've also noticed my forward footwork is significantly faster, but I don't know if this is effective against drop shots rather than net shots yet. So I've got two things to train that I feel are both very important, and happen to complement each other too. Hoping I can get the habits ingrained - judging by the drills, the technique/footwork are giving me much more consistency and speed when I remember to do them! I have not performed to this level of accuracy and speed in the same drills ever before where some of the shots are surprising me by the power/angles that I am able to get!
This could be related to lack of finger technique - you might be using too much arm movements. However, one thing at a time.
You'll find others with your "definitions", there's not a clear line. Still, the drops were too slow to be neutral, putting you under pressure when played while moving backwards, we talked about briefly. It's not the first aspect to work on, but for now you can stop to just rush to the net and move your base position slightly to the back. Therefore you obviously need to be confident about your footwork to reach the net or fast drops and half smashes, but you got plenty to work on to improve that. Just keep up the effort. When practicing footwork pattern, do sets when you simulate a clear everytime you are in one of the back corners and then be sure to but rush to the front, but (probably less than) one meter in front of the double service line. Also, make sure that the last step to the base position is the split step to get to the next corner. A few things to watch for a good lunge are No hunchback!!! --> your hamstrings will be tense, because they're actually holding your upper body Knee behind heel for the front leg to be able to push yourself back again (and to prevent injuries) Front foot: weight is evenly distributed, not biased to the ball of the foot The back foot should stay where it is and but move forward (don't care about this when playing) You can easily go down with your hip (doing that will give you slightly more reach), therefore you should turn your hip, not open it (just do what's most stable, don't overthink), practice to start the lunge with the hip turned like this, it will be the most stable position The balance is in the center between your feet and does not move forward After the stroke, do a ready-step (just pushing yourself back towards the base position, only moving your front foot, regaining better balance, no turning) to be able to go in either direction. Make this ready-step a habit, it is very energy efficient which might feel counterintuitive That's part of it, he realized that himself, I'm not sure if he realizes that he did realize... good to mention it again. Before that, work on your overhead shots to involve your body more, this will give you more power, more control and more confidence. Work on your footwork (you know the specifics, if in doubt, ask) and keep us updated.
It really is a a difficult thing to get right. I used to think I was really low, and then when I saw myself on video, blimey, I am still standing up really straight.
And here we are - these videos are exclusively a huge dose of lower stance/posture footwork and practices on forward lunge technique, with the overhead action minorly improved. My power is currently quite diffused (no focused finger power), and I am still forgetting to start my swing early enough under pressure/for flatter strokes resulting in weak/inaccurate stroke production. I'm in Blue, match starts at 1:00. Probably my strongest performance to date (my opponent made it to the finals of this tournament!) This was the first match, with the typical first game being god-awful (just could not get touch at the net). Vastly improved second game beginning at 3:16, which is incidentally one of the strongest rallies of the day, along with 4:40. Some quick notes I've already made: - need to keep foot planted on high serve - need to lift better (way too many outs) - need to work on neutral and cross net shots - NEED to continue to work on staying low - NEED to work on overhead action more I feel the last two are making such a big difference that I need to keep up the improvements in these areas before moving on, as I still have a good way to go. Let me know what you all think!
It’s because of your initial position. You hit the shuttle on the side. You will get better dynamics if you hit the shuttle forward of the body towards the net. don’t go for the sideline too much. Some days are better than others. This will take a bit of work. Probably not a big emphasis at the moment. A lot of improvement! I notice when you get pushed into the rear corners, after hitting the shuttle, you stand up straight again. Probably you are a bit off balance and reverting to old habits better and keep practicing Generally much more patient play as well. You do tend to panic on some easy shots and swipe the shuttle without clarity. I noticed you got punished on your favourite round-the-head-jump-backwards-smash-down-the-line when the opponent is in a good position. Here’s couple of big things that are easy to correct: A) the shuttle position relative to the body on forehand high serve. It’s suboptimal and a cause of your inconsistency and raising rear leg. So you need to change that as described earlier. B) your receiving stance feet position is definitely inefficient. You have to move the left leg first an extra step to accommodate, therefore slows your first movement.
Honestly I think you need to work on tactics more than technique at this point. Your footwork is actually not bad, and yet you seem to lose a lot of points. It's because you aren't playing very smart. You are making the game much harder on yourself just because you are setting up your opponent to trouble you. It's like you aren't really thinking about what shot will trouble him, or what shot WON'T trouble you. Your opponent certainly is. I'd guess if you hooked up a pedometer to both of you in that second video you would have taken twice as many steps as your opponent in the same game. Like the good rally at 3:16. He has to go to the net a few times, but he basically doesn't move from the center more than one step. Meanwhile he's working you to all 4 corners of your side. You move well, but you are letting him control you, instead of the other way around. I think you need to work on theory and strategy, work on noticing your opponents habits and weaknesses and then exploiting them. And you seem quite young and fit and probably have a higher fitness than some opponents. So make them move around the court! Wear them out until they can't move very well and then kill them!
Pretty solid in the game that I watched you in the MS2. In my opinion, you need to try playing more cross courts. Play more cross court smashes, drops and net shot (do not be silly though and leave yourself exposed). I think you need to work on your consistency more but that will come with time if you play regularly and keep an eye on your technique. Additionally, you need to try and open yourself out more when you play your overhead shots as you seem a bit too rigid and compact which reduces your power and consistency.
Forehand serve shuttle position - of course! I couldn't figure out why I was struggling to get shuttles to go forward whilst being able to channel power upwards, and also felt cramped/felt like I was 'pulling' backwards. My main cue for low positioning is the split step - I hadn't thought of staying low during recovery actually, so it is not surprising in the rear corners that I recover upright. I'll use this as part of continuing to improve posture. Not sure what you mean by receiving stance left foot positioning. Serve receipt? Assuming so, is it just positioning so my right foot is not to the left of my left foot? True enough about tactics - I have always been a strong retriever, but have always struggled to turn those basic retrievals into strong returns. I'm not actually sure how I could have made my opponent move more than a step away here. Higher lifts/clears would force a further move back, and maybe riskier slow drop shots? I played some reasonably tight nets, and he lifted these, though perhaps I could have lifted them high instead. One thing I definitely could work on is a tighter looping block to net in defence, rather than the doubles flat blocks I'm currently playing. Playing more crosscourt angles could help a lot more too I think - my opponents seem very ready for the straight strokes I mostly play. I think I played only a few crosscourt clears, but each time they were very effective. The only consistent crosscourt stroke I regularly use is probably the cross lift. I'll have to work on cross nets and cross drops a lot more. Cross smashes I can normally do from RTH, but the forehand cross is more like a stick smash since I'm working on the overhead action and the timing is very difficult on forehand jump outs (and I rarely have the time to get into position to scissor kick through on FH corner). I'd prefer to same the smashing for when I have a short lift, so I'll put more practice into cross drop/net drills. Thanks for all the comments so far!
Thank you! I was thinking exactly the same. But I didn't bother to reply because this thread is mostly about technique. @DarkHiatus I think your technique is a lot better than your tactics at this point. I would also focus on that, aside from the technical aspects. A thing that helps me finding the right tactics is focusing on my strengths and exploiting my opponents weaknesses.
