back on the smashes... looking at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBABvWp-mrc&feature=player_embedded at 2:56, you can see that your body is a bit jack-knifed. It may be that when you address the shuttle for smash it is too far right (ie you are cramping yourself for space), therefore you end up contorting into that shape to hit the shuttle? It is hard to tell from that angle. In the couple of times that the shuttle went a bit behind you and and you could only manage an 'arm smash' (ie no body rotation), you didn't seem to have a big drop in smash speed - maybe you're just trying too hard when you wind up for a big one?
Danstevens thanks for further clarifying about return of serve. When the service is too high, im usually 99% going to pounce on it and net kill it. its just that, if i do a net drop to the ladies forehand, what if she lifts it to my back hand corner? am i suppose to move back and return it? I ran into this problem in my first mix doubles game where i'd drop it there and she'd cross clear/drive it to my backhand. I guess my net drop wasn't tight enough? :s another scenario is when i do the push/drive to the man's backhand and they clear it past me, do have to go back and get it? regardless if i get it or not, i am assuming i need footwork to get back there... but it seems so hard to do so lol :s Amleto in that one, i think i winded up to much lol but thing is, when i don't "wind" up my smash is actually weaker. not signifcantly weaker, but i feel that its not as strong. but i like what you said before, i don't think im pronating my arm enough to generate power. but then again, after a session of smash drills my rotator cuff and elbow and forearm hurt ):
Hey JukUx I've been watching a few of your videos and props to you for having the courage to ask for help. A lot of players think that they can't get any better but I like that you are willing to put yourself out there to improve your game! Most of the strategical and technical stuff have been said, but there is one thing that hasn't been mentioned. Asides from the form of your smash, I think the biggest problem is actually your grip. I see that you like playing with your grip pretty high up on the racket. That's fine when you're playing at the net or when you're defending, but you use it for your smash as well. It may seem like you're swinging faster because it takes less energy to do it, but you're losing a lot of power while you're at it. When you are in the back or mid court, generally you should hold your racket as far down as possible because this will lengthen your swing and if down properly can increase the overall power of all your shots. http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/ This is an excellent guide as to what shots are good for what. I can't really tell what your grip is from the angles. It seems you do have the correct grip but that you hold your grip up extremely high. In your second mixed doubles game, the common trend I noticed was that you were being moved around the court like crazy and were forced to cover some serious ground to catch the birdie in the mid and back court. Part of that has to do with the fact that you don't hit very threatening shots so your opponents can always hit in gaps of your formation. Basically you're playing on your opponent's terms as opposed to you imposing your own game on your opponent. It will save you a lot of pain from diving and falling! I have noticed that a lot of your shots are rather high above the net whether you're on defense or offense so your opponents can quickly take advantage and attack you. I know you mentioned that you haven't played with your racket for awhile so your smashes are flat, but during the men's doubles your smashes were REALLY high above the net. When you're defending, I think the most important thing is to be decisive in whether you want to keep clearing on returning a smash or return it close to the net so the opponent has to do a net shot or do a lift. Most of the time when you return a smash, it ends up being an easy net kill or allows them to intercept it for a drop high above the net. Part of this has to do with your readiness when defending. It's been mentioned by other members in the thread but you need to have your racket and body ready to react fast and have a good shot. You may think you're ready, but when you're racket is down at your legs, the .05 seconds or so it takes to lift up your racket to receive the shot means the difference between an accurate shot or a shot that will sit up to be killed. I used to be guilty of this as well with the passive playing and defense so I used to be so frustrated by my poor defense against smashes, but after a lot of practice in the proper technique by watching youtube videos (hell yes!), my defense in doubles has become one of my best attributes and has gotten me out of a lot of hairy situations. Your video against David and Alain at 5:16 is a prime example of a shot that was a victim of not having your racket and body ready to receive the smash. Even though you could see the smash just fine, your body couldn't react fast enough because your racket was down at your legs. I think you have good reflexes, but you need to combine your reflexes with a ready body to be able to hit the shots you want. Overall, I'm not going to put everything in one post because realistically you can't address every issue at one time like everyone else in the thread wants you to. You'll go insane trying to do everything and in the end you won't get anything done. Focus on a few things at a time and get really good at it. By far your grip will take you the most time to change. I use to have a pan handle grip and held my grip at about half way up for the first year and a half I played until someone pointed it out to me. It took me about half a year (2 times a week, 3 hours per session) to fully change my grip and was comfortable with it. Thank god I did because the overall quality of my shots has doubled and my power has increased as well. To help you do it, have your girlfriend remind you every time you go back to your old grip when you play! I didn't have the luxury of someone to do that but it's a tedious process to change a grip you've played with your entire life. Good luck!
Uve a lot of long replys which I aint read lol. Main things I can see in your 1st game is esp with both of yous, if a shot aint working such as ur drop or her net kill, change it. Dont keep doing it. Ur giving away easy points there. When u serve, stand an extra foot back more. Wil make getting back for lifts much easier. U need to attack more. look for gaps down middle or attack the lady in general. The reason ur smash looks weird and ur power isnt good is because you need to get BEHIND the shuttle so your hitting it down and also SIDE ON. When u hit it, ur at angle to net so ur not getting full body rotation, try to get side on to it.
First off, just wanted to say, I am currently focusing forward when im at the front. No more looking back unless I am 100% unsure of a shot. I also more bouncy when im playing, getting ready to pounce on the net kill etc, stop cross court drives. secondary, while being more bouncy, it helps with my footwork as i can get there in time as for my smashing, I still haven't restrung my Ultra Pro so ima just using the 9900 to practice getting behind the birdie and hitting the smash. so far I am not adding any rotations or anything just using wrist. Later on when i finally get the feel of being behind the birdie and still being able to see my opponents, i'll start working on my smashing power Tactim firstly, thanks for the awesome advice. Grip changing was possible for me before because i practiced it. but because i haven't played for a year and got back into serious/competitive badminton I never thought about changing my grip per shot etc. But now i know! so thanks for that! i i guess i hold it high up because i want a steep angle for my smash...but as you can see from my smash form and etc it doesn't go steep haha. I noticed that everything i hit during this tournament was FLAT. I guess i should work on hitting at a higher point and practice doing drives + stick smashing I actually have really good defense, i am usually able to drive most of the smashes back or place my partner and high into attacking positions. Just that i was really frustrated at certain aspects of my game during that time and i wasn't thinking straight. I guess the mental part of the game wore me down and i just didn't think correctly haha. Besides that I'll make sure i work on more aspects of my game and be more prepared for my next tournament in march. Hopefully, I'll get some recording then as well and I'll make sure my corrections are made hopefullly so everyone can see my improvement gingerphil79 good point, i'll make sure me and my partner do not do shots that aren't working for us i found that if stand more front when i serve in mix, i can serve tighter forcing the lift and i am usually back in time.. but i don't know about that really...whats your opinion on it? I'll also try to attack down the middle more often as well as i notice i don't do that ): well i never had formal training so i have no form to begin with haha. Yes, the main concern was that i have to get behind it lol. and i'll take a look at my body rotation as well. power isn't that much of an issue for me. its the fact that i can't hit it down/steep... its going flat.. :/ Anyways to everyone else out there.. how do i hit a STEEP smash? hit it at the highest point? i talked to countless people, and they seem to tell me that i should use my WRIST more to generate more power? is this true? THANKS.
Well first off I want to say that smashing flat isn't always bad, it's just that your smashes were about head level or slightly above so they could hit back your shots quite aggressively. If you're going to smash flat, try to aim for for the opponent's neck or chest area as that is the hardest area to defend. As for steep smashes, I think the most important part is probably the contact point. Hitting at the highest point is one thing, but like pretty much everyone else in this thread has said, getting behind the shuttle is a must before smashing. Combining those two will produce a pretty steep smash bundled together with better smash form. Shot selection is also important in this case as well. I used to be someone who tried to smash every overhead regardless of the position I was in and often resulted in some pretty slow smashes that were more like really high drives. If the birdie is directly over you or behind you and you can't get behind it for a good smash, just clear it or drop it. Either of those options will be better than attempting to do a smash when you can't pull off a good one.
tactim thanks for the reply. Yeah smashing flat is a good time at times, i know it makes a very good shot selection when catching someone off guard. However, i noticed in my games, my smashes put me at a disadvantage as it gives the opponents an attacking advantage. Yeah everyone is telling me to get "behind" the shuttle. And just now i just realized, what does that REALLY mean? how do you know when you are truly behind the shuttle? is when the shuttle is dropping and you are right behind it? or is it something else? would be great if you could clear this up and is there a video shows any of this? and how to smash in the "correct form"? someone posted here a vid of some guy showing the swinging pattern, but thats i what i do when i smash, i swear v_v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNNM5XRa5DM&feature=related Here, take a look at this video at around 5:00. That's a pretty good example of how far the shuttle should be in front of you when you hit it. Since the (former) pro in the video is also a lefty, you can compare his form to yours. Glad you asked for clarification; a lot of us throw terms around like they're common knowledge but really they aren't and they need to be explained properly. Also I think this video shows the contact point pretty well too. He's not necessarily hitting the shuttle at the highest possible point he can, but high enough where he can get a good swing at it without making his arm be completely straight and have just a tiny bend at the elbow. There's a lot of these Chinese instructional videos that have former pro players help out recreational players in China and they addressed most of the areas of badminton. They're all up on youtube with subs but I don't have them on me at the moment.
tactim thanks a lot man! i'll take a look a the video right now! yeah i watched a few of those and they really helped me as well. There is this one youtuber that uploaded all the training videos by zhao jian hua. i watch those frequently and try to learn from them. again thanks for spending your time to respond so quickly and in great detail. I am a really committed badminton player that just wants to improve a lot! edit: ahhh i watched this one! hahaha, i love Zhao's instructional videos, so dam awesome!
JukUx Yeah no problem man. I myself am an intermediate player and I look at these videos a lot when I need help in specific areas of my game. I've been lurking around these forums for awhile but I only recently started actually posting some stuff. Mental strength used to be a big issue for me; I was probably one of the most angry people on court but I've improved significantly and thank god I did because when I was really pissed, my unforced error count just sky rocketed. No matter the technique, I know from experience that if you're just unfocused, you won't be able to make the shots you want. Just minor stuff like saying to your partner/partner saying to you: Nice setup, thanks for covering me, good coordination, etc, etc... you get the idea. Even when you lose points, say to your opponents: Good shot, nice rally. Or even something as simple as touching your opponent's racket after each point win or lose. All these things give you a positive outlook during the game and you won't be as prone to anger to throw off your game. The biggest weakness (to some extent, it still is) I have is I start to get down on myself after making a lot of mistakes and I get so mad at myself that I make more and more. I notice you didn't do much of these with your partners during the tournament. Try them out! You may be surprised as to the psychological power and confidence it gives you and your partner.
Sorry to double post because apparently I can't edit my own posts. Meant to say to touch your PARTNER's racket, not your opponent's =p.
Tactim omg we have the same issue!!! I am better now but i still get very angry... i still throw my rackets when i get SUPER pissed off. Like say i miss 3 easy net drops and then i miss a net kill i go nuts! i can't help it! i am always like omg you stupid idiot! how did you mess that up! and at this point i block out everything and i feel like im playing an isolated game of singles but im actually playing doubles.... in my games everytime my partner makes a good shot i usually touch them on the back with my racket and say good shot. if they miss i say another time or good shot selection etc etc. but too me, that doesn't really do much... i just have to win 3 straight rallies and i usually get myself back up. I can barely calm myself down lol ):
If it was me I wud stand furthur back cause a stronger player wil take it earlier but u jus need more practice serving further back to make it tight. I was the same as u when i 1st did this but now it skims the net 1 of the reasons its prob flat is because u aren't behind it enough so u fix this you should sort this problem. Also focus on hitting it steep. Sometimes we jus smash and forget about is it flat or steep, we jus think as long as its HARD but good players will drive flat hard smashes back at u!!! Good luck and practice and play hard
I watched most of the first mixed video. You need to analyse this video more closely. How many times during the whole match did a rally last longer than 3 shots? Not very many. This then suggests that your serving and more so your receiving of the serve needs work. Neither of your opponents move very well so why are you hitting at them so much? Get them on the run by attacking their serve flatter into the rearcourt corners especially the backhand corner. When your side are serving, low serve to him, then try to hit rearcourt corners with flat drives or smashes, flick serve the lady more often too.
coachgary Yupp, i noticed that too! It all falls under shot selection. I think i should analyze my opponents more so i know their weaknesses and expose it :/
I wouldn't analyze things to much. If I were you i would keep things simple and not work on to many things at once. First: At this level a really tight serve is going to give you a huge advantage, and a well disguised and accurate flickserve is going to produce straight winners. Second: Do footwork drills, with better footwork comes better shotselection and court placement, this will also imporve your concistency a bit.
UncleFester late reply sorry, yeah i try to make my serves tight as possible, so they most likely clear/lift it to my partner whose suppose to smash it. Thing is, my partner isn't that strong from the back... and sometimes he smashes flat like me I am practicing to hold my serves so they won't know if its going to be a flick or a short serve Omg, everyone tells me to do footwork I am trying to get down the steps slowly, but ultimately, i barely do it in a game situation. I can do footwork to my deep forehand corner but i don' thave the footwork to get the deep backhand corner haha ):
Badminton doubles is a fast format, so I recommend trying to think and move faster as well. In the first men's doubles game both sides seemed like hardly anyone cared about playing at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Te21iapDk Watch this, this is probably the best explanation i've seen on basic footwork there is on youtube.
