Well, the pair they lost to are very strong. Yes I've heard he has injury issues, lost to him and Nic Fan at Cambs Silver, 17 in the 3rd.
Ok so as I mentioned earlier, this isn't me playing. But it would be good to get some comments on their play style/techniques since it's the sort of level that I hope to reach one day! [video=youtube;jX8GnOs6P1o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX8GnOs6P1o[/video] [video=youtube;NTCVOcLQnxE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTCVOcLQnxE[/video]
Actually, your footwork doesn't seem "so wrong". You have the speed and your movements were quite explosive, those I've been struggling for the last few months to get into. I think you were just playing too tight and rushing all over the corners, maybe it's a good idea to bring down the game speed by doing more high deep clears to spare a bit more time. I know it's difficult but once you are able to adjust and control the pace of your game, you can play with more confidence and relaxed. Not sure if this helps
I think the camera angle makes it difficult to judge how msitropo is playing. His shot selection and the quality of the opponent can make his footwork seem rushed. Hard to say but I think too many shots were attacking in response to the opponent being in control of the rally, when more use of defensive clears may have been a better option to slow it down and reset the play.
well, joel gayle is former UK-juniors champion. the level of these guys is extremely high, i'd call it semi-professional. obv, they get all the basics right, they're very fit and fast and play well tactically. don't know how good you are, but to reach this standard, a lot of work (and talent) is involved...
It's a decent goal Not quite aiming for the stars like wanting to play international, but aiming for a pretty high standard. I spotted a few 'weaknesses' even in these guys so you don't have to be quite perfect to get there Anyhow, nice match, and nothing I would've stumbled over on YT by myself. But still, it's rather stiff competition - I taped some MD in training last night and I fear it may not be of quite the same quality
It does look uncontrolled and here are some general principles. 1) When you play a lift and waiting to receive, your feet are not square enough. Usually, in singles for such a position, the legs are wide apart with the right foot slightly closer to the net. The body is face on square. You are not doing this so the twisting and turning is a large movement and quite laboured. 2) referring to 1), your body posture can be improved. You are quite upright so when you go down for low shots, you have to lurch. Thinking about crouching down more when getting in the ready position. Use a slow step and time it so that you bounce when the opponent hits the shuttle. 3) when going for low shots in the forecourt, it looks inefficient even though the basic steps look OK. Why? Slow down the video and it becomes noticable. Quite a few times, you will plant your leading foot, then swing and strike the shuttle. i.e. mistime. The body slows to a stop. Then you'll need a lot of strength in the leading leg to push back to recover. It's difficult to use 'recoil' to recover - you get tired more easily. Practice hitting the shuttle at the same time as putting the leading foot on the ground. 4) Your positioning on closing areas down on the court can be improved but I think it's partly due to the weakness described in point 3). Let's say the shuttle has gone behind you to the back court and you play the shot to the net. You then rush forward to cover the forecourt. You have moved too much to the mid court. By going so far forward, opponent can now play to four corners of the court equally. You have to cover so much more area. If you only move forward to the net one step, there is a big space at the front of the court. But you can anticipate better that's the space where the shuttle is going to be played. So then you put 70-80% anticipation towards the forecourt. It makes it easier to run to and easier to concentrate to make more quality on the next shot.
[video=youtube;mLYnZtlh_9M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLYnZtlh_9M[/video] [video=youtube;6mALfuh_keQ9]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mALfuh_keQ[/video] Two MD matches in yesterday's training, switching partners after the first. 2 different levels of players on court, but mixing it up was enough to get 2 very decent matches. Too bad the last game was cut off - I remember at least one spectacular rally on my part, but I had already taped my warm-up and the MS match against my stronger opponent (which I lost in 3 games - although he really should've won in 2) and the memory card was full as a result. Pretty warm conditions, btw...summer is coming The hall is isolated pretty badly so with some sunshine it easily heats up. I'd say about 27-30°C yesterday. Looking forward to the summer as I prefer playing in warm or hot conditions with fast shuttles and a lower risk of injury as compared to the winter where we often have less than 18°C (in the hall).
Unfortunately there are only a few people here who beat me constantly and some of them that do we will have 3 gamers so its not like they destroy me. In all honesty if I really want to go further and improve my skill/level I have to move away and go somewhere else to train. The only problem with that is money, if I move somewhere I have to pay for living, training, find a job and all that. Here in Calgary I train 7 days a week, 4 days in group lessons with top provincial and national players and then 3 days of either private lessons or having people feed me shuttles. That all coupled with fitness and weights. But yes I do need somewhere else to go its just that tough cycle so I am looking into what to do come January 2014 as I will be finished my 2nd and 3rd degrees by then. So will have a lot more time to focus on just badminton you could say.
@ant01 This may be a little specific to one player on these courts but I know Mr Baczala we see each other maybe a few times am onth (he's from my home county and I go to the a local club he's at). Nice to see him giving it 100%, usually we get to play social doubles with him but he rarely goes all out, certainly not with me, but I have taken a set off him before I know he lost in this one but I agree with your sentiments, he's one of these people who has a very natural talent it seems. I can ask Ollie next time I see him what he does for training (he probably won't give me too many details) but I'm pretty sure it's a 7 day a week thing, he came runner up in the U19 Nationals a few weeks ago- apparently alot of people were complaining he could just hit it harder than everyone else, not helping the UK hard hitters cause I know. But it does sound great when he hits a smash. I think it's a good target to aim for this level of play but you will need a good years worth of training regime to get near to it and a solid base from which to start off, and you do need a level of training partners / practise matches to get that level. I may be getting some coaching from his coach too in the near future as I'm a 20 minute drive from where he does his stuff, he's a clever bloke and i'm a good acquaintance with him. So when I do get any more info I'll try to keep you posted. Thanks for posting the video anyhow.
this is not a game video, just a video of me practicing multi feed shuttle...could not upload it on you tube (as it is banned here..:crying...feel free to comment if any room for improvement found in anybody's view... https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10152852244715381¬if_t=video_processed
Old school! Both the scoring system and your opponent's look At first glance you seem to play the high BH an awful lot - and make quite a few errors with it. Otoh I don't know how explosive you can be (i.e. if you can play those one-jump round-the-head interceptions) and how long you had played before this....I certainly take quite a few shots with the BH as well after 2 hours
Haha. Yes. Old school. It was bloody tiring as my opponent had only recently retired from playing international level singles. The level of accuracy and consistency of his shots puts a lot of pressure on me. Unfortunately, not vice versa. ( I find these guys meet the shuttle earlier and it's much harder to close down the court. i.e. narrow the angles to predict the next shot. I guess that's what you get when against a professional and an amateur.
Yeah I know how that feels....there are a couple guys around that I just find deeply uncomfortable to play against, as I struggle to read their shots. I use the high BH a lot more against them, as I can't really close the back corners against them. More explosive legs would be so great.... Chances are you'll be able to see me struggle just the same very soon...there's a (local) tournament in June coming up, and feeling ambitious I decided to play A (though I'm still eligible to play B)...hopefully I'll meet one of the better guys while I can still move, and be able to tape the match... Looking at the preliminary draw, I have chances of advancing past the group stage in singles, but doubles will be quite tough. A couple semi-professionals attending there.....gonna be interesting to see how we match up.
I will make small comment on footwork in your last rally where you get pushed to deep forehand corner. You try to recover with one step, but if you watch pro footwork, they will always take a small step first. random vid from 10s - see NTM @ 14s, LD at 23s. I have also found that this smaller first recovery step is useful.