Hi guys, Here's a recent tournament. I'm the one in grey t-shirt and black shorts with yellow racket and string. It seems like I'm slow just watching myself but I could recall I was breathing hard. Many has commented that I am stiff, and it sure looks like I don't have flexibility. Not sure what is wrong and need help from you guys. How can I improve? One thing that I noticed is that I'm not leaning in towards the shuttle as I smash. Not sure if it's my legs that aren't moving or it's a bad habit. Any comments appreciated. Thanks.
I think people say you're stiff due to your swing, not your flexibility. A lot of your swings look like tennis swings - all shoulder, no forearm. Some people would describe the same as all arm, no wrist. Basically your elbow is locked in position throughout the swing and this is what makes it look unnatural/stiff. check out this video at ~3 mins and ~5 mins to see how fluid the arm motion should be Also pay attention to the grip because yours doesn't quite look optimal.
Thanks, appreciate the comments. So how do I unlock my elbow? I think the reason it appears locked is because I am pronating? Yeah it's just not smooth and fluid. Sorry, it's hard to think of what I should do differently. Should I just focus more on moving the wrist and arm? How do you practice fluidity? Just keep swinging more?
Hello. I agree with amleto. It seems like your elbow is very locked and your arm doesn't really follow through after shots. I'm guessing you've played badminton for a long time since you've been a member since 2004. Players who have played for a long time have many habits, and like you they recognize their bad habits but it's sooo hard to fix since you don't notice you're doing it until you watch yourself playing. Watch 6:02, 6:27 and 7:00 at 0.25 speed. You can see your wrist moving but your elbow doesn't follow along with the rest of your arm. Sort of looks like you're trying to force the shuttle up with your upper shoulder. Even though you may be able to lift the shuttle up high and far with your technique, it causes inaccuracy when you defend smashes underhand.(You mishit many defense shots) Because this has become a habit, the only way to fix it is to be conscious about your elbow at all times and try your best to make it follow through with the rest of your arm. I couldn't say anything about overhead shots because in this match, you don't seem to make lots of overhead shots where you don't make a mistake. If you could upload a video of you playing singles, it'll be much easier for other forum members to analyze your techniques. Good Luck
Thank you, orangenetic, for taking the time to comment. I now have a goal to work on following through with the rest of my arm and not lock the elbow. Really things that I wasn't aware of before this thread. Here's another video of me playing Singles in a tournament, once again in grey t-shirt:
There were a couple occasions throughout the video where I noticed something you could tweak. One example is at 3:14 in the video when you jump smash. Since you are right handed, you should be jumping off your right leg to reach the smash. As you can see, you are jumping off your left leg which isn't wrong, but it may help improve your game since your right leg is probably stronger. Also, if you jump off your right leg, you can land with your body leaned forward a bit (alternatively, it also allows you to have a firmer foundation) which can also give you an extra moment or two to get ready for the next shot. In the video at around 3:10, your opponent is doing the correct footwork for a running jump (or hop) smash by jumping off his dominant leg. Try this out and if it doesn't work out well for you and you think your own footwork is better, then by all means go ahead since this is only my opinion.
Let's go back to your OP question about how you feel you're slow. The reason you feel slow is because you're not ready for your opponents' shots. First I think your defensive posture is little too casual. You're standing straight up with your racket down a lot of time. For example at 1:43, your opponent hit a not very fast smash right at you, but because you were standing straight up with your racket down to your right hand side, you didn't have time to return it. at 2:49 is another example. When you're in a defensive position, you should crouch down lower and have your racket in front of you in a neutral position so you have time to retrieve anything your opponent throws at you. A lot of great videos online that explains this. Your footwork could be more consistent. You showed some brilliance in 0:48. You took a giant step forward and played a nice attacking lift from the net in balanced and you were able to get back to your defensive stance immediately to play the next shot. But in 0:58 you completely lost that efficiency and took too many steps. All you had to do is take a big step with your right leg and you'll be able to get to the shuttle much quicker and much more balance to play a more accurate shot. Also in 0:43, you stepped up with the wrong foot, so you were off balanced and missed hit. So keep practicing so that you will be able to use the right footwork naturally without even thinking about it, like breathing. With the right footwork, not only will you be able to retrieve the shuttle quicker, you'll be able to recover quicker and get ready for the next shot. Also you have a bad habit of watching your own shot and your partner's shot. Extreme example at 2:27, you just stopped completely and was standing straight up. May be you thought it was going out, but you know don't stop until the shuttle actually hit the ground. Then there are many times when you turned your head completely to your partner to watch him hit, there's really no reason for that. Just look forward and watch your opponent and look for open gaps then plan your next shot. So anyways, you seem like a very fit young man. If you think you're slow, it's definitely not physically. If you work on the three things I mentioned above you should be able to improve a lot. Remember to get ready at all times! Have fun! Good Luck!
