That's not the purpose here. What we are looking at is training to reduce the number of underperforming shots in a training sessions which will translate to fewer underperforming shots in matches. Your post implies that one should deliberately practice shots in poor body position or when off balance or when racquet is held incorrectly etc
Depends how often they come up. Things like late forehand and netshots are fairly common in singles, so honestly, practicing them isn't a terrible idea. In a drill for net shots, you can reliably take them close to tape height. Can't always do that in a game.
I'm advocating training for the type of shots you expect to play in a game. If in a game of singles, you can take every drop shot and net shot at net height without sacrificing rear court coverage, then you are an incredible player. But the likelihood is you won't be able to; you see the situation happen even at professional level play. Difference is, if your opponent plays a good drop and you have to take it late, but you've trained to hit a net shot from a disadvantage position, your shot is controlled and is less likely to punish you. It's ideal to take the shuttle higher, but it's not always plausible. We can always aim for the ideal technique, but it's also not ideal to only train for one variety of the shot, when you'll face different varieties of it.
Yep, it is! Surprised to even take a game as he's certainly got better technique and more fluid movement. You know him well? One of the things my coach often tells me is that it's good I am practising to take shuttles early, but especially in drills, I can overdo it and take shots in unrealistically good positions. Sometimes he gets me to push my base deliberately further back for net shots to get a more reasonable feel for example. Other times we do just practise the best case scenario - both are required. It is actually more of a mental thing being confident that im able to play a stroke from a late position that will keep me in the rally. By having a neutral shot in the bag as a "worst case", it means I'm not under as much pressure on the stroke before. For example, if I play a loose straight net shot on my backhandside, I'm less concerned about a flick to my forehand rearcourt. It's obviously not ideal, but previously I was so tense that I'd have to commit to either the net/forehand rearcourt and play a weak stroke either way, whereas now I have the confidence to keep the pressure on the net but be prepared to play a neutral stroke if the flick comes.
Chris came in the Uni team just after I graduated. I still live around Norwich so sometimes I drop back to the team session to have a few cheeky hits. My friend who usually plays singles against him did say that he improve a lot. Especially with movement, my friend said he used to be clumsy in moving around (but that perspective is also probably because my friend was coached for a long time in hong kong and he is a fast player)
Just came across an interesting video on Youtube and I feel like it might fit in here: Especially with practising netshots I always found it a bit unrealistic that the shuttle flies in a perfectly straight line cork-first when they are fed by hand. If the feeder doesn't overdo it, this spinning technique could spice things up quite a bit I would say.
Some good innovative exercises on their YouTube channel. Recommended. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
The new season beckons, so I decided to sneak in a "pre-season" tournament. It's a level below the Bronzes, but I was in a tough Group, so I've ended up getting some decent games to dissect - and here they are! I am playing in Blue/yellow in the first video (21-7, 18-21 21-23) and Grey in the second (16-21, 7-21). Unfortunately my phone storage ran out so I don't have the last game which was mostly me unable to defend smashes. My own opinions: - I think I have improved noticeably since my last video in my stroke technique/accuracy/placement, but i revert to very predictable patterns as I get tired - I am terrible under pressure and get very stiff. I had 2 match points in the first match with a strong position and messed them up. - I need to practise my serves more. Far too many service errors - I need to learn to hold my opponent off the net. I seem to play a straight net when it's not the best time to, which leads to it hanging in the air. A flicked lift/crossnet/net to middle would be a more sensible option - I struggle with flick serves - I just don't know what to do with them! I generally won't get a decent smash unless I'm expecting one, otherwise is it perfectly acceptable just to clear it? What do you all think? As always, all thoughts are welcome, even if it's been covered before. Don't hold back on your posts!
Nice overall improvements. Better split step and footwork. Good use of stick smashes. Nice cross court smashes. Good touch around the net. Didn't manage to watch till the end of first match, but looks like you should have won it, unless your opponent took a while to warm up to his game. Few things to improve on. 1. Net shots should be made to tumble more to make it difficult for your opponent to retrieve, especially if he is close by. You need to undercut the shuttle... just watch Momota. 2. Receiving flick serves... you need to prepare with higher racket carriage. And get ready to explode either forwards or backwards depending on the serve. You don't have to smash or clear. A sharp drop works just as well. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
I haven't commented before as the others have great advice and cover anything I would say anyway, but do look in on your progress from time to time. Very nice improvement over your OP. Movement is coming along nicely and good use of angles. One thing I noticed, is that a lot of the time you try an attacking overhead shot even when you are off balance. Because you are not in the ideal position, your shot is relatively weak and sometimes straight to the opponent. Against weaker players like in the first game, it's kind of ok because he's not using that advantage to put you under pressure but against more experienced/stronger players, they'll use that against you, especially as your recovery back to base will be less than ideal also. Whether that is from an outright winner or another good shot to force a mid court lift, you're at the disadvantage. Don't be afraid to play a GOOD high and deep clear to reset your position. Edit: I don't know if the shuttles were flying fast that day, but in the second game, you hit 6 out the back not under any particular pressure, that's 6 potential points! It's easy enough to say reduce errors, but just be aware that these mistakes here and there all add up and could cost the game. If the shuttles are flying fast, just try and adapt quickly!
Fair enough about flicks - I think I just need to be a bit more decisive on them. The hesitance ends up meaning I end up playing a lot of ''nothing" shots. I'll get practising my tumbles more. It's that thing where I can tumble them really well in training, but almost never in a game. The thought never occurs to me to play a proper tumble until it's too late. I think in a game I'm too preoccupied trying to make it look the same as a flicked lift/cross net, so by the time I decide to tumble it, it's too low to tumble it well. Does it make sense to fully commit to a tumbling net without other shot options? It's a chronic weakness in my strategy/tactics, and it gets worse as I get in worse positions. To be fair, my coach tells me if I'm in a disadvantageous position, either I reset the rally, or if I'm unable, the only way to get out of the situation is to try a higher risk stroke. So either I stop getting into bad positions one shot earlier, or I increase my abilities to reset rallies in more situations. Ideally both! My clears tend to be relatively defensive clears more of the time. I've been trying to lower my straight clears a bit because they're often slow enough that they don't pressure my opponents much, even when I'm in a strong position. Crosscourt clears are rare though - this is one im working on, as otherwise I end up playing a lot of crosscourt smashes/drops. On my lifts, I tend to lift too flat more of the time. I thought my lifts in the last game were a good height to move my opponent whilst allowing me time to recover, but sadly they were repeatedly 2-3 inches out :s Are there a few examples you could give where you see me doing "double or nothing"s, and what stroke I could have played instead? Ideally in different sequences so I can remind myself to be patient when I get in those positions! It's very possible the alternative stroke doesn't even occur to me, even if I'm capable of it .
Good improvement. I agree with your self analysis. Your net technique is better but you still have not got the idea of using the fingers more to control spins or shoot the shuttle off the strings. Before, your netshots were a disadvantageous shot. Now, they are mostly neutral. The next stage is to control when you want to be neutral or when you want to put pressure on the opponent. Have you noticed your cross court netshots on the forehand? They sort of loop over the net and the opponent has the time to reach the shuttle and play a comfortable lift. The shot to learn is to play the shuttle that can come off the racquet face much faster yet still be in court. It gives the opponent a fraction less second to utilise. This you would have to go to the coaches to understand. It's the lack of finger technique that is also inhibiting your ability to hold and flick at the net. Your drive/flick serves - some are going way out. You are too ambitious to try and win the point outright. For singles, use the surprise serve to create a weakness for the third shot. For you receiving a flick serve, just clear it high or play a dropshot to start the rally. Play a neutral shot and don't give the point away easily. Good to see the high clears now being effective in moving the opponent off their base. You need to play a few more clears though. I noticed that you very rarely play two high clears in a row. If I can notice that, your opponent also can. Defense anticipation can be better. You are in the right position but many times not thinking about the percentages of where the shuttle might be smashed. Thus you are very slightly late on the shuttle and have less ability to use your defense as a counter attack when the opportunity arises. Being slightly late on the shuttle means being off balance not only for the return of smash but also off balance for moving to your next shot.
Your overhead attacking shots are much better, they're a lot steeper, faster, and harder for your opponents to retrieve. Regarding flick serves, it may not be all of them, but I saw one in your first video where you move too early.
It's true, if you're in a bad position, the opponent is likely to be expecting a clear so a high risk shot can work out, but not if it's not tight enough or they're there! Be careful with 'lowering' your straight clears so that it doesn't get cut off early. At 1:47 I'm not sure how good in particular your backhand is, but if those drops aren't good enough which your opponent managed to get to easily then you'll struggle with the next shot, like in this example. Your opponent only (tried to) play to mid, but you still only just got there, if he played it any more over to your forehand corner, you might not have gotten to it. 3:21 Although from a flick serve, you were reaching so far back and went for a crosscourt drop. Had it gone over, the opponent could've just played a straight net and you might've struggled to get there. I would've opted for a good clear. 4:48 You weren't too off balance, but probably as a result of it, you hit a flat slow smash straight to the opponent, but fortunately for you he didn't cash in on it. 5:05 Same again. Looks like you were going for a cross court smash, but again doesn't put any pressure on the opponent because it's relatively slow and flat. Looking back through it, it's mostly from those flick serves. But like Cheung has said, it's just a general lack of clears. If your opponent realises 95% of your shots are drops/smashes, then they're going to set their base position a little forward and those drops and smashes become even less effective. And the odd defensive clear won't be putting them under any pressure. Do you ever try/practise punch clears? I saw the second opponent played it a few times on you with good effect (if all of them would've landed in). The one at 1:00 is the best example.
The finger technique I've noticed in a slightly different way. In the MS1 match, both the opponent and I do flicked lifts by momentarily dropping the racquet back before swinging it forward. I noticed against the MS2 opponent, his flicked lifts come without any backward movement at all (only if he's doing a deep high lift does he have a backswing). Is this the right difference to be watching for? In terms of learning the technique, I've tried before to make it a single forward movement of the whole racquet instead of leading with the racquet head, but I feel there is more to it. Should I lead with my hand forward as I tighten the grip? Agree with the serves, for some reason I don't see a flick as a neutral stroke and more of a high risk one (and feel pressure to make it really good), but I need to move out of that mindset. And practise them more! 2 high clears in a row...i may sometimes do this on the straight corner, but bringing crosscourt clears into my game with straight clears is almost completely absent. My mind says after I play a straight clear that I'd only sparingly wànt to hit it "back to them", and I lack confidence in my crosscourt clear especially because I know they must go higher and further to be good (otherwise that straight smash return is going to be hard!). Time to get training on crosscourt clears to make them more habitual! Do you mean I move too early as server or as receiver? I'm conscious of moving as server on high serves but I'll make sure to be vigilant on my flicks too. Thanks for the examples - i'll try and play more clears in those situations. And if I can't, then that'll point to a bigger technique weakness than a tactical one to be trained out! The punch clear isn't something I've actively practised - it's part of the effort in lowering my clear heights, but in general I've been trying to get into a smash stance and then play drops/clears with a similar action. The one I'd been practising recently for this tournament was the RTH cross drop which sort of looks like a very slow stick smash (but lands near the service line). I used to used a full slicing motion but when it's to the left of my head, that movement is more obvious and sends it looping over too.
It was when you were receiving, you tried to anticipate the movement and had to jump backwards. It's around 1.30 in the first video.
