Why there are so many wrong/poor technique tutorials on youtube?

[DarkHiatus]

Getting a little picky about English now.

Back to the original topic, I think one big factor about why some technique videos can appear bad/wrong is simply the understanding and audience of the player and/or coach.

From a player's perspective, the "one magic trick" that upped their game may have been, for examples sake, LJBs famous "turn the racquet 10 degrees more panhandle". That may work for this particular player, but there will be plenty other players who have too far a panhandle grip who will see this advice as bad/wrong because their own coach told them about this "one magic trick" called 'pronation' and that you shouldn't use wrist flexion for anything but fanning in hot weather.

From a coach's perspective, he his training methods may differ greatly between 1-to-1 sessions, and the broad audience that can be reached via the internet. For the former, the teachings will be specific to improving that player's problems. For example, there may be a coach who teaches a player to be 'lazy' to purposefully try and get them to relax, because that player is ridiculously tense all the time even though they are always 'ready'. This is not good general advice because most players are the opposite - they tend to have lazy posture which means they get to the shuttle slow...there is a fine line between relaxed and lazy. On the other hand, broad teachings like "get the racquet elbow to brush the ear", "get the racquet head to 'scratch your back' are applicable to the majority of leisure/social players who have never progressed beyond panhandle for example. Every coach will tell you that often you need to teach something 'wrong' to remove a habit before you can progress to teaching the 'best' form. Even in school we learn about electrons and orbitals in chemistry, then at university we're told it's all a lie and is a massive oversimplification, but we need this crutch to bridge the gap - good luck teaching even basic quantum mechanics to high-schoolers who do not have the math fundamentals to grasp what a wave function means.

And this i've learned from poring over hundreds (thousands?) of hours of content - coaching manuals, videos, books, and of course, in person. There is no 'best' or 'perfect' coaching technique/method that applies to everyone. I believe 99% of coaching techniques are useful in some form or other but that they are also 100% situational - there is no single teaching technique that is useful to absolutely everyone. Yes, even pronation or common grips etc. - they may be great for the average BC goer, but good luck coaching an absolute beginner when they barely have the hand-eye coordination to touch the shuttle!

 

[Ouchie]

There are a few cases of "do as I say, not as I do".
Normally it is up to the coach to decide what to teach. As people consume media as they wish then it seems it is up to the consumer to decide what they should learn which is either wrong, foolish or dangerous. A beginner would not turn up to pro coaching any more than a pro would go to beginners coaching.

Some techniques are just too advanced for some players, some techniques are better for people with better abilities to build from.
As a player progresses through the levels they will be taught different approaches. For example, rather than teaching somebody to move to their backhand side and take a shot using a forehand technique, it is easier to turn and hit a backhand shot. As footwork and speed improves then it is possible to move on to more advanced movement such as the China jump.

 

[ralphz]

From a player's perspective, the "one magic trick" that upped their game may have been, for examples sake, LJBs famous "turn the racquet 10 degrees more panhandle".

except that LJB says 15 degrees but turns it more like 45 degrees.

It'd be better if he said 45 degrees when doing that. Would you not agree?

(Even putting aside a more standard grip and more regular technique).

Also, if he really wants to say this is a special basic technique just for basic players, then he should say that in the video. There really is no excuse not to. He could say this is the proper way, and demonstrate it, but say for now to use that more basic technique that he has come up with.

(By the way I have heard on good authority that he has taught controversial technique to young county players, getting them to switch to it. And after leaving the camp returning to their normal coaching, they switched back .. So he doesn't just do it as a basic technique for basic players). A number of people weren't happy about it.

So don't lean towards presuming that it's only something he does for basic players

But as regards teaching , that's really besides the point in that the fact is that if it were the case that that was just a basic technique for leisurely players to use, before they master a proper technique, then that should be said. A good teacher can do that without causing confusion. That should really be basic common sense in teaching. And that way they can at least make sense of different things they may hear and not just follow things blindly or get confused.

One could make some allowances for somebody with terrible English, but you can even make the point in poor English..

"This not for intermediate player. This for beginner player. You beginner player you try hit shuttle you fail. You need basic technique. You intermediate player you no watch this. "

So even if a person's English is as bad as his , and that was what he was trying to do, it can be explained.

Even in school we learn about electrons and orbitals in chemistry, then at university we're told it's all a lie

I have a friend that's a chemistry professor and I discussed that with him.

His view was they should update the books. He would if he had the time but he is too busy to.

And also when something is a model and not meant to reflect reality(or even known not to reflect reality), they really should teach that it is just a model. That doesn't mean they need to teach the nitty gritty that is known of the reality. (No doubt if they taught a bit of it then pupils may ask more and secondary/high school teachers might not know and it might not be good for the teacher's ego)

On the other hand, broad teachings like "get the racquet elbow to brush the ear", "get the racquet head to 'scratch your back' are applicable to the majority of leisure/social players

As I understand it, very few coaches teach "scratch the back" anymore.. And if you mention that to a coach, they'll often tell you that's an archaic cue and caused more confusion than it was worth. And that's even from older coaches saying it is archaic coaching.

As for brushing the ear, that's not even a 'broad teaching' among coaches as far as I know, that's a statement peculiar to an anna rice video. I've never heard that from any other coach ever. And when I heard that from her and asked a few coaches about that, they laughed at it. Also, I think it is possible for a coach to prompt somebody to reach up without telling them to do something they shouldn't be doing.

It doesn't take much imagination to see there are much better ways of explaining things than those examples. If it is explained as just a coaching cue and that it really means just reach up.. (Well, reach up is probably a better cue than something untrue), then fine. But there's no need to intentionally teach things that are untrue.

Even in science, people are going to end up learning things that are untrue because the science is found to be wrong and scientists are not yet aware of it, or they are but the facts haven't filtered down to the level of teachers in schools..There's no good reason to add to that by intentionally teaching what you yourself describe as lies.

 

[Z-Force III]

IMO it is not an exclusive youtube topic. I got the chance to get training in real life and also experienced even in the same country, you can have coaches who can teach you something "different". I got training from people past 60 and also at the age of 16, male and female.

If you scroll through badminton of the last 50 years the technique changed. Something old get outdated by a more scientific explanation, the rackets became lighter which influenced the swing to become more compact and effective.

If I look back the last 10 years I got e.g. the backhand clear explained "different". It started with the grip, the stroke compact or bigger movement, follow through yes/no, rebound, usage of the wrist yes/no, fingers and so on. I discovered what not work for me and what does. Same for every other stroke. IMO it wasn't wasted time, it was my own process of learning. Each coach tried it with me in a good manner to teach me something. I personally gave everything a chance, but also decide to not implement something by my own. Nowadays I get often complements for my technique. I still see errors in it like a slightly too much turned foot or something like that.

I think there is a huge difference between an effective technique(for the moment) and a beautiful one(forever). Both have the right to exist for a certain player. If a remember my backhand clear in 2010 it was effective, but not beautiful, but it got my out of trouble as a tool in my box. I would describe now my technique from 2010 as wrong in many valid points, in 2010 it felt right, because it was effective ingame.

 

[SSSSNT]

Well, he didn't say "so many", and "so many" is really ambiguous, like a feeling. Not clear whether you mean "a lot of".or "lots and lots". It means you're surprised by the number, but it's not clear what number you expected or how surprised you are. "so many" could be a huge number. One would have to hear the tone. Also you didn't say "so many".(whatever that would mean).

You are downplaying your previous exaggeration.. You said "lots and lots".

There's a spectrum. "too many" ---> "a lot of" ---> "lots" ----> "lots and lots"

One may differ over the middle two in that spectrum but it's blatantly obvious that there's a large gulf between "too many" and "lots and lots".

Also, he didn't refer to people, he referred to bad techniques.

A person could teach 25 techniques and let's say 5 are bad or controversial.. That doesn't mean the person is bad. His statement is not going after the person. So you are blowing what he said out of proportion in two ways.

Too many bad(or not good) techniques on youtube, is not lot and lots of bad people. And perhaps as if they're not producing much good, he didn't say such a thing.

To try to answer the question the OP asked though..

Almost anybody teaching a technique is often so far from what the pros do that people may find flaws.. And if a pro teaches a technique then what they say often doesn't match what they do 'cos teaching is different from doing and they might not be aware of what they are doing.

And it's sometimes hard to prove that a technique is good or bad.. The two people one thinking it's good, one thinking it's bad, are often not in the same room and willing to test it out..And sometimes something can work on some people and not on others, depending on what they are doing in response. It's tough.. It's often never as simple as people think or as people portray..

And the game develops, so a technique a person learnt and perfected over 20 years, might have shifted a bit to a different technique. Maybe Pros do a technique and it takes time to filter down to the point where those that aren't pros can do it reasonably well..

I'm sure that if you(OP) spent years learning to do net shots really well, and you put a video online, somebody will find something with it.. or maybe they'll overlook that your technique or instructions optimized for one thing and neglected something else... Look how people play, players make mistakes all the time and don't know why. It's very very hard even for full time coaches! Only a tiny percentage of badminton coaches ever play at a very high level.. And even then they can have really strange technique that isn't ideal, but that they learnt from their coach long ago. Or they could teach something newer that they haven't spent a decade perfecting.

Look at how many people play for years and years and don't even reach county level, let alone national level and let alone international level

So @SSSNT I think your reaction to the OP's post is a bit knee-jerk defensive.. I think the OP was fairly careful in just saying 'too many'. One needn't take his statement as a personal thing against anybody uploading youtube videos.

A youtube producer could easily turn round and say there are 'too many' keyboard warriors..

But with humbleness from both sides, recognising that there can be a good exchange of thoughts.. recognizing that there will often be something bad about a technique. And awareness that pointing that out will help to improve or understand it. I think that's good. I think it's good to give critics some leeway so they don't have to walk on eggshells.

But one can expect that there would be a lot of things that people can pick at, (which is kind of arguing that it may be bad technique on the some level)..I think that's ok for that to be out there. I think that's a better way of looking at it than an overly sensitive approach that is dissuaded from ever focussing on negatives.

Also the OP was simply asking a broad question, and I think one that can be interpreted charitably, in a reasonable way.

Is this essay...necessary? I simply asked OP which tutorials he meant out of curiosity because it differs from my experience. If by saying "so many" OP meant just a few, then he can clarify it.

 

[TPayne]

As you wrote, this is affected by a huge number of factors, but it seems to me that there is one most important factor that most affects the appearance of new useless tutorials. As you might have guessed, it's money. Many content makers think that they will be able to earn only on the fact that they will create some useless videos about how they themselves play. Often this is done by Amateurs who themselves make a huge number of mistakes when playing. When I search for various videos on YouTube, it takes me a really long time to find a good channel with interesting videos. Recently I was looking for a channel about Betting Predictions and it took me quite a long time, but when I found it, I realized that it was worth the time spent on it.

 

[speCulatius]

As you might have guessed, it's money. Many content makers think that they will be able to earn only on the fact that they will create some useless videos about how they themselves play

From the creators side, that's totally different again.
When you create content that's useful, that's a ton of work, but you're still not able to give real time feedback.

Then there's views. I don't care about it as much, I don't make money from that anyway, but one of my (in my opinion) most valuable videos, pointing out important details for lunges, has less than 2000 views. To give some context, my most viewed video has more than 100000. Then, certain keywords will be searched for more, that's trickshots and smash for the most part... so if you want to make money from it, make smash and trickshot content. That's why you see that on all those popular badminton channels. It's the user who demands it.

Who of you would be willing to pay for a series of videos that points out important technical details, comparing different styles that look very different, but are more or less the same regarding the important principles? That won't get any attention on YouTube. People on here are the minority when is comes to bigger platforms.

If you're looking for quality content, look for coaches who can explain why they point out certain details. And stay away from people who tell you they have the one and only solution.

 

[ralphz]

Who of you would be willing to pay for a series of videos that points out important technical details, comparing different styles that look very different, but are more or less the same regarding the important principles? That won't get any attention on YouTube. People on here are the minority when is comes to bigger platforms.

Even aside from videos. I don't even see much discussion of that on this forum.

 

[Findabayr]

We have now poor technique tutorials 'cause people want to make money and they need to post every day no matter whether this content is a good one or not. I guess that this is really sad 'cause some people really believe them and follow their tips. You know I used to do the same. I was waiting for the new videos on youtube and subscribed to a lot of youtube channels. I understood that I wasn't living my own life, sadly... Now I have a "detox" from youtube and the internet, I found this https://ymp4.download site and download videos that I really need and watch them without problems. So be careful!