Hi there, I recently realized the importance of good defense and I hope to understand what are some techniques I could focus on so that my defense would improve. In my mind, having good footwork will help with getting to the shuttle but I feel that there are certain strokes which are preferred by good defensive players (Doubles specifically). Please help. Thank you!
Footwork definitely help you alot. When you had bad footwork, your action will have big delay resulting your area open wide for an attack. What shot you play also determine your situation. Bad choice would put you to a bad situation. & last, in double games whats more important is teamwork & trust on your partner. You need to know each other habit, strength, & weakness, covering each other. Ex. With my friend that have played alot with me, i can go more reckless becoming more agressive on smashing. Afterall im back court offense oriented type player, while he is control type. He would control the flow of the games & setup a good bird for me to kill. Even if my smash get returned, i know my friend can cut it & takes the finishing blow or reforming our formation (its his call). But with someone unknown to me or lower level player, i cant be a bloodthirsty demon. I need to chill out more & control the flow of the games. Become reckless by smashing alot would put me in bad situation if my partner not ready to cut or covering my open area as im still in delay after doing a hard smash.
A few big pointers that helped me with defense. Always be ready. Good defense might seem effortless and just seems like a simple arm swing but it requires a lot of small movements. Always split step before a shot comes so you can reposition your feet, step forward or bend your body quickly. Meet the bird infront of you. This requires a lot of practice with and without the bird. You have to focus and make sure you know the trajectory of the bird and then strike it when it's in front of you to have the best reply. Make sure when you're waiting to have your racket infront of you waiting and your upper body bent forward at the waist so you have room to hit the bird. If you standing to upright then you will not be able to hit the bird infront of you if it comes below your waist. Minimise your backswing. Obviously smashes will come at you fast and that means you have to swing fast to return. Not backswinging means you'll need to load your swing properly to get power out of your swing. So start your swing from your elbow and then as you meet the bird infront of you, follow through. If you start the swing from your elbow you won't need to backswing to get a faster shot.
I'd like to hear others' opinion on that point. Watching a lot of matches on TV (yet pro can have different techniques than amateurs), tutorials or watching live advanced players (national level) during regional tournaments I don't recall seeing a split step when a doubles player is adopting a defensive stance waiting for a smash to come through.
From my experience, it's good advice. I did a lot of it when training receiving continuous doubles drives. It helps to train your rhythm. My coach was a recently retired international doubles player who I hired specifically to train doubles style techniques and set plays. This was the very first thing that he got me to do when we started. I was converting from singles style and the rhythm is different in doubles compared to singles. There's a big difference compared to twenty years for amateurs. If you train specifically for doubles, you can be so much faster in your doubles matches.
Let me reiterate, it's not so much a split step where you drop down and widen your base, but a bounce. You really need to get that bounce in so you can quickly load your body in certain ways or move forward/back. If you watch pros do it, they are slightly hopping up and down to micro-position themselves.
