I feel I have a lot to work on, but where should I start first?

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by precrime3, Jan 31, 2020.

  1. precrime3

    precrime3 Regular Member

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    I saw someone else post a video of them here so if this is the wrong place for these kind of posts kindly let me know and I'll move or delete it.

    Background - picked up badminton again last semester (August 2019) after not playing for years. Used my friends racket and everything but now use an Astrox 88s (which I still need to grow in a lot). The styles I try to emulate is like Lee Yong Dae (이용데) in doubles and like Kento Momota in singles.

    I have attached a doubles video and singles video. I'd love any feedback and what I should work on first, and what drills I should be doing.

    Thanks!
    Doubles - I'm in purple


    Singles - in blue


    I should preface by saying i wasn't 100% in that singles match. I had been playing for 2 hours at that point - as well as carb cycling (I didn't have any carbs that day). Besides that all good :)
     
  2. DarkHiatus

    DarkHiatus Regular Member

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    Major thing is your racquet grip. It is very panhandle, so it means you can't get the full power and angle out of a smash/clear.

    Your strokes looks like a lot of effort as a result. It will also mean your footwork will be much less useful to work on at the moment, as even when you're in a good position, the panhandle grip means you'll probably miss the shuttle or lose accuracy/power/angle.

    Look up guides for the forehand grip. It will feel very weird at first, but it is necessary to improve. Otherwise...you have probably "maxed out" the power/angle out of a panhandle grip and it's now holding you back.
     
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  3. BadBadmintonPlayer

    BadBadmintonPlayer Regular Member

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    There are many good Youtube channels to learn the following things:

    1) Your biggest problem. You're holding the racket wrong!


    2) Working on the footwork is one of the most important things and this should be your next point.


    With these two points you can improve a lot in the next months. Only then should you look at other things.
     
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  4. precrime3

    precrime3 Regular Member

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    Wow didn't even realize that - i figured everything was pretty okay but guess basics are basics for a reason!

    Will work on that today, thank you!
     
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  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    fix your grip. if your grip is wrong, no use fixing anything else.

    grip is notoriously difficult to fix. you have the bad habit of playing around with your rackets, keep twiddling with it. stop that. keep the correct grip and don't move it. if you need, tape your fingers to the grip and play with that until you get used to it. (I was told once by a junior coach that did that to the students)
     
  6. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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  7. Cesium

    Cesium Regular Member

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    Your service return stance is wrong, left foot should be forward & right foot back.

    In doubles, don't go towards the net when you lift, should be staying back when there's a clear or lift. I think overall just more footwork practice
     
  8. precrime3

    precrime3 Regular Member

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    YO THAT WAS CRAZY. I made a conscious effort to use the right grip and everything clicked - like my footwork was there and like everything got easier.

    Clears were effortless (or significantly reduced), smashes were somewhat threatening and steep, and just overall wow. I think I've already got a decent grip on the backhand grip but of course need to work on it as well.

    FOr some reason my camera only recorded 4 minutes today on a full battery and SD card but idk if you guys can tell but I can ASSURE you I felt like a different animal (and the same beast) today.

    To push back with your left foot when going to rear court right? Or is this just the meta?

    And yeah makes sense, shouldn't go towards net when lifting. Even as front?
     
  9. Cesium

    Cesium Regular Member

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    It's easier to push off with left foot and also lets you react better to flick and drive serves towards your forehand.

    The usual doubles rotation is: stay side-by-side when lifting or clearing, go forward if your partner is smashing or dropping. So yeah, when you lift at the front, you gotta move back quickly and get ready to defend.
     
  10. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    getting better in the right direction, but you can still get it more "correct". still look a bit stiff but that's great improvement for the first try.
     
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  11. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    The grip can still be improved further.
     
  12. precrime3

    precrime3 Regular Member

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    Just need more time with getting used to the grip yeah? I've been doing 100 strokes (forehand and backhand, so 200 total) in the morning for the lat two weeks so I think using the right grip will help with that lol.

    Always! Need more work always :) not complaining, glad to know what I've been doing wrong so i can fix it.
     
  13. BadBadmintonPlayer

    BadBadmintonPlayer Regular Member

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    Better than in video one! My feeling tells me that from time to time you fall back to your old grip position. Always remember that you cannot see the strings of the racket when you hold it forward.

    With the new grip position you have much more power and your complete movement should change! For example, you can now get a lot of energy out of the forearm rotation. This is a big reason why the good players can smash much stronger. But also your backswing movement should look different.


    Thats the right movement for Clear, Drop and Smash! This is a hard change for you and you have to keep reminding yourself of it and force yourself to do the movement. After a few months this should work naturally and without any thinking.

    edit: a coach would be an good idea too
     
    #13 BadBadmintonPlayer, Feb 1, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2020
  14. Mason

    Mason Regular Member

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    You’re doing good with seeing some progress. As someone whose started playing fairly recently I had a lot of bad habits to unlearn and a lot of good habits to create, similar to you. I of course am still trying to improve and get better. I found it challenging though because I have so many thing I need to improve on. You might however find some good suggestions in this video I made .....
     
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  15. precrime3

    precrime3 Regular Member

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    I live in the middle of nowhere in Alabama, I don't think a coach is something I would be able to find. Thanks for the encouraging words! Will review my backswing, see what I can change.

    And you're right. Clears are a lot easier and when I really hit it it sounds a lot better and goes further.

    Thank you sir! Will check out this video also.

    2/1/20 Update - Did another singles match, focus on proper grip and energy conversation. This is the first time I've lost a match with him, but still ended up winning the overall set. Please check it out and let me know if y'all see things I need to work on or if anything's changed (it's only been a day I know lol)



    I wrote down somethings I noticed about why I lost points.

    1st game -

    I tallied points I lost and the reason why. The reasons I saw the most were
    • Poor service return (what I would call if he does a high serve, and I just clear it back to the middle where he is, allowing him to smash) which you can see at places like: 3:58 and 6:43
    • Poor footwork and reaction times, seen at plaes like 4:30 (honestly poor service return play into these too I think, I gave him too many possible shots to play with bad shot replies)
    2nd Game -
    • A lot of my shots went out. I counted 5 points due to unforced errors (is that the right term?). Fixing my shot placement, which usually is quite good and on the line, was off this game for some reason. Counted it as a fluke that I can work on, and will look up some shot place drills to make my accuracy even better.
    • The second most I lost were poor service returns. See 9:08 for example, where I simply just clear to right where he is and he can do whatever he wants. I think I struggle with getting to the rear court fast enough to give me time to not feel pressured, and think besides just mindlessly clearing (could've done neutralization shots, drop shots, etc.
    3rd Game - Less of the same, meaning more consistency but the same mistakes were made.

    2 shots out, poor service return/footwork. A poor shot decision (high net when he was right there seen around 22:35) as well.

    Additional notes -

    I play singles/doubles extremely differently. I play doubles as a front and try to model like LYD as I've said before. Drives smashes to kill, I love the pace. I want to incorporate more of this into my singles as I feel like it would do me a lot better if I was able to smash instead of just always clearing and lifting like Kento.

    The problem is, I always feel like under pressure and not confident I'll be able to do a threatening backcourt smash or drop - hence I've always just been clearing until my opponent makes a mistake. (The play I want to incorporate more of is like around the 00:28 mark)

    Also noticed I need to reincorporate hip rotation into my clear, as well as using my non racket arm as counter balance more.

    Footwork - sometimes I take a couple of extra steps too many to do a forehand clear as I don't trust my overhead clear. There are instances where I have to run all the way to sideline and back to middle because I'm trying to forehand clear a shot that went to my right or left rear court corner.

    People wiser and better than I, what do you think?
     
  16. Mason

    Mason Regular Member

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    From what I can see the biggest impact on your game will be to work on your footwork. There are plenty of YouTube videos that can help you, chose one and follow it. For example the channel below can help you. He goes through each 6 areas of the court. Practice each part until you feel comfortable with the part of the court. Then you can move onto another section. Once you get good at doing sections 1 and 2 of the Court separately , work on both front court movements together
    And you can do this type of training for all areas of the court until and you will see a huge difference in your games.
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHc_nAw8tAxFPHai0KQynCpgSUUFaRRan
    Record your footwork and people here can give you suggestions. But footwork will help you the most
     
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  17. precrime3

    precrime3 Regular Member

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    2/3/20

    My partner which you have seen before finally decided to be serious about training and work with me so I have some footage of him feeding shuttles to me, a net followed by a lift on the forehand and backhand sides.

    Also attached is some single games we played, he is significantly better than me so you can really see my bad habits, especially as the game goes on and mentally I'm losing it as well. I did notice binge-watching all those pro games is affecting me, as I'm incorporating a lot more drops and nets - there are a couple of points that I totally should've secured (see like 2:50 in the singles video) but didn't (later when I'm better they'll be mine haha)

    Thoughts on the footwork or anything for suggestions would be good.

    First video is the training for footwork. Second is the singles match.



     
  18. Cesium

    Cesium Regular Member

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    When you are going up to the net, try to hit the bird earlier. It seems like your racket always hits the bird when it is halfway down the net. You want to hit the bird AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE. So keep your racket high and try to hit the bird as early as possible, if you can make contact when it is above the net then that's even better. Don't wait for the bird to drop below the net.

    Also, the nets you guys are playing with seems a bit low near the center....but dunno if you guys have a way to fix that lol
     
  19. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Do footwork exercises without hitting a shuttle
     
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  20. BadBadmintonPlayer

    BadBadmintonPlayer Regular Member

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    Do you play everything on the backhand with the same forehand grip? Somehow it looks like you have no control over it at all. A loose grip helps a lot to change the grip quickly.
     

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