Help with Stroke Please!!

That smash routine is actually very difficult for you. I suggest simplifying it to cross court smash and then right leg scissor kick forward, diagonally forward, straight netshot, go straight backwards for lift, cross court smash, diagonally forward and so on. You have difficulties in getting your right leg to go forward on the scissor kick.

The shuttle run routine, need to land with a better split step for change of direction. Picking up the shuttle on the right side needs your foot to point sideways more.

the drives routine, you need to stand closer to the service line. You are too far back. Stand about one to two feet behind the service line. Being too far back means many times, the shuttle is already descending when you try to hit it. It becomes harder to well.
 
Cheung said:
That smash routine is actually very difficult for you. I suggest simplifying it to cross court smash and then right leg scissor kick forward, diagonally forward, straight netshot, go straight backwards for lift, cross court smash, diagonally forward and so on. You have difficulties in getting your right leg to go forward on the scissor kick.

The shuttle run routine, need to land with a better split step for change of direction. Picking up the shuttle on the right side needs your foot to point sideways more.

the drives routine, you need to stand closer to the service line. You are too far back. Stand about one to two feet behind the service line. Being too far back means many times, the shuttle is already descending when you try to hit it. It becomes harder to well.
Click to expand...
Here’s an example of just because you are a better player doesn’t mean you can coach. All of the advice you gave me is good and it would have been nice if the guys doing these drills ( who are much better than me ) told me those things while doing the drill....
Thanks you for the suggestions.
 
Did a few hours of practice/training today
I did a fair amount of disguised drop shot practice based on this YouTube video


here’s some of my disguesed drop shots , I practiced a couple hundred of them. I noticed that when I practiced these I was more disguised when I would do w few smashes first and them Randomly add In a drop.
I also noticed that I need to close in the angle in my elbow. I’ll keep working on this but I think it will help my doubles games a lot.


I also did a little bit of a smash , block, lift drill , rear corner drills , and smash defense drills. I was making a conscious effort to have my right foot facing forward when lunging during the drills. I did make some improvement but I really need to think about it each time. More work is needed there with my lunging.
Along with that I played 4 games against my training partner in which I scored between 8 and 12 points per game. Lots of unforced errors , clears that went out of bounds , lifts that went mid court and some easy smash defenses that I just flat out missed.

Overall I do feel more relaxed on the court and I’m trying to be more light on my feet. My game endurance is definitely better as I wasn’t winded at all during the entire season.
 
At 6.00 of the demo video, watch his hip movement.

Currently, you don't have that. Try to copy it. It adds to disguise of the drop and power to the smash.
 
Cheung said:
At 6.00 of the demo video, watch his hip movement.

Currently, you don't have that. Try to copy it. It adds to disguise of the drop and power to the smash.
Click to expand...
Yes I agree . I thought I was moving my hip but I clearly wasn’t at least enough. I think if I can get this shot down it will help me tremendously
 
Mason said:
Yes I agree . I thought I was moving my hip but I clearly wasn’t at least enough. I think if I can get this shot down it will help me tremendously
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I think if you can nail it, it will add a significant dimension to your game.

Then after that, work on going up to the shuttle on your tiptoes just before you hit the shuttle. That should help you get more rhythm, timing and disguise.
 
Yesterday morning i did only training , no games
highlights


Drop, net, lift Drill


Smash, block, lift Drill


Footwork drills


Drive and smash recovery drill
 
Mason said:
Yesterday morning i did only training , no games
highlights


Drop, net, lift Drill


Smash, block, lift Drill


Footwork drills


Drive and smash recovery drill
Click to expand...


Quick note - for the retrievals/defences to your left/right whether it's one step or more, turn your body to face the shuttle.

You keep your shoulders parallel to the net, which will make it nigh impossible to play a crosscourt return. Your shoulders should be near perpendicular to the net on contact with the shuttle if you are stretching out and angling your body correctly, which will also help you look at the shuttle whilst you hit it.
 
DarkHiatus said:
Quick note - for the retrievals/defences to your left/right whether it's one step or more, turn your body to face the shuttle.

You keep your shoulders parallel to the net, which will make it nigh impossible to play a crosscourt return. Your shoulders should be near perpendicular to the net on contact with the shuttle if you are stretching out and angling your body correctly, which will also help you look at the shuttle whilst you hit it.
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Thank you for this suggestion, I’ll try to work on that next time I do this drill
 
Mason said:
Yesterday morning i did only training , no games
highlights
Click to expand...

I like drills.

They really show up where a person can improve.

This first video I really like it - see that slow motion around 0.57. You leave the racquet hanging down pointing to the floor before raising. If I am coaching , I definitely do not allow this habit to creep in. It’s not because it makes a difference on this particular isolated shot - it’s because it’s a habit that comes in as your muscle memory is developing and may become a bad habit later on. Definitely many players do the same leaving it down. However, I am all for developing good habits because I believe it helps further down the road if you are a bit pressed for time during a rally.

Generally, when you go backwards and hit the downward shot, you are switching you legs and doing the kinetic chain pretty nicely for many shots. However, sometimes, you take the one step forward with the left leg planted on the ground. 0.33. This is our beginner type movement and you have definitely moved on from that phase. So for you, even in this low intensity phase, try to go up to the shuttle a little bit, keep that nice hip switching with the left leg coming off the ground and swinging backwards slightly.

The two slow motions show up something interesting. When you first drive up to the shuttle, notice the racquet head position. It initially doesn’t go up with the body. Just a very instantaneous fraction, it stays in the same place without following your body upwards. It’s a very minor point but try experimenting with the racquet head also going up at the same time.

when the video changes to to you practicing with four people on court, your overhead technique changes a lot! You can see yourself looking more awkward. Any reason for that? I mean, there should be no reason why you perform so differently with technique between left and right of the court, yet you do. :). What I see is you lost that nice kinetic chain that you had in many of the shots in the first part of the video. The right leg does that awkward way out circular motion to the right side.
 
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Cheung said:
I like drills.

They really show up where a person can improve.

This first video I really like it - see that slow motion around 0.57. You leave the racquet hanging down pointing to the floor before raising. If I am coaching , I definitely do not allow this habit to creep in. It’s not because it makes a difference on this particular isolated shot - it’s because it’s a habit that comes in as your muscle memory is developing and may become a bad habit later on. Definitely many players do the same leaving it down. However, I am all for developing good habits because I believe it helps further down the road if you are a bit pressed for time during a rally.

Generally, when you go backwards and hit the downward shot, you are switching you legs and doing the kinetic chain pretty nicely for many shots. However, sometimes, you take the one step forward with the left leg planted on the ground. 0.33. This is our beginner type movement and you have definitely moved on from that phase. So for you, even in this low intensity phase, try to go up to the shuttle a little bit, keep that nice hip switching with the left leg coming off the ground and swinging backwards slightly.

The two slow motions show up something interesting. When you first drive up to the shuttle, notice the racquet head position. It initially doesn’t go up with the body. Just a very instantaneous fraction, it stays in the same place without following your body upwards. It’s a very minor point but try experimenting with the racquet head also going up at the same time.

when the video changes to to you practicing with four people on court, your overhead technique changes a lot! You can see yourself looking more awkward. Any reason for that? I mean, there should be no reason why you perform so differently with technique between left and right of the court, yet you do. :). What I see is you lost that nice kinetic chain that you had in many of the shots in the first part of the video. The right leg does that awkward way out circular motion to the right side.
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This is great feedback. I’m going to focus on what you said at the end because I think out of everything you told me , this is the most telling and my biggest issue that you’ve discovered. As far as why my technique changed when you saw 4 people on the court. When I first read your post I was thinking “I don’t know why it’s changed”

But after thinking about it for a minute I know exactly what the problem is.
It’s because I am no longer relaxed!!!! Every time I tense up, I fall apart !!!
Your comments now coupled with my training session I did yesterday reinforced this theory about me not relaxing. Yesterday during training I intentionality was focusing on relaxing , swinging through the shuttle in one smooth motion and really not putting any “power” into my strokes. What I noticed was that my clears were effortlessly going to the rear court and even past the rear court. Even my backhand clears we’re almost going to rear court and my backhand is normally garbage. However immediately when I started doing drills that pushed up the tempo and when we did some singles games, I fell apart. I miss hit almost all of my shots , my clears we’re going half court and my footwork was slow. I think it’s all because I cannot maintain a proper relaxed state.
How though can I work on being relaxed while still playing at a high intensity?? Any thoughts ?
 
Here’s some of the strokes from yesterday reinforcing my point

starts with effortless clears
27 second mark , backhands
1:30 smashes
 
There are some excellent smashes in the last video. The sound of the smash makes you know you have a good contact and acceleration to the shuttle.

Be careful of the footwork pattern like the smash at 1.49. did you notice that you did the rotation OK, right leg came forward but both legs landed on the ground simultaneously. For this particular footwork, the left leg has to land first. If they land simultaneously, you lose the benefit of the kinetic chain on your smash.


Mason said:
How though can I work on being relaxed while still playing at a high intensity?? Any thoughts ?
Click to expand...
It's called rhythm.

Rhythm allows you push up the speed at certain points in the rally during shot making. It's difficult to teach without personal instruction. And it takes time to learn.

In order to learn rhythm well, you need to have a very clear idea of all footwork, controlling centre of balance and stroke technique. I.e. it's like the final piece of a puzzle. For example, in music, you can play a song and have the notes played correctly but it still doesn't sound quite right. When you add a sense of rhythm, that's when the song sounds like a song. This is what you see on TV when those international players move around court - rhythm.

I advise work on other techniques for a while. I think those practice routines do help with rhythm in a cumulative fashion if you can do them properly and have good recovery footwork. That means after you hit the shuttle, you still have to place great emphasis on the correct footwork pattern and recovery to get to the next shot efficiently.
 
Cheung said:
There are some excellent smashes in the last video. The sound of the smash makes you know you have a good contact and acceleration to the shuttle.

Be careful of the footwork pattern like the smash at 1.49. did you notice that you did the rotation OK, right leg came forward but both legs landed on the ground simultaneously. For this particular footwork, the left leg has to land first. If they land simultaneously, you lose the benefit of the kinetic chain on your smash.



It's called rhythm.

Rhythm allows you push up the speed at certain points in the rally during shot making. It's difficult to teach without personal instruction. And it takes time to learn.

In order to learn rhythm well, you need to have a very clear idea of all footwork, controlling centre of balance and stroke technique. I.e. it's like the final piece of a puzzle. For example, in music, you can play a song and have the notes played correctly but it still doesn't sound quite right. When you add a sense of rhythm, that's when the song sounds like a song. This is what you see on TV when those international players move around court - rhythm.

I advise work on other techniques for a while. I think those practice routines do help with rhythm in a cumulative fashion if you can do them properly and have good recovery footwork. That means after you hit the shuttle, you still have to place great emphasis on the correct footwork pattern and recovery to get to the next shot efficiently.
Click to expand...
Ok good suggestions!! Thank you
Some of those smashes I was using a heavy training racket too:cool:
 
Cheung said:
I advise work on other techniques for a while. I think those practice routines do help with rhythm in a cumulative fashion if you can do them properly and have good recovery footwork. That means after you hit the shuttle, you still have to place great emphasis on the correct footwork pattern and recovery to get to the next shot efficiently.
Click to expand...
In the “king of the court “ program that I’m doing by Swift Badminton, one of the courses is called “recovery steps” and another is called “footwork flow” I think both of these will help with my rhythm problem
 
I know I’m not supposed to but I couldn’t resist..... shots clip of my jump smashes



Here are the other shots from the night. I was the best player by far last night so the games were much different. I was on the offense probably 75% of rallies. At least
It allowed me to work on my smashes and drops
 
Had a great night last night
I’m getting faster on the court and my smash defense was much better. Had some intense games
 
Cheung said:
At 6.00 of the demo video, watch his hip movement.

Currently, you don't have that. Try to copy it. It adds to disguise of the drop and power to the smash.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it is not so easy to execute the hip-movement in this way and then to insert it into the hitting sequence.

1) Mobilization exercises in this area would be a start...

2) Stand normally - backswing with step back - now only move your hips until you stand parallel - the left foot stays on the ground at the same place. Try this at home without shuttlecock.

You turn your whole body slowly. That's why it doesn't look so elegant and is much slower.

 
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