Just currently bought the Yonex Astrox 88S, any tips or advice on how to become a better front court player and how to have better reaction, prediction? Thank you very much
1. Racket is always up. Common mistake for beginner that racket always going down after hitting. Its bad already to put racket down & even worst for front player as you will always late to cut the bird. 2. Your role is to cut any flat bird or kill shot for every weak return from the opponent. 3. You play more on controling the flow of the games rather aggresive offense that suit more for back court player. Play fast or slow, net shot or mid push. 4. Dont just stuck at the serve line but sometimes get back bit by bit if the opponent play faster or higher for your reach, & then out of sudden if you have good reach you can makes surprise cut while opponent think your back partner still running to reach it. Anyway im back court player. More or less i think its what a front player should be doing, the others might add or put correction to my tought above. For training, 1. Training with wall, improve your respones agains the wall for flat fast shot. 2. Ask your partner to feed you with fast flat bird. You stand in the service line while you play flat shot left to right (half court only). No lift or clear play but fast flat drive shot that close to the net. 3. This time using full court, your partner feed you with flat low shot on any direction (left, right, or mid) & you have to cut down all shot while also running left to right. And last this is racket thread bro, why not put it on technique thread instead. Maybe MOD can help put it there instead.
Adding to what budi said, A typical front court player knows when to go in front, for example if your opponent performs a lift to back court.. take advantage of that moment and go in front and stay just behind the “T”. This will allow ur partner to either perform a smash or drop. Now based on the return from the opponent u either kill or intercept the shuttle for stick smash or smash or place the shuttle in no man’s land.. that would be ur talent as at that moment u will only do what ur brain says!! A front court player is responsible all net related shots, placement, interception of shuttle if the return is weak and so on!! “Never duck being at front court”. I have seen people duck if their return is weak thinking opponent is going hammer it. Rather try to take the defensive position if u think u returned a very weak short so that u atleast have a possibility of continuing the rally. Lateral movement foot work is more important, Infact footwork is the most important one for badminton. It really dosent matter if it’s a front court player or back court player. No player can ever stick to front court alone or to back court alone!!! I have not played with 88s but 88s is considered to be a super front court racket because Kevin S is using it!! Any stiff moderate head light racket would do the job for a proper front court player.. But make no mistake it’s not only a stiff moderate head light racket can do the job, if ur anticipation is very good, any racket can do this job. I have seen players using a zf2 and play really good on front court. Like I said earlier they will never stick to front court alone!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
After the game, ask your partner that was behind you, he can see you. It's easy for the back player to see where the front player is messing up 'cos they see everything re the front player.
how to have a better prediction is.. to try to predict. I know this sounds obvious, but trying to intercept opponent's ball is not only about quick reaction time; it's also about positioning and initiative to cut off the flight path even before your opponent hits the shuttle (tip: the ideal time to move is when your opponent glance at the shuttle just before he hits it). The difficult part is how to find the fine balance between intercepting, and not moving all over the place and confusing your partner or even leaving an empty spot for the opponent to attack (the risk vs reward concept). And being able to adapt to how your opponents are e.g. the more deceptive they are, they more conservative you have to play.
I would suggest you to understand the role of "front court player" first then eventually things will add up over time. Dont try to play like Kevin or other pro yet at first because they are super quick. You will get there over time, but if you jump there now, you will only make mistakes. Front court player is playmaker of the team. Therefore, he is the one who control the tempo and formation of the team. You need to be able to control the flow and create the opportunity for your partner. Also, at the same time, you will need to kill any shot that you feel comfortable with ( dont try to train your net play during game. Train it during your training session) Otherwise, you need to keep "advantage" of the team by try to push, tap or anything that make shuttle trajectory going downward which also mean keep attacking. You also determine whether you will let your partner coming up front or not, and at the same time you have to be able to cover your partner once he fall too much into the front or side. Also, you will make a lot more mistake than rear court player, but you will get better.
