Ask him if he wants to improve (as a pair) or try to talk tactics, you may be able to mold yourself a perfect partner. If he refuses then I have no advice as personally I switch off and drop them as soon as possible. If someone will talk/listen then I don't care how bad they are if they are willing and/or have potential.
If he's willing, it's possible to train him to play the game more aggressively. But if he doesn't, then I guess it doesn't help. When I just learned to play doubles, the coach specifically said no lifting and no clearing is allowed unless I don't have a choice. If he's willing to learn, perhaps the first thing to try is to limit his choice of shots. If he doesn't want to change, then I think it's better to change partner. There's a limit to defensive play.
best solution for this kind of situation is to mentally prepare to write off the tournament if forced to play with said partner, just get a better partner for the next one. the weakest link situation happens lots in community club nights, where the strongest is typically paired with weakest. unless the strongest is a whole lot better than the opponents, save the frustration, play the half court 'english' doubles, even if it means lifting more than usual, think of it as a drill. lose the game and try to avoid that partner again if possible.
so how's the experience? frustrating eh? hahaha! He wants to i think. He also gets frustrated when he's not able to hit the shuttlecock. But that's it. As far as i know, he's been playing badminton way before i started playing and he's actually been training with some of the better members of our group. i'm relatively new to the group so i haven't seen him play a lot until now. i guess he's just a slow learner or he just doesn't have as much motivation as other members of the group. if he's really motivated, he would ask for advice personally or watch videos on the net. but we have to spoon-feed him the techniques/strategies to employ on the game. He doesn't even know the basic front and back/side to side position. Sometimes he would lift the shuttlecock and stay in front. And i'd be like a martyr scrambling for the shuttlecock when the opponent hits a smash on the sidelines. Or at times he would make a net shot then move back and again i would have to run in front like a pouncing tiger just to prevent the shuttlecock from hitting the floor. hahaha! And all of this is just for nothing coz he'll either miss the next shot or give the opponent easy to kill/smash shot. sorry for the ranting. hahaha! this is my only outlet for my frustration with him. But still i try to be as friendly as possible to him. I even gave him a banana together with a half-fake smile. he's willing but not just enough will power to go the extra mile such as trying out the footwork on the sidelines when he's not playing. it's really hard to avoid frustration as i'm a competitive person. i hate losing and it's the reason i've been striving for excellence. on my other group, i used to get beaten/taken advantage of by the other members especially those more seasoned players. but i took it as a challenge and motivation to improve. now i can play at par and even beat them with an average partner. Once in a while i can make plays that wows them or earn their 'good shot' comment. it just feels good man! haha! but i just can't see that same kind of fire/motivation in him. well the tournament is next week. as you said, i just gotta get over it and move on. now i gotta think of an alibi not to partner with him anymore as our organizer/group leader wants us to become mainstay partners. reason behind is so we'll get used to each others game. but i don't want to partner with him anymore. never ever unless he improves. any alibis in mind?
i find singles game boring based on watching singles game. i don't have the experience to back it up though. hehehe. and also i don't think i have the stamina for singles just yet. but my coach said it could be addictive once you get used to it. is it true?
For singles, you must have footwork patterns to cover the diagonal movement. Once you learn the footwork, it gets much easier. Practicing footwork routines trains your stamina at the same time. With better footwork, covering the court in doubles gets easier. As for experience, you get that when you play more. Singles has a lot of subtleties and tactical options. Is it boring? Definitely you can give it a go first for 4-6months. IMHO, people don't like to play singles because of not knowing the proper footwork patterns.
Perhaps too much failures discourage him. Start with one or two items to improve on at a time. Once he improves, he will get his motivation back and will take more initiative. I was feeling down for a few months for the same reason and took time off playing and concentrated on training only. I became better after the time off, have more confidence and played better. If the others are willing, you could organize a doubles training session every week. For example, the first week you limit his choice of shots, the second week go into attack/defense mode, third week into rotation, etc. That's what my coach did to us and I find that on a recreational level, it improved our games.
i'd say i have a respectable grasp of moving diagonally as well as front and back. my problem is really more on the stamina part. once i get tired and my legs feel kind of numb, my tendency is to stop and catch my breath after taking a shot while waiting for the next shot instead of moving to the center immediately. in effect, i take the next shot late and i'm already out of position. hahaha! but i'll definitely give it a try once i feel more confident. someday... someday...
the thing is he needs to have the initiative to make ways for him to learn and improve. it shouldn't be us taking the initiative to teach him. when i was at his level, i had a conscious effort to improve. i would practice footwork, hitting action, switching grips, etc. even just on my bedroom. i watch a lot of video tutorials and read lots and lots of badminton stuff. that's also the reason why i got into this forum. whenever i played, i put an effort into implementing the things that i practice. Despite losing on the short run, in the long run, it brought more victories and more satisfaction for me. Recently i just moved to the next level and asked for coaching sessions. Again, i hear praises from my group on the improvements. This motivates me more to excel and go on the next level. I just don't see this kind of motivation with him. He wants to win, well i guess everybody does, but he doesn't have the motivation to practice. We tell him to do this and that. He'll say 'ok' but won't even practice doing it. He's already happy with winning 1 game out of 10. And this is against a weak opponent. hahaha! Yeah I know I'm bashing my partner. Can't help but let the steam off. Human nature. hahaha!
that's how passionate i am with the sport. i am only a recreational player but i want to be with the ones on top. wahhhh! this is addiction already. i think i need a rehab. hahaha!
It depends on the person's character I think. Maybe he's not so comfortable to ask people to train him, so you ask him along instead. After a few sessions, maybe he will warm up to it and take more initiative. If it really fails, then I think you can let it be. Maybe he's just not really into badminton as seriously as some of us here. You have already done your best.
nah... i want to partner with someone at par with me and with the same passion and motivation as me. at least we progress together and we're at the same page. we'd be a solid team and would be a force to reckon with on the court . *wishful thinking* i can play with someone weaker than me as long as i can see that he's putting a good effort to improve coz i do the same when i play with better players. i push myself harder and train harder. eventually i am able to catch up and overtake.
With this information , I would definitely recommend singles footwork training and basic clears and netshots. Go for consistency on clears, smash, dropshots (all using same body preparation, rotation and stroke action) and tumbling netshots. Basic net kills. Good footwork training allows you to conserve energy and use it efficiently. Stay off drives.
Thank you Cheung. I definitely still have a lot to improve on my footwork as well as my fitness as i'm not as lean as most players. On a side note, i was feeling a bit soft-hearted while on the bus on my way back home from work. i was thinking that since we're playing only on the lowest level, we may actually be able to win by being defensive. i realized that most of the points of our opponents during our practices is from his mistakes either from mishitting, hitting the shuttlecock out, and service errors. i think this is due to him trying to outmanoeuvre our opponent instead of just making sure that he is actually able to hit shuttlecock to the other side of the court. maybe we can win by just lifting and clearing most of the time. i bet our opponents don't smash as hard or make very accurate drops as the higher level players. we'll just play side to side all the time instead of rotating coz he's having a hard time with it. basically, he just needs to move front to back. when we're receiving the serve, we'll basically do a high lift on my side of the court since i can defend better than him. the opponent will probably be doing straight shots most of the time anyway. when serving, i'll ask him to just make sure the shuttlecock doesn't fall short, long or out. i'll take care of the next shot and he moves to the other vacant side of the court. if the opponent makes a net shot then we'll lift high then defend. of course ill smash or drop when given the opportunity but i won't ask him to come forward to intercept. i basically have to do all offense on my own and ask him to help me defend his side of the court. does that make sense?
Actually to make it even simpler, ill just ask him to lift and clear to whichever direction he's comfortable with as long as it's not out.
Good advice for him, but don't mention the word out. What you have said is very negative because of the "as long as its not out" - it will make him feel stupid. Keep it positive
Your new plan only works for beginners and lower level players. Once you play higher level doubles players who know doubles tactics, then your partner being weaker will get the isolation treatment.
