Over the year, I have been playing badminton with the wrong forehand grip. So, I have decided to change it to the basic forehand grip. However, when I changed it, my smash became weaker and I seem to be slicing the shuttlecock. Please help me correct my technique. Here is a video of me smashing.
Upload to YouTube preferred, because Imgur is hard to view slow motion/frame by frame on. Initial impression is you're contacting the shuttle WAY too low/late, which could cause a lot of slice.
1) Youtube! Please! 2) It's super hard and can be very misleading to judge and comment based on one single stroke. Better upload a longer clip from either an actual match or at least with several overhead strokes.
sorry, I had to trim the video because of some storage reasons but this is what most of my strokes look like.
It's too short of a video to properly judge. But in a nutshell: - Hit the shuttle higher and so earlier (already mentioned by @DarkHiatus ) - Place yourself a bit further behind the shuttle not just right under. - Don't smash from too far back in the court it never helps as you will often find yourself too late to properly perform your smash's movement and it is not encouraging when learning to hit the shuttle higher/from behind - Position your body so your feet are more or less parallel to the net in order to have your shoulders aligned perpendicular to the net and be able to generate more power from the rotation of your body (in the video your chest is facing the net) - Racket shoulder should be positioned a bit lower than the other one before impact when arming the racket Because the video is too short and we don't see before and after the impact it's hard to say if you go backward with your arm already armed or not in racket high position. I feel like you use some pronation but may be it can be accentuated to generate more force too, hard to say on the video. As for the grip of the racket I don't really see on the video.
Much better format - thanks for uploading. You don't need to get under the shuttle more - you're plenty enough under it. The problem is that you're not reaching up to hit it earlier, and you're letting it drop too much before swinging. Try reaching up and pointing at the shuttle with your left arm out straight (whilst you drop your right shoulder) to emulate what in tennis they call the 'trophy position'. https://www.google.com/search?q=tennis+trophy+position gives you an idea of the shoulders, but be aware that your left arm can point directly at the shuttle because you didn't just toss it up into the air. The idea of tennis serving and rearcourt strokes in badminton is similar - you want to take the shuttle as high as possible!
About slicing problem, It takes time. Eventually you will be able to hit it without slicing just keep practicing and while waiting you could switch the racket around.
I would highly recommend you start with your racket leg back... i.e. your right leg. At the moment you are going to limit your ability to generate power with your whole body because your feet start right foot forwards and then you step in using the left leg. Please reverse this: right leg back and step in with right leg during the stroke. I actually think it looks ok, but you aren't doing much with your forearm and fingers at the end of the stroke. I would personally recommend you try to learn a good stick smash, and this will unlock the rest of your game. Good luck
@MSeeley Actually I think his body weight transfer is quite good for only a year playing. His right to left leg shift happens so quickly that you can only see it in slow motion replay. And credit to him, his stroke is very nicely relaxed with a good whip. His slicing problem is easily fixed with time as he gets used to using more forearm pronation and grip tightening. Agree with others on taking it slightly higher, but we'll need more than a 2 second clip to have a more thorough assessment. But I wouldn't call this shot a smash, it's more like a slightly downward drive. @DarkHiatus @Mason This relaxed form is what you want to aim for. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
@visor yes I agree with you the bodyweight transfer is not bad at all - and like you I watched it frame by frame. I saw his weight transfer through the whole kinetic chain even with the strange foot positioning. But if I add moving backwards to this, I believe I will get a mess simply because of the feet position. Of course it may be that on other strokes its fine, but the whole starting fully facing forwards etc is a particular pet peeve of mine hence I can't not mention it wherever I may go. But as I said, if this player learns a stick smash to learn to hit sweetly with power, then he'll be doing a very good job. The playing for a year thing has passed me by and didn't register. Agree he's doing very well.
Thanks so much for the tips guys! Will be sure to improve on my foot positioning, higher contact point and faster pronation.
No, when you have the correct grip, slicing happens if you simply throw your wrist forward like throwing a ball, since you're holding the racquet on an angle. To hit it square you need to rotate your forearm in a palm up (supination) to palm down (pronation) motion, without bending your wrist.
@DarkHiatus @LenaicM @visor @MSeeley Is this better? Sorry for weird camera angling and inability to see legs. I was not trying to violently smash just using 2/3 of my power.
