Hi all, I played the game below against an even opponent (20-22) after a long day at work, some awful sleep, and had dinner 30 minutes before, so I am going to deem this game playing in "slow" mode (as that's how I felt, both physically and mentally). I find myself in concentration ruts every so often and I need to focus on some specific things to bring me back in a game, rather than pray that I'll suddenly get "in the zone". What sort of things should I focus on to get the biggest effect? I am playing in the far side. Apologies for potato cam - the quality died on uploading to Google drive. Without having seen the video, I decided after the game to focus on raising my contact point. In the next 2 games I lost 13-21 (trouble adjusting to a higher contact point), then subsequently won 21-16 (finally managed to play steep fast drops once I stopped letting the shuttle drop too low). Based on having watched the video myself, I think this was a valid thing to focus on - there is a lot of bent arm losing me power and accuracy. Another thing I see is that I'm not getting behind the shuttle on high serves - evident when one I leave lands by my back foot (even worse, it was miles in...) Would it have made sense to focus on this instead? Or as well as raising contact point? Or perhaps there is something else I should prioritise that would have made a difference sooner (e.g. shot variation)? I am working on all these things in my training, but what do you do mid-match when you KNOW you aren't playing to your best?
Good questions! When we are not playing our best, it is either technical, or mental. Technical means "my shots feel wrong". All of the things you described (contact point, getting behind the shuttle etc) are solutions for "my shots feel wrong". On any given day, different things may work or not work. These may provide a quick fix, especially if you are working on something new e.g. getting further behind the shuttle. You will know it worked once you hit a few good ones, then you are back on track. My view is that in this situation, it is actually best to focus entirely on WHERE you are going to hit your shots, and how you want it to move through the air, rather than try to fix the technique. During games is never an appropriate time to focus on how to hit the shots, but when you focus on where to hit, at least you can still play the game even though something technical is wrong. When its mental, its probably either "i'm not paying attention", or "something is wrong". "Something is wrong" happens when you turn up and you feel wrong on court, either slow, or sluggish, or the opponents are just playing so much better than normal etc. In this situation, try to get a better warm up, and then remember how to enjoy playing Your problem is probably with your footwork - you are being slow around the court, the stance is too upright not allowing you to move etc. There is something to fix but its not easy - so just enjoy and focus on where to hit the shuttle. The "i'm not paying attention" is the one where you lose interest/focus during a match. In this situation, you know you could play well, but have chosen not to. Remember - enjoy the game, and remember what its like to focus on the game! In all those situations, you won't really fix anything by focusing on what to do - that may work when you are training and practicing, but its not appropriate for games. In games, just try to "switch off" from the emotional "i'm not playing well" response, remember how much you enjoy badminton, and that its ok for you to play badly today - you don't need to "fix" it, you just need to endure it and move on. If its a technical problem (including footwork), then make a note and fix it in training. But for most people, they just haven't learnt how to play (but they can concentrate really well in practice) - I can give lots of advice, but really, it comes down to treating match play the same as training - just a sequence of shots you play. Good luck!
I'm pretty sure that either Matt or myself have already mentioned "The inner game of tennis" in one of your previous posts. If not, than now is the time! Buy it, read it and I am 100% sure you will find quite a lot of things in there that make you feel and think differently next time you are on court and start to feel out of the zone. For me personally, I have found a strategy in these kind of situations that works a lot of times. If I feel that special "something is not right", and especially if it's the "my shots feel wrong" type, I focus on one pretty basic technical detail. In my case it's to keep my non-racket arm up and working. This has two effects: 1) I keep my brain from falling into that "I play so badly. Why am I playing so badly? Is it the racket/strings/shuttle/shoe/temperature/etc. or anything else? I don't know what it is, but it's getting worse!" -loop with keeping it busy to think of something else 2) keeping my non-racket arm up has shown to improve my whole movement on court and the shot preparation a lot. With doing so, I normally start to move better almost immediately. So if you have noticed that keeping the contact point high has that positive effect on your game, try using this as your mental anchor. But we have to face reality. Sometimes there are simple physical reasons why you don't feel and play well. Lack of sleep, lack of food, upcoming illness, sore muscles from previous workouts or plain and simple some personal trouble during the day that is still bothering you. You can try all the tricks you have but sometimes they just won't work. And I don't know about others, but sometimes when I'm far out of the zone and if I listen to myself carefully, I come to the conclusion that I was just not actually up to play badminton at that specific moment - I guess we all know these moments when you have to force yourself to leave the house for training and in fact want nothing more that to stay on the couch, drink a cold beer and watch Sherlock instead...
You can try to change tactics to avoid areas of your game that are not going well. However, it usually only has a slight benefit. I try to analyse what can be corrected for a future training session. For instance, when I work with my coach, he sometimes asks how my other games went. I will say, such and such didn't work or didn't feel right. Then we work on that aspect after he has made a diagnosis. Now, I believe the process will take slightly longer for you because you are still gaining a lot of input into techniques rather than fine tuning. Also, because you are recognising this more, I believe it is a sign of improvement because you are now more aware of how your body is reacting and your 'feel' for the game is getting better, though obviously not playing well that day. Make sure you sleep well, are not rushing, have eaten properly beforehand - I find these affect my performance.
A big recommendation for "The inner game of tennis" from myself as well. It's a fantastic book that focuses on the mental side of sports and how to detach oneself from constant judging of ones game. Reading it opened my eyes quite a bit. For me the book taught that concentrating on having fun and imagining what you want to achieve (rather than concentrating on technique) will yield the best results. The book speaks about the two selves, mind and body, and that the body really knows how to do stuff, because you have trained and trained and trained the movements. But when mind tries to tell the body how to do something, everything fails and feels stiff and forced. So nowadays when i'm feeling off i just concentrate on getting results i want and let my body decide how to implement the movements. Sometimes it works wonders but sometimes i'm just too off to get the "in-zone" results. I get the worst results when i try to consciously do a technique in match, like using more pronation or specific footwork patterns. In my opinion ones mind needs to be concentrating on the tactical and strategic decisions during a match because if you just think about technique it will "narrow" your mind and you'll do stupid decisions tactically.
Loving this thread! This is right up my alley as I've been working on the mental aspects a lot. (Just recently bought a few books on the subject but I'll check out that tennis one.) I like hearing what you guys do. The way I've come to handle those "off" (mentally) days is just try to laugh a lot, talk crap (in a good natured way) and just try to make every game fun. Cause if I can't get in the groove I might as well have fun. Like, I even start off just telling my partner that "today is not my day" to lower expectations then relax and play and when I miss a shot go overboard in my reaction (like I "strangle" my racket and pretend to crack it over my knee which always makes everyone laugh) Of course that only works when your on familiar ground on a low stakes day (Playing with strangers or a competition this wouldn't work). But it makes a potentially frustrating day more enjoyable. On a "off" (physically) day I've found the opposite works. I get angry, really angry, which somehow sharpens everything and can pull me out of a physical slump. Or, in both scenarios I play with people below my level who used to be better than me and that ALWAYS makes me feel good, heh heh.
This is interesting. John McEnroe use to scream at himself to move up his level. There are some people who need to relax to perform better. Everybody needs to find their own level whether they need to push themselves up or relax themselves down.
I'm not john McEnroe level of crazy but I get mad at my opponent. Like in my head I just say a cold, cool "f-you. You're not beating me before I serve on them or they serve on me." And then if I just say F-you either out loud or in my head my smashes and fast front of the net back and forths (sorry I don't know the technical term) go much more in my favor. It has to be real anger, I can't just manufacture it if I'm losing. But if my opponent gives me too many deception shots or it's someone that frustrates me I can get angry. Although sometimes if I just have 2-3 smashes in a row and the person keeps returning them that's enough for me to get worked up in the moment and put all my angry energy into one last winnable smash. I'm extremely stubborn AND a younger sister who's always thought she was just as strong and as smart as her older brother which is why my personality tends towards this aspect instead of the relax myself aspect.
We should remember that, right? After all, no one is forcing us to play so if we aren't having fun we should either stop or change our attitude. Actually it's why I like watching Chen Long play so much. He's the only pro player who looks like he's really enjoying himself. I love when his opponent gets a good shot off him and chen long looks equally bewildered and impressed and will let out a sly smile even though he lost the point. No one else ever shows reactions (except a scream in joy or a frustrated face) and he seems to make a "facial comment" after almost every rally which shows me that he really appreciates the game as a whole, not just him winning it. The pro's always seem too serious to me.
Exactly. Although I understand if professionals show less emotion. Several reasons: it is actually their job, and it is very serious whether they win or lose, because they are responsible for providing for their families - it is their job and they need to be good at it. Other reasons are a matter of focus and concentration: they should do whatever they need to do to be able to perform at their best whilst remembering they are actually just performers (much like musicians), and as such should remain humble.
