Video: My Overhead Swing

K

KazeCloud

Regular Member
Hi. My little brother says that my swing doesn't seem very fluid. I have recorded myself doing an overhead smash without a birdie, from the back and the front view. Please take a look at it. Notice how I switch my foot. I have gathered from previous questions that its correct, right? I'm usually varsity #3 in my school and have no formal coach. I've only learned everything from BC and watching professional players. Please don't insult my technique too much, I know it has many flaws. Constructive criticism please. :o

From behind:

http://profile.imeem.com/UymXifg/video/SJn7Xl0O/jackie_overhead_swing_behind_sports_video/

From the front:

http://profile.imeem.com/UymXifg/video/SkZZWSl4/jackie_overhead_swing_front_sports_video/

My brother keeps on saying that I'm too big and my swing doesn't look very efficient, and saying I am a fairly big person so it looks like I'm exaggerating the shots.
 
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the first video. when you followed through your stroke, your shoulder went down too much with it. this will slow down your recovery time and defense mode. impact of the shuttle should be high and elbows not too bent.

your stance should be pretty much "i surrender" mode or "triangle" mode. then when you swing, instead of "winding up like a circle" and pitching a ball. your swing should past your right ear (racket handle) followed by a swing and the impact of the shuttle should be high with flat on with the racket. you wouldn't want to slice clear the shuttle.

in my opinion :P
 
You're leaning back too much when you hit. You should always follow through and feel like you move forward when you smash. That way your smash has more power and won't float.

A big swing isn't necessarily bad, there are plenty of top players who have a big swing. It has a lot to do with preference and how your body generates power. Learning how to make a big swing and also how to use your wrist with minimal swing are both required.

Your hitting point is too far back. When you go to hit the shuttle, make sure it is in front of you. Something you can do is hang a shuttle from a tree-branch and make sure your hitting point is in front of your body. Make sure you're not jumping backwards when you're hitting.
 
hi Jackie,
insult....
no no no.... nobody here will insult anyone....:)
comments are good from 450450.
1. footwork - need some training, mini steps to the contact point. contact point shall be above head, not to the right(you are right-handed).
2. stroke - be firm and accurate. direct the power to the contact point. unnecessary follow-through power stroke need to save.
 
You might be doing this on purpose for the video, but there is quite a long pause between when you get into position for the shot and when you swing. While it is important to come to a stop before swinging, there's no advantage to be gained from pausing for so long.

It might be more interesting to see this video re-shot but using faster footwork.
 
I have read everybody's posts. I will try to keep everything in mind when I do my next video. Possibly with a birdie in my school gym. Yes Stumblingfeet, I paused a bit on purpose, but I'll do footwork a bit faster and less pause next time.
 
Yop, you guys are all right, his follow through is a bit of a problem.
In my opinion..
1)The racquet should be swung faster with the quick snap of the wrist.
2)Your follow through should end with your hand no lower than your head. Right now, it's like a tennis follow-through.
3)Lastly, you might lose your balance if you are leaning forward everytime you strike the shuttle. If the opponent clears it back to you, your response will be slower if done like this.

Focus on clearing further and faster just with the fast snap of your wrist with also, the right timing.
 
Your elbows are too low. Hold them higher: imagine a straight line from elbow to elbow; this line should pass through the shoulders. The left elbow should be higher than the right.

The racket strings should be facing downwards and forwards. Yours are facing forwards and slightly upwards.

Use your left arm. At the moment, it doesn't do much. You have the correct ending position, with the arm tucked in at your side for balance; but your starting position should be different. Prepare to hit by extending your left arm up and forwards; then swing it down into your final "tucked arm" position. This swing begins the turning of your shoulders. Left arm first, then right arm swing. Left -- right.

That's all preparation stuff. Your actual swing is pretty good: you've got the arm rotation, the right grip (I think), and you're switching your feet nicely. :)

You do lean back a lot, putting all your weight on your right foot. You should not be "waiting" on your right foot at the back of the court. If you do a one-footed take-off, it should flow immediately from your previous footwork. If you have time to wait a moment, then you should be making a two-footed take-off.

The problem is actually to do with muscle contraction rhythms. A loading movement should immediately be followed by an unloading movement: load you leg(s) and then immediately spring upwards. If you wait, then the power is lost. This principle is called the stretch-shortening cycle: for powerful movements, an eccentric (loading) muscle contraction should immediately be followed by a concentric (unloading) contraction.

So by "hovering" for a moment on your right foot, you lose much of the power in your legs.
 
Aah Gollum. Those are very very nice coaching tips. Those are exactly what I need, for I really have no coach that knows that much. I will read and reread them over and over again! They are so insightful. I do think I got the grip and pronation correctly. Following three treads on those. Haha.

Today I beat the person under my ladder. I am now trying to get varsity #2 spot. We are going to play the third game tomorrow because today we ran out of time.

I understand everything except this part.

Gollum said:
The racket strings should be facing downwards and forwards. Yours are facing forwards and slightly upwards.
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I don't understand when you do this. Or exactly what it means. XD

PS: Today in my games, my little brother was watching me. And he says my smashing was just not good enough. Not threatening I'd say. I have pretty good shots overall. So I'm not just a beginner who wants smash smash smash and more smash. But its actually been my problem since day one. X_X
 
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In your video, the one from the front, look at the stance you are first in. Look at the position of the racket. That should be what it looks like right before you swing. That's what Gollum means. Hope that helps!
 
Looking at it again, I notice that for every step you're tilting and leaning on the support leg. For example, you start out leaning forward with your weight on the non-racquet leg, then you step back with the racquet leg and lean way back.

This is an example of movement inefficiency. Sometimes, you're forced to lean back because you need some extra reach, but if you're not being pressured, try to move back in a more upright posture. Moving back this way puts you in a better position to smash/attack.

As for what Gollum was saying, when you lean back your racquet is back behind your body. What he suggests is that you tilt the racquet head forward (toward the front of your face). This does a couple of things:
  • starts your out in upper arm internal rotation/forearm pronation, which gives you more room to stretch and therefore more stretch reflex (SSC) contribution
  • keeps the racquet in your view so that you can confirm its position relative to where you "feel" it is located -> this is important for accuracy!
 
KazeCloud said:
PS: Today in my games, my little brother was watching me. And he says my smashing was just not good enough. Not threatening I'd say. I have pretty good shots overall. So I'm not just a beginner who wants smash smash smash and more smash. But its actually been my problem since day one. X_X
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Are you playing against other beginners too ?
Hmm..
1) When smashing, DONT AIM AT THEM! (That's my problem.. )
2) If your smashes arent 'threatning' enough, then why not try something else, such as slice-drops and crosscourt slice-drops ? It always works great..
3)Just a little tip.. if the opponent isn't powerful/skilled, you can easily score points by clearing to their backhand side of the baseline. They'll either miss the shuttle or do a half-court clear ( chance for you to crosscourt drop/slice/smash).
Dont think about scoring from smashes, but think about making them run ( controlling them ) :)
 
Not smashing to them is kind of weird for me. Because then I would have to hit the birdie at an angle and I keep hitting it out, or it would be a weak shot. I will practice that though, for it is very fundamental. Well mostly the people that I play isn't that weak. Hitting to their backhand doesn't work miraculously. =]

Smashing to make them run is a very good principle! Thanks. I will try to get a video of the third game for you guys tomorrow for the varsity #2 spot. He's really good. I'm a heavy person, and hes a very light small erpson. It doesn't worry me much because I just didn't want to get knocked down by the jv #1 person. But that guy was beat today and I played somebody else, which I have much more confidence over.
 
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KazeCloud said:
Not smashing to them is kind of weird for me. Because then I would have to hit the birdie at an angle and I keep hitting it out, or it would be a weak shot. I will practice that though, for it is very fundamental. Well mostly the people that I play isn't that weak. Hitting to their backhand doesn't work miraculously. =]
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The only way to improve that is to practise, to improve your precision.
Oh.. well you could try an offensive clear ( fast and low ) to their backhand. After hitting the shuttle back, they will take a little bit of time to get back to the centre of the court. Before they do that, quickly drop the shuttle to the opposite front corner near the net. That's how you can make them run :cool:.
Smashing to make them run is a very good principle! Thanks. I will try to get a video of the third game for you guys tomorrow for the varsity #2 spot. He's really good. I'm a heavy person, and hes a very light small erpson. It doesn't worry me much because I just didn't want to get knocked down by the jv #1 person. But that guy was beat today and I played somebody else, which I have much more confidence over.
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Usually when I smash, I just think about smashing ( obviously ) and to get a decent angle, but not the direction. I lose concentration when I smash. When I perform sliced-drops however, I think more about the direction and precision than speed/power.
 
I had a pretty good overhead slice-drop but now I lost it. Now that you mentioned about smash angle, I use to just flick my wrist downwards to get a very close to the net smash. But now when I have better form and using my whole arm, my elbow is higher and the smash if faster but it goes to the back court. Maybe the angled flick of the wrist down is called a stick smash or half smash? Mainly used for angle not power correct?

Yeah, I attack clear it to the back often when they drop it to me, or if they are in the front.

Definitely got to train on the overhead slice-drop as well as the smash tomorrow.
 
I don't understand when you do this. Or exactly what it means. XD
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Oops, I didn't specify it!

I'm talking about your posture for "ready to begin the swing". Another way of thinking about it is this: make the angle at your elbow smaller. At the moment it's 90+ degrees; it should be less than 90.

This is all before you start the arm swing.

Aah Gollum. Those are very very nice coaching tips. Those are exactly what I need, for I really have no coach that knows that much.
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Glad to help. :) It's made easy by your filming a good video.
 
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