[Video] Tips for improvement?

M

mtu620

Regular Member
Recently, I posted: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/index.php?threads/comment-on-how-i-play.175421/#post-2620462.

This is me about 6 months later:

*I am in white shorts*

I am frustrated at my progress; it seems to have come to a standstill. I am consistently a high level B, low level A player. I've had no formal training, have many fundamental technique problems but am at the level I am at (rather than much lower) is because I have compensated so well. I use a lot of energy and get easily tired, as you can see in the video. In order to improve, I need specific instruction on what I am doing right, and step by step on how to perform the right technique or strategy.

Feel free to comment on any aspect of my game - butcher it.
But to get started, in terms of technique, I've noticed all my smashes/overhead shots the follow-through is like a loop that goes all the way from the right to the left side. This is huge waste of energy. How to correct?
Also, I feel like I'm always on the defensive. I don't know how to create opportunities to attach. Any tips?
 
mtu620 said:
In order to improve, I need specific instruction on what I am doing right, and step by step on how to perform the right technique or strategy
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One on one coaching is the answer. It will take 9 to 12 months .

Your big advantage is already having hand eye coordination.
 
I will clarify. I remember you mentioning that you are previously a tennis player. Although you have good hand eye coordination, the previous muscle memory does inhibit your progress. Did you get coaching when you played tennis ?

Add to that you have hit the ceiling in what you can achieve yourself by watching videos.

As you have realised, there are multiple areas of your game that need to be worked on. You also have the strong desire to improve in order to play competitions. I suggest personal coaching as this is the most efficient way to improve and work on specific aspects of the game. But you have to be prepared to start from the beginning again in order to strengthen your basic footwork, grip, finger technique, swing that will take raise your ceiling from B to A and beyond (this is USA grading because in HK, this is E grade. All these areas can be better but writing about it would be enough to fill a book.

I feel an online forum is better suited to discussion on narrowing down and focusing on one or two aspects of the game. E. G. Why did I lose this point? What is wrong with my clears?

As a start, have a look at your grip and overhead swing technique. There is another thread where a beginner took multiple videos of his practice in the garage. He did pretty well with the advice. Take a video of yourself practicing the swing from the side and behind. And then come back with more specific questions.

The other technique threads looking for improvement and also linked videos that explain what to do properly will help you. Especially the one on basic footwork.
 
mtu620 said:
I am consistently a high level B, low level A player.
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Can I ask about this? Seeing as your in America I'm especially curious. What determines this level? Is there a coach or a test or something that decides it?
 
Strange game. Your opponent was clearly ticked off in the latter half of the game by the delays between rallies and did BWF level moves like flicking sweat away at the last second before you served just to make a point. To be fair, many of the delays between rallies were almost 40+ seconds. In an official tournament, that's an extremely long time to make an opponent wait.

The scores may have been close in the beginning but it’s more to do with your opponent’s laziness, taking far too many backhands when the shuttle was way behind him. The big issues I saw were that your clears were not threatening to your opponent, and 70-80% of your drops were aimed at your opponents backhand forecourt: while they were steep and put him out of position in the first few minutes, he quickly knew to position himself there and made you scramble for the rest of the shots.

All in all, the problems seen in this video cannot be solved by 6 months of forum advice and playing games. This is a fundamental technique error on both the forehand and backhand that severely limits your shot selection and therefore, you have hit a skill ceiling that you cannot go beyond because of this. You either have to get one on one coaching like Cheung has said, or if you don't really want to/can not go through a coach, you have to really commit to rebuilding your technique from the ground up with a lot of self discipline, videotaping yourself and getting feedback here on how to adjust your swings etc. (A path I personally did. Didn't take videos, but I disciplined myself to change bad habits and got to a point of respectable technique to hit the shots i want in most situations with accuracy, power, deception. If I had coaching though, I would have reached this point sooner, and would have better results)


Borkya said:
Can I ask about this? Seeing as your in America I'm especially curious. What determines this level? Is there a coach or a test or something that decides it?
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I haven't run into a formal definition of the skill ratings like the National Tennis Rating Program does which explains a player's rating from 1.5(beginners) to 7.0 (world class professional players) in 0.5 increments
The way I understand it in the california bay area:

D :Has the biggest variability of skill levels. Mainly intermediate level players who have had no formal training, casual club players. However people who have never entered a tournament generally start at D, even if they are very experienced players with training. So playing in D is definitely a mixed bag. You could run into barely intermediate players all the way up to advanced club players. If you win the entire tournament in the D division, you can only enter C division and up from there.

C: This division tends to be lumped up with D because people sign up for both the D and C divisions so they get more play time and chances to advance in the tournament. Skill level of C tends to be on average a middle to high level intermediate club player, have reliable smashes and drops, reliable low serves, some level of deception is implemented. Same thing applies in this division. If you win C, you have to go to the B division.

B: Most of these players are advanced, trained players who clearly have had coaching. Most club players don't just sign up for B like D and C division.

A: National level/professional players.

That's just my personal interpretation of the system. It is true that the divisions vary by region. In terms of northern California divisions, OP would fall in the D category.
 
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I tend to agree with others, there are big parts missing in your game; an obvious example is the round-the-head footwork.

I think it's not just tennis saving you, but I think your height is mitigating a lot of significant issues; one of your core offensive shots is a slow drop, that you're taking very high. If you were shorter, you wouldn't be getting the angles you are at the moment.

I also agree your opponent looks very lazy, I'm not sure how well you'd cope with a player that's able to play a much larger selection of attacking shots. They routinely make errors that shouldn't exist, lots of drops into the net, just constant clearing, net shots aren't even particularly impressive.

There are big gaps, and a few factors masking them at the moment. Recommend you take a look at some videos online of good techniques to give you a visual idea of what you should be doing, then go and get yourself a coach.

Edit: For the record, there are several of your opponent's serves I would've made them re-take. Borderline cheating with erratic racket movements before actually hitting the serve. Very off putting.

This one here for example, he looks like he's going to serve about 6 times but then stops.
 
Cheung said:
Like the one at 14.00?

Looks to me like they both do it!

The opponent looks lazy but his technique and movement is far far better. It's really no contest.
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I think that's obviously delay. The one I linked was more, 'I don't know when this person is going to actually serve'. But yeah the other guy the better movement etc., not sure what he's doing overall, because he's making weird errors.
 
Tactim said:
I haven't run into a formal definition of the skill ratings like the National Tennis Rating Program does which explains a player's rating from 1.5(beginners) to 7.0 (world class professional players) in 0.5 increments
The way I understand it in the california bay area:
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Thanks for explaining that to me. And who decides your level? A club or league official or does everyone just start at D and you work yourself up in tournaments?

Charlie-SWUK said:
I
Edit: For the record, there are several of your opponent's serves I would've made them re-take. Borderline cheating with erratic racket movements before actually hitting the serve. Very off putting.

This one here for example, he looks like he's going to serve about 6 times but then stops.
Click to expand...


Yeah. Wow. Really poor etiquette from the opponent.
 
Borkya said:
Thanks for explaining that to me. And who decides your level? A club or league official or does everyone just start at D and you work yourself up in tournaments?


Yeah. Wow. Really poor etiquette from the opponent.
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You decide your own level by signing up for the division you want to compete in. Generally no one will stop you from signing up in the upper divisions. However if you try to sign up for the D division if you had won the D division in the area in the last few years, generally someone will recognize you as the tournament organizers within northern california will share all the draws with each other from previous tournaments. They will then not allow you to compete in the lower bracket. Trying to compete in a lower division than your actual skill level is termed "sandbagging" and looked down upon. That being said, if you're not from the area, there really is no way to control this except once that person wins their division and therefore will eventually be "locked" from the lower brackets.

Signing up for a upper division like B or A when you are not at that skill level will be quite evident as you will be destroyed. Most people don't like being destroyed, so they will eventually learn after 1 or 2 times not to sign up at that division. But I don't actually know if tournament organizers technically can "stop" you from doing this.
 
just my two cents from watching your video and reading some of the comments here:

fundamentally there are many aspects of your game that need working on to generally improve your level of play

footwork - by my reckoning you are moving on your tippy toes 70-80% of the time. This tires your legs out easier plus will make you significantly more susceptible to injury. your split step is only kind of there, sometimes it helps you, sometimes it just slows you down cos of timing issues (look up videos on biased split steps using fast feet routines). your jumping is often off balance as well so your not able to use momentum into your shots (usually your falling backwards) and not in balance when you land for the follow up shot.

awareness - you spend alot of time watching your own shots after taking them so your leaving alot of the court open to counter attack. hit your shot then move back to base position to give yourself more control over the rallies.

shot selection - there are many instances on this video where a rally goes in your favour but instead of pushing the attack to win the point you play more neutral shots essentially resetting it and giving him the chance to win it back. consider watching higher level players and how they build rallies using neutral shots and creating movement and shot pressure in order to create and opening to finish the rally.

Technique - this is something very hard to see on video but just a quick glance will show you need alot of work on this aspect. a few pointers i can give just from this video

Forehand - make sure you are using the correct grip when playing your forehands, the sound you produce when hitting doesnt sound clean s you are more than likely slicing the shuttle. be aware grips are general guidelines and will alter ever so slightly to ensure racket head is flat on contact to ensure maximum power ( unless going for a slice naturally). Look up pronation videos.

Also look up the scissors kick movement in your forehand side, this teaches hip rotation and adds more power and deception to your shots from this side of the net.

Backhand - you only ever play one shot, high tight drops to the net, very predictable and easy to intercept. Consider looking up videos on backhand drives to add variety to your shots and eventually the backhand clear as well. Key idea is to have your back past the shuttle in order to use hip rotation momentum to drive the shuttle and another layer of deception.

Overall as other people have said, this is something you can work on by yourself, bad habits are difficult to fix especially if you dont notice them yourselves. Coaching would be my recommendation, if not just keep playing better players and watching professional videos, womens singles is better to watch than mens, they move just a fraction slower so you can see the technique being used

All the best
 
@Cheung, OP has stated his geographic in his profile. Not to labor this particular point, as it doesn't help OP improve. However, I would like to protest your earlier comment comparing HK and US. Certainly, I feel HK's pros in general are at a higher level. However, we do have many imported pros from other countries immigrated here as coaches.

Anyway, that OP locale is not representative of US in general. California (north and south) traditionally have more strong players and so competition is much stiffer. This is especially so in recent years after a long period of development of young juniors by top professionals.
 
Revisiting this page. I found all your suggestions very helpful indeed. I would like to focus one thing at a time, starting with my smash.

Regarding the smash: I've accumulated >10 years of experience and bad habits, and unfortunately don't know where to start to correct my stroke. I feel I waste a lot of energy and overswinging. I can't seem to imitate the professionals despite countless hours of video watching. It doesn't feel like i'm hitting the shuttle correctly. I don't have time for a coach, so any suggestions on this forum would be greatly appreciated.

 
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