Hi, I have read many time the simple question of 'What makes a good partnership' or 'Can two top quality singles players bring together a good partnership'? Here are my ideas and views on what makes a good partnership... A Good Partnership There are many good partners out there that demonstrate great understanding and can read each others game like a book, and this is essential. Doubles can be taken as alot harder than say singles, for one there is double the amount of players and you have to 'share' the court with your opponent. A good partnership should contain these things Understanding- You should understand your partner. Understand why they may play a particular shot or why they are in a particular position. Instead of argueing about it, try and found out his or her weakpoints. It maybe at the net and therefore may try to make it where this person is at the back and vica versa. Not to be so dominant- This, i have seen alot in many clubs game. The fact that one is more dominat than the other and will try to take almost any and every shot that is played over the net. They key is to play your normal front and back formation, and understand when to rotate between attacking and defensive. If you become dominat you'll soon find that there is alot more court left bare, and therefore more places for your opponents to put shots into. Training together- Not everyones idea, but i feel this leads to a good partnership. If you train together, then you will be able to see his/her weak points and therefore cover them in a doubles game. You can also help one another get better in a particular shot that they find they cannot do. Again, not only does this develop the understanding of one other, but it brings out trust which can be vital in a game. Trust- Believe in your partner. If you have a lack of trust, you will end up finding yourself going for a shot that your partner may have covered. This will lead to possibly a racket clash or both of you leaving it at the same time, which i can tell has probably happened to alot og you, even me! Communication - Out of all these i have mentioned so far, i feel this is KEY to a successful partnership. To get a great partnership going, shout when it is yours and when it is theres and when you can't make it. Watch the shuttle for your partner. There are many times when it is dropping close to the line and they may leave it for out. Having another set of eyes and calling when it is in and when it isn't can be vital to those 'easy points'. At times when you are down during a game, go up to your partner and have a talk about how to change and vary what you are doing. Discuss where you are going wrong and where you can improve and hopefully get more points. So communication is vital between you and your partner. Motivation- This again is key, motivate one another! If your partner plays a bad shot continuously, chances are their head is going to drop and therefore their motivation for the game will decrease. When they are like this, motivate them. Should c'mon at them as you clench your fist after winning a point. Do not stand behind them and huff and puff and tutt. This does them no favours, and only disheartens them even more. A Bad Partnership This usualy occurs when the above things i have just mentioned are broken, and i can see alot of the time there is ONE person in the partnership who goes and ruins it for the partner. A bad partnership happens when one is more dominant than the other and take every shot fired over the net. Chances are one time you will hit it and leave empty court. Normaly this person would shout 'Where were you' when really they were they waiting to take the shot he just hogged. Bad communication will create a bad partnership. If you dont shout whose it is when you both go for it, chanes are you will a) clash or b) leave it at the same time. The one that frustrates me most is the lack of motivation they give towards their partner. Sometimes they will huff or tutt when their partner does something wrong. This does not help, when really all they need doing is being picked up. I have known some to shout at their partner, some even throw their rackets down on the floor, or swear when they lose a point. This for one makes them look a pratt infront of everyone and in some instances, scares their partner. Can 2 international singles players make a good partnership? This is a question i read on the forum some time ago, and it is a hard question to answer but here are my views... I feel that 2 international singles players CANNOT make a good partnership for 2 main reasons. a) They have been brought up to play alot of clears etc when in trouble and high serves. The tactics in singles compared to doubles is very different, and the first reason i dont think it would work because singles players are very dominant. In their game, the control the whole court and therefore alot of the time you will find that they will both go for the same shot and get in eachothers way. Also, as i said the tactics for singles is totaly different for doubles; eg more drives, drops, attacking shots where as singles you can lift, clear etc. b) The last point is the lack of communication between the two. In their game they have no calls etc, and therefore only look out for themselves, not their partners. Therefore i feel they wouldn't call with line calls etc and they will both be out there on their own without the help of one another. I say this, but i could be wrong. For instance my coach is an ex-european number 1, and is known as a singles specialist throughout the world. Yet in one tournament he went to play doubles and ended up winning it, so there are alot of instances where i could be wrong... I hope you have read this far. This is just my view to a question i have heard many times on this forum. Thanks for your time to read this. Matt
Nice article on doubles partnership, Matt. It will be an excellent addition to the upcoming book titled "How To Play Effective Badminton," by Members Of BadmintonCentral. I'm a little confused as to why you say that training together is not everyone's idea. I think that training together is one of the most important points in forming a good doubles partnership. It helps both players understand how their partner moves around and what shots they'll make. The more you play with someone, the better you will play with them. Phil
it's also good if your partner compliments your emotional status well.... for example, i sometimes get quite pissed off when i'm playing poorly, and my partner (well, the one i played with at ofsaa...) was good at calming me down, which resulted in much better play on my part...
If only I could have had this affect on my partner, then I might have been in OFSAA. I'm still bitter about that day. Oh well, there's always next year. To get revenge. Phil
I'm in the COSSA region. It's a pretty low ranked region in badminton. What region are you in Nanashi? Phil
The guy seeded first for singles was from LOSSA, but in the Ontario Badminton Association he is in my region, Central. He got fourth at OFSAA, if I remember correctly. He's also, in my opinion, the only good player from Central, since we are a weak region. Phil
Yeah, Nathanial Allard is the player I'm talking about. I've played against him and his older brother before at a senior tournament at our club with my doubles partner, and we got creamed. Of course, we already knew him, so we knew we would get smoked. To give you an idea of the best players at our club, at that tournament, the two best players in my club paired together and played Nathanial and his brother Matt. Our players beat them in three games, so it was sorta close. Our club is mainly recreational in nature, so the only coaching I really get is from these guys. Phil
Nathanial's older brother, Matt, is pretty good. He may not be on the same level of Nathanial in smashes and a few other things, but he is still pretty good. I've pulled up Compustats as of July 1st on him and Nathanial. Note that you can get up to date Compustats from woba.ca, but hardly from ontariobadminton.ca. They're supposedly revamping the OBA site, and the Compustat method as well. LNAME FNAME SINGLES DOUBLES MIXED GENDER AGE DISTRICT CLUB Allard Matt 1436 1770 1599 M S COBA Harwood (Ajax) Allard Nathanial 1791 1794 1787 M U19 COBA Harwood (Ajax) I've only seen him on two occasions. One was at that tournament, the other time was the Ontario Winter Games training camp. Phil
seen him a few times... once at provincials, and he won singles.... at the pre-ofsaa, where he won for singles, not sure about doubles and mixed.. and at ofsaa...
Do you mean Nathanial or his brother? I've seen Nathanial many, many times since he's in my district. Only seen his brother a couple times. Phil
Well you can't blame us "males" Matt. But we always have a short attention span, so we get off-topic so easily!!... Just go look at some other posts for proof!!...
