You may know more about the game and how to play it that some professionals, however professionals know what to do,when and how. I know a lot about badminton but that doesn't necessarily mean I can play well, or does it?
Not really if you know a lot about something it doesn't necessarily mean you are good at it. Some people are more knowledgable at badminton than me but their not as good as me. But then again after posting this it does make a difference. Many people who go to my club , may not be techincally better than the opposition but know what to do and can predict possible outcomes , so they win. So knoweledge is power but to an extent.
I know some people who aren't physically strong but are good tacticians. There are others who just rely on power, always smashing their way to win. If you have genuine knowledge, you would strive your way to apply what you learn.
What is knowledge??? A person who have learnt himself what to do with his body (knowledge is in the body), so the shuttle goes where it was intended, but according to common "theories" it migth be completely wrong. A another person know the theories, but cannot perform them well himself. Could you say that one of them "know" more/better than the other??? BTW: Professionals migth learnt badminton for more than 15 years ago, and some of their bad habbits, they choosen not to change them, as it works fine for them. Technically they are often very wrong (if you believe "wrong" technics exist at pro level)! Still I would claim that they are very knowledgeable concerning badminton, but they migth not be that competent, when it comes to passing that knowledge on to young players. Their body knows what to do, but they cannot explain it! So what is "Knowledge"? (any philosophers in here?).
The first thing you need to have is knowledge. If you don't know how to play a shot, whatever any of you may say, you won't be able to play it at its best. There's no way you can do a perfect shot only relying onto natural talent; you need to know what you're doing. It sounds stupid, but take a baseball pitch for instance, it's probably the most complex movement in sports, perhaps even the jump smash requires even less perfection. This motion can be so variable, it takes months of studies to fully understand how to make it work and it is the only way to do it right: knowing what works. Badminton is no exception. Especially for backhand shots. Who here is confident enough to hit an overhead backhand clear cross court and a real defensive one with a big arching rather than an around the head or walking aside the shuttle to do a forehand? You say it's risky, but if you can play it as well as a forehand, why not save up some time and do it? Some might think it's a tactical error and I answer if you have almost the same flight, you better conserve energy and yime doing it.Because no one here does it well enough to be this aggressive. These shots requires a tremendous amount of timing and accuracy in the motion. If you don't know why it works and why it doesn't, it might be long before your swing improves. You have to know how to hit the right way from teh start because in the end only the best technic produces maximum velocity and accuracy. So, I will be aside all of them and say that yes knowledge makes your play better. You want further proofs? Why do these guys get coaches? Because they know how to hit the shuttle, to move, to position, etc. In baseball, why so many aren't able to throw over 90mph? Because they don't know how to do it and as their motion isn't sucessful, they can't correct it. Take myself. I didn't know how to do backhand clears and barely hit them from middle to middle. When I saw one and I started to understand, I started to make some from the back to the other. The main difference wasn't training: from a day to an other, I was able to hit a shot I never been able to do. The point is: what ever they tell, you have to know how to do it right and how to behave to improve your skills into training. Knowledge is more important than any stroke or than any other aspect. If you don'T know what you are doing, you simply train yourself into bad habits and wrong moves.
