Hi guys, I am playing guys' doubles at a JV high school level, and one of me and my partner's biggest weaknesses is returning the serve return after we serve. Basically, my partner short serves and then the opponent does a flat or downward drive to the left side (I'm right-handed, so that would be my backhand side). What is the best shot to play in this situation? Around-the-head or backhand (keep in mind that currently our backhands are pretty bad; we are going to train in the summer, but we probably won't be able to improve our backhands much before the season ends), straight drop or cross drop (it seems that straight-dropping frequently gets us net-killed), drive (it seems it would be hard to produce a strong drive in this situation, considering neither our backhands nor around-the-heads are good enough) or clear? Thanks for any help you can provide. Btw, how do you create a poll? I searched it up and apparently you're supposed to check some checkbox at the bottom of the "Post New Thread" page, but I can't find it...Help?
The problem is not so much with you, but more so with your partner's low serve. Luckily for you, it's a very simple fix. He just needs to practice his low and flick serves more. His low serves has to be just over the net and just inside the service line near the T. If he does that right, your opponents should not be able to threaten your backhand side like that.
Obviously there are a bunch of issues that need fixing, but like with many situations, there are possible patches that could temporarily do until you guys find better solutions. As a side note, I notice that you are from San Jose: Not an easy region to play in, haha. However, here are my suggestions: Service: Like mentioned, practice serves (your partner, although maybe you too?). Mix up the serve timing, location, and speed. If your partner can get flick serves down, he could practice the height and speed of the serves (quick attack flick or a very time-lengthy high serve). If flicks don't work out (as is typical in high school), make sure to have him get his short serves down and also learn to serve both the middle and the corner. Backhand: Unfortunately, until you can clear/drive back strongly, you'll have to drop. Make sure to learn both the straight and cross-drop so you have at least two options, making it more difficult to netkill. Also, when you drop, it's more important to get the drop OVER THE NET QUICKLY as opposed to very precisely. Of course, there are exceptions, but if your opponents can netkill properly, then it doesn't matter *TOO MUCH how close to the net you drop it, but if you can get it over the net and below net level quickly, it will make it harder for them to attack. So practice backhand drops that get over and below quickly as much as possible. Later on, to learn drives and clears, you'll have to improve the strength/twitch of your hands as well as learn to quickly rotate your body without hurting yourself to get stronger backhand shots. Also, to help with backhand returns in doubles while in the back, I usually have my right foot close to the middle line and the left foot a good few feet left of the middle line so I can get to backhands quicker (more of an issue than forehand, right?). Good luck!
If your drops are getting killed, they may be a little too slow. If you push (inbetween a drop and a drive) to about a metre behind their service line, you may be able to get behind the returner and avoid the kill. Whether you hit down-the-line or cross-court depends upon the positioning of the opposition, though typically down-the-line is the stock (i.e. default) response. Also, hitting backhand shots about shoulder/head height is the one situation where you don't need to turn round. In other words, you can step to the shuttle with your non-racket (in your case left) foot and hit from across your body. Might be less awkward and take less time than a conventional backhand or round-the-head. I would also ecco visor's comment. If the opposition are hitting low serves downwards, you need to get them tighter.
Hello. Like the others said already: The problem is the short serve. A good serve will make it alot easyer for you to make a propper return. When it comes to the return itself. Judging from the level you play at, most people don't have the correct rotation and cordination. They tend to just stand still in their return position which leaves the straight drop corner an very exposed place for u to return the shot. Also, what i like to do when i get a cross push after serve, is to do a cross drive to the back corner. Not many people can do this and it requires quite some str and correct backhand technique. But if u practise, it's very doabel. I can see your problem when it comes to the other team doin net-kills when you try to drop. But it's the best option in most cases unless your getting really far behind the shuttle. Also if your confident in your defensive play you can do a high lift. It's good that you have found the problem, i think the only thing you two can do is to practise your serve and backhand/drop technique. Best of luck.
Thanks for the responses guys! Well actually I realized the season is pretty much over, but my partner and I will definitely be practicing the things you guys mentioned (making our low serves lower, making our flick/high serves usable) in the summer. @ hiroisuke: yeah whenever we have matches I have a varsity friend that always points out to me the "beast" players; there are several top 5 or 10 U.S. U-19/U-17 singles/doubles players in our area.
this is a little off topic... but could you please define JV and varsity badminton team levels in high school? my school lacks anything badminton related really....and i'd like to know how i compare
Well the level of JV/Varsity players varies tremendously across schools and even within schools. Some schools' JV1 players are much stronger than other schools' Varsity 3 players. Generally JV players (at least in my league) have been training (my definition of training being 1 or 2 times a week, 2hr sessions) for ~2 years or less, and most Varsity players (guys at least) can hit all the forehand shots somewhat decently. Hope that gives you at least a vague impression of the level of JV/varsity players, but like I said, especially since badminton is a rather niche sport in some areas, school A's JV may be stronger than school B's Varsity. On another note, the strength of the players also depends on the event - in general, singles players will be stronger overall players than doubles/mixed players (singles being the most competitive - in the bay area there are plenty of top ten nationally ranked U-19/U-17/U-15 singles players), and doubles players stronger than mixed players.
uhh kinda. tough to visualize.... 2 years of training only to hit the shuttle DECENTLY? lol. top nationally ranked oh dear....
