I'm a 14 year old male, finding out if is it possible to smash at my height (about 1.5 meters) , without the shuttle hitting the net? Despite looking up the net on how smashes are done, I'm still unable to swing my racket downwards to perform one. Hopefully the BC community can share their expertise with me. Cheers!
Definitely. Nozomi Okuhara is 1.55m (female all England champion 2016) and delivers terrific smashes from anywhere on court. Almost certainly harder than my own 1.75m frame can deliver too. Smashing is about technique. There are so many factors that can cause you not to be able to smash downwards. The most common is racquet grip: most beginners have the racquet face pointing forwards when swinging a racquet, but the pro technique has the racquet edge pointing forwards until the last moment, when it rotates to hit the shuttle. This allows them to get the downward angle as they are not constrained by the flexibility of their wrist. This is known as the pronation technique which is what you'll see a lot in recent coaching materials. A much better option for us to give you tailored advice is if you could post a video of your swing!
Jung Jae Sung, one of the best smashers ever was only 5'6". Obviously height does limit the angles you have available to you, but it shouldn't prevent you having an "effective" smash. And an "effective" smash is more important. Also, as you get better you could add the jump smash to your arsenal which will gain you a little extra height should you want to play certain angled smashes.
I will soon, but does one's height affect the difficulty of how smashes can be done? What counts as an effective smash and do smashes have to be done with jump(s) or without it?
Height can affect the difficulty in getting into the smash ready position, otherwise, the rest of it is purely technique, and is largely independent of height. For example, Lee Chong Wei (5 ft 6 in.) has a monster smash, but he has to do much more work to get behind the shuttle. Chen Long is 6 ft 2 in. and also has a monster smash, but generally has less work to do to get to the shuttle - however, he has to prepare his racquet much earlier because he is taller and receives the shuttle sooner! If Chen Long waits too long, then he gets a sub-optimal smash, and if Lee Chong Wei moves too slow, he will also be too late. Height is simply not a reasonable excuse for not being able to smash. That's both good (everyone can smash), and bad (you can't blame it on you being born with a disadvantage and give up). An effective smash is one that is aimed, accurate, consistent, and puts pressure on your opponent. Are you more scared of the guy who can deliver a monster smash at your body every time, or the guy who has a softer smash, but hits the side lines every time? I personally prefer the monster smasher as my opponent - at least I stand a chance of getting the shuttle back, even if it hits my racquet frame! The accurate smasher...well the first step to returning the shuttle is to move your body to the shuttle...if you can't do that, then you're a point down. As for jump smashing - that is generally for angle more than power. If you're scared of the guy who can smash the sidelines every time, now imagine they can either aim it at 1 metre in front of your feet leaving you falling over, or hit it at your shoulder, whilst still keeping it in, making you fall backwards.
One that causes your opponent problems. But note that it is not necessarily the most powerful smash (although power does, of course, help), nor does it mean it has to be a winner. Take Lee Yong Dae and Hendra Setiawan, two players not known for their rear court ability. Both have around the same amount of power, similar in height but HS's smash is far more effective because he has better placement, he also mixes up his smashes well so they are less predictable and he makes most of the available angles to him. LYD's smash however is very conservative and predictable. He almost always hits straight or channel from the rear court. But smashing in doubles, depends a lot on your partner too. I remember LYD had more variety in his smash when he partnered JJS and considerably less with KSH. He probably felt that he was able to play higher risk shots as JJS would have his back in most scenarios whereas KSH probably wasn't able to give him that confidence. And no, you don't necessarily have to play smashes with jumps, in fact there are some professionals that hardly ever jump smash and yet manage to hit quite effective smashes.
Maybe you could try to watch the whole series of what destroys your smash (1-18). It really helped me to develop a proper technique for smashes.
http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/index.php?threads/improving-the-quality-of-your-smash.118773/ Hi there I did wrote a thread and discussion about improving the quality of your smash few years back that you can refer. The link is above. There so much information here in BC that you can get surrounding the discussion about smash as it is one of the most popular and commonly ask question especially for players that is just starting to get into this beautiful game. Whatever info that you have managed to digest in your quest to learn how to smash then let me just add few word of humble advice - if your preparation to do a smash is being done very well and balance then it is very likely that how you will address the incoming birdie to execute your smash can be done very well also with minimal mistakes. Your footwork is the key to this - Learn ALL the correct techniques on how to smash. Practice, practice, practice and practice diligently. There is no short cut to it. - Do remind that the only limitation that can hinder the progress in your quest to learn and improve how you smash is your own mind and attitude. Always be positive that you can do it. - seek advice from coaches, experience colleagues always and preferably do many drills with them. Training alone without guidance will give little improvement. Good luck SS
