I've been regularly playing badminton the last couple of years or so, but I haven't had any coaching or had my a chance to get my playing technique critiqued. I'm always looking for ways in which I can improve my game, so I'm hoping to get some comments here to help me out. I've attached a video of myself playing a few practice games, which I've edited to exclude downtime between rallies. In my own opinion, the areas of my singles game that most need work are my smashes, my backhand overhead shots, and the number of unforced errors I make. Also, watching myself on video made me realize that the way I hold my racket looks slightly different to that of other people - not sure if this is due to my grip or it's just the way I cock my wrist. I'd really appreciate it if you can take a look and give me your assessment of what I'm doing right and wrong. Any suggestions of drills or techniques I can employ to specifically improve upon my weaknesses would also be very welcome. In the video, I'm the guy in the black shoes and white socks (wearing a very dark blue shirt). I'm seen playing against 2 different opponents.
There is always more to work on, but just a quick observation. Your short forehand serves have a habit of being pretty loose. It wouldn't take much for the receiver to put you under pressure on the return of serve. Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk
That's true, I'll work on keeping my short serve tighter. My forehand short serve is usually good enough even for attacking players in doubles, I guess I just wasn't focusing much on my serve which led to some loose serves.
One thing I noticed is you are slow on returning high serves - you get there in time to hit it, but it limits your shot choice. You'll notice your first step after your opponents serve isn't very quick. It's a lazy walk back because you don't feel you need to move that quick. That's true for a long serve. If you play another opponent who exclusively serves short, you will find yourself being wrecked at the net because you aren't taking them high enough as you're not split stepping on a serve return. Even now watching your video your most common serve return is a clear or a drop. With a serve that high, you could be getting all the way behind it and getting an occasional jump smash in (or a fake - at the very least your opponent now has to consider that you might actually play a smash instead of always a drop/clear which he doesn't need to plant hit feet for). It's actually quite difficult to pick apart weaknesses because your opponents aren't putting you under a huge amount of pressure from what I see. Your footwork seems to be in good shape. Apart from the 'lazy' thing (your movements could be a lot more explosive - those milliseconds can open up a lot more shot choices, and perhaps one of the reasons your accuracy is suffering is because you aren't fully behind the shuttle when playing your stroke), you could play a lot more round-the-head shots instead of backhands. There are a few times you receive a HIGH lift (loads of time) to the backhand and you play a backhand. You could quite easily explode into a round the head footwork pattern and deliver a straight/crosscourt smash/drop/clear instead of your straight backhand drop (which seems to be the only shot you can reliably play there). It takes more effort, but against a good player, they will force a backhand drop and kill it everytime if you try otherwise. Yes, it's nice to have a strong backhand clear, and you should be playing it when you are forced to - but there are many instances you are playing it when you shouldn't. If you want to practise your backhand, do it in training and not in games, otherwise you will fall into bad habits. Hope those few points help. I think you are a reasonably strong player - if you want to take it to the next level, i think you need some more serious opponents, and/or a coach.
Id say footwork is kinda there. You know the components, but frequently you take far too many steps. E.g. 1'10". Looks like a short high serve. And how many steps did you take? 6? 7? So many I couldn't count I would concentrate on posture (you're too upright) and footwork. I agree with the comment about you being lazy ☺ Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk
Thanks a lot for the detailed replies @DarkHiatus and @amleto ! @DarkHiatus you make a very good point about me being slow while receiving serves. I actually noticed that I'm a lot more alert when I'm receiving a backhand serve, since I'm expecting a short serve then. I'll try to do this for forehand serves as well. You both also make valid points about my "lazy" play and me being slow to get behind the shuttle on both high serves and in the deep backhand corner. I think that this is at least in part due to a lack of fitness - I just find that my current style of play requires a lot less energy than getting behind the shuttle on high shots, and is easier to sustain for multiple singles games. I'll try work on both my fitness and on footwork/explosive movement/getting behind the shuttle. @amleto when you say my posture is too upright, what do you mean? Does this mean that my stance should be lower (kind of crouched) when I'm getting ready to receive the shuttle?
Yes, bend your knees more and this will help you start moving faster. Also trust me that fewer steps is easier than more in the long run... If you take fewer steps your stamina will increase! Sent from my ONE E1001 using Tapatalk
Hi, Just returned from a tournament and have 7 videos for someone to tell us about the challenges of each video and what we can do to change the style of play of our players. Don't mind paying a fee or volunteer purposes only. Please send an email and will send a link to you in urgency.
