Hi, my 14 years old son is currently learning badminton and he find it hard to hit a clear to baseline. He has a good overhead swing technique. His preparation, pronation, follow through and footwork all seems correct, but his swing is slow and lack the acceleration just before contact with shuttle. Because of this, his clear tend to only reach the midcourt. This also affect his smash shot which seems to be slow and easily push back. How do I help him increase his swing speed for overhead shot? Does anyone know of any drill or specific exercise to add power to overhead shot?
What i do myself to increase my smash power is using unused plastic bottle filled with sand & do fake/shadow smash while holding the bottle. 1st time do it less than 5 minute, my arm feel sore. But maybe you can try this to. I also do the same trick for my wrist by shadow forehand/backhand swing using my wrist.
May want to try flexier and less head heavy, like 4U VT70 or even 4U 88D is an excellent choice. Easier to generate that whipping acceleration at strike. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
For How long has he been learning? With a coach? From you? ...? If that is true (I have to take word for it), and he hasn't been learning/working on it for too long, I would not be too worried, still I have several ideas what you might to work on with him. hand eye coordination exercises focusing on the shuttle relaxed, but explosive pronation until the racket will rebound core strengthening, you really don't need much arm power for a clear With some searching, you'll find suggestions and more information on all these things, but you don't need him to change rackets. If he tries other rackets and it works better with others, it might be worth it, but the racket never is a reason when someone cannot hit a full court clear. A flexier shaft might help now, but once he gets to accelerate the racket, it might be in his way again. If he's been working on his overhead technique recently, it's not uncommon if his timing is off, his movements are too stiff, and he's just trying hard to get it right. Only thousands of repititions will help, strokes without a shuttle might help, too. There also is a chance that you didn't tell the truth and while ago his technique looks fine at first glance, there might be some issues with it. Don't be worried to much, don't issue him too much, the body works best without (too much) tension. If you are his coach, remember: he's 14, not an always easy time; parents as a coach can have/cause problems that other coaches don't As one last thing, I've also seen kids having trouble with their timing while growing quickly, it really messed up their stroke leading to much less power, but they got used to it eventually (after working on taking the shuttle much much earlier again).
re correct his technique step by step , his positioning, and maybe his racket. I dont think he has a good overhead swing form yet. With correct stroke clearing baseline to baseline for 14 years old should be easy. With correct pronation[the snapping motion couldnt be that slow once he pronates and tighten up his grip ] he should have enough power to clear it pass the midcourt regardless the swing speed.
Thank you all for the helpful suggestions. Appreciate all the good advice above. Seems like so many things to work on. I think first I am going to suggest to him to tighten up grip before impact, put in an explosive pronation and work on relaxing and getting his body to be less stiff before hitting the shuttle. And of course, lots of repetitions to get the timing correct.
People struggling with power for overhead swing (mostly girls/ladies) tend to back swing too early so there's not enough force/inertia to bend the racket shaft. Make sure your kid hold the racket pointing forward until the birdie comes and do back and forward swing all in one go. He should feel the heaviness (or the lag) of the racket head when swinging forward.