Recently tried to train my kid to hold the racquet lower to improve her reach. Previously she would hold the racquet higher up the handle. It was plain to see part of the butt of the handle sticking out past her fifth finger. I altered one of her racquets similar to what you see for Lin Dan's racquet. We used it in training. She was successful in changing her normal racquet carriage. It gives her an extra 2cm or so of reach. http://shuttlecockzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/lin-dan-grip-3.jpg
Has it affected her backhand serve or net play? (Assuming it has already improved her jump-out around-the-head smashes) ;-)
hmmm using this to force someone to change grip location hmmm not bad... how did you come up with this idea in the first place if i may ask...
Sometimes we like to makes thing complicates & thinking to much of it yet forgot to think in a simple way like that Like back a year or 2 ago, a friend on my club ask me about how to tell his consistency about hitting the shuttle. If im correct that time we are in discussion about string tension. I said you would feel more bang in both sound & hitting power when hitting at the right spot. But he couldnt notice it as he is still green & his focus is more on the shuttle. Thats till i saw my other friend racket with cute bunny mark on his racket (her little daughter draw in with whiteboard marker). Then i said to my friend. Get 3 different color marker, split the stringbed into 3 color area from the middle to outside. Just play with it & at the end of the games, see what color on the shuttle ball. If you have alot of color of outside area then your consistency is bad.
Lin Dan famously did this in tournament play in 2006: https://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/index.php?threads/lin-dans-broken-racket-grip.29859/ I've tried it before, but with less success...takes a lot of discipline and correct coaching cues to make it work.
Suggestion of a coach who is concentrating on her technique. All the kids in HK are trained on singles to learn basic technique. My kid used to hold it in the middle. She will have a badminton assessment in a few months where the assessors look very closely at technique. So this particular coach said she should hold the racquet lower down and mentioned Lin Dan’s grip. As well as nagging her all the time, her grip on one racquet started coming off a bit so I cut it to make it shorter leaving it going up 2/3 of the handle. Her index finger is able to feel if she grips the handle too high. Now, her grip holding position looks pretty standard for singles.
Can you explain more? I notice you do hold the racquet midway. I do as well but perhaps not quite as pronounced as you do.
Holding it lower down has benefits as we all know - longer reach, more power etc., but you need excellent preparation and timing, along with correct technique to get a decent stroke. If you don't have excellent technique/timing/carriage etc., then the resultant stroke is just rubbish - slice/loss of control/loss of power etc. This can obviously be caused by many things, and in some ways, holding the racquet low down and 'diagnose' many of these faults, as you won't be able to play a decent stroke from an awful position if you don't have the correct technique whilst holding the racquet low down. One of my personal biggest related problems is timing (starting stroke too late) coupled with a tense/tight grip, so when under pressure, I will lose the whippiness from having a relaxed grip and I won't have the time to play a full stroke. This leads to a (very) abbreviated stroke which will barely make it over the net (forced drop shot) with little control. If held more mid-handle, there is the ability to control the shot a little more (e.g. crossdrop/drive) as you can eke out a bit more power with a short swing with the shorter grip than if you are 'stuck' with a long handled grip. From there, it becomes a habit with the mid-handled grip used not just for e.g. late forehands, but also for all overheads, and it's easier to judge length with a consistent grip. It's a bandaid to a bigger underlying problem - I've been working on trying to keep my racquet hand loose/relaxed until I need to grip with finger power, whether at the front or back, along with the timing issue (assuming I push for good enough racquet carriage to begin the swing early enough...) A shame I hadn't learnt the fundamentals early enough
After this weekend, you might be able to start effecting change of technique and holding that racquet a bit lower.
