So, quick intro. I've been playing for about 2 years, and recently decided to get a coach for the past 4 weeks doing 1 x 1h classes per week. During the training I do quite well, can manage 20 dropshots with the same shuttle. Movement is my biggest weakpoint, but even that is coming along quite ok. However, when actually playing (always doubles), I'm finding it really hard to put that in practice. All my dropshots and nets miss. Smashes don't come through, or are really weak and easily blocked, netshots always come short, or I end holding the racket in the most awkward position when blocking a shot and end up missing the block. The split step and movement also doesn't happen organically or happen at all. It usually ends up with me feeling a bit frustrated, which makes everything just spiral further down. I know I shouldn't get annoyed, but it's a bit hard not to, seeing as how well practice goes. Is this just part of the initial learning curve, or am I doing something fundamentally wrong? I just want to get better, but too often it feels like I've barely learned anything. I get particularly demotivated when missing really easy shots. I'll post a video of practice on Wednesday, and one of an actual game later during the week. But yeah, appreciate any advice.
Completely normal. Don't be discouraged by it! During training you more or less know which shuttle is coming and you are under less pressure than in competition, so obviously your shots will be better. Once your general technique is solid, your coach should incorporate multi shuttle exercises into your training to emulate a competition setting.
thanks for the advice. I've occasionally been practicing movement when at the gym, but I reckon I can elevate those to be a bit more intense. Sometimes i'm just not sure if it's because I'm doing something wrong, or just setting too high standards for progress. I was also thinking of just renting a court and doing drills with a friend, but unfortunately I live in Taiwan where renting courts is already very difficult, even more so during these COVID-19 times. So I'll stick with home/gym exercises for the time being. If anyone has more tips or recommendations, much appreciated!
It's very normal. That's the whole point of doing routines. They are an intermediate step on to full court play. Routines restrict you to certain movements to get used to a situation and then later, get more complicated. When you play a game, there are so many factors to consider so the mentality and performance is different. Four hours of total training time is only the very start. It might take six months before you notice changes in your games.
Its normal i think... In practice, its obvious you get net shot when you train net shot, or easy bird for smash training. You basically know & ready for what come next. But on actual games you wont get a clear move, deception is what you get. You had to guest what is the next shot your opponent play & you wont get easy shot everytime. Simple example, when you learn math on school. You learn 1+1=2, 1+2=3, etc. Im pretty sure you didnt learn hundred digit number combination for calculation right. You learn the basic math & the rest, whatever the digit, it doesnt matter right. Same do to your training. You learn the basic, makes your body naturally move on its own & on games its your experience matter about how you implement all your trained basic skill, how you combine each skill (ex: jump smash but instead you do drop shot as deception act). Train your base skill & the rest is how you execute it based on your experience. Losing never be the end of everything, its a start for you to grow more. We grow stronger when we find difficulty/problem but we will never grow if we get easy task everytime. It only end when we give it up. So cheers up, keep moving forward.
Cheers guys! I reckon I am just holding up too high expectations for much a few weeks of training should translate into actual play. One positive aspect though is, even though I get frustrated, about 30 later minutes I feel absolutely determined to get better. Consider it a compulsive drive to improve, almost to prove myself wrong.
Yeah not to worry! Great that you took on a coach to get better, it is usually the best way. Like Cheung said, new skills are built in different levels. You could see them in a couple levels: static isolation (just the swing for example, nothing else), static isolation with shuttle (no movement), with a bit of movement going towards the location of the swing, with full movement (like when you drop and then need to do a netdrop and then go back to do the drop), then full movement with some pressure (maybe a bit faster, maybe the feeder can give it to more corners so you have to see where you have to go), then a bit of sparring match, then a full match condition, and then maybe a full match where you are already tired. So you can see a skill developed in the first few phases needs to progress further before it translates the new skill (or progression in that skill) into a match. It may seem there are a lot of steps, but they are usually combined, and there is focus by a coach on the levels that are more appropriate for the level the players are at to maximize the efficiency of stuff learned and level of it to benefit you in your playing. Hopefully the implied aspects above give some insight to what skills need to be combined in order to execute it better in a match (swing, footwork into position, choices, speed, fitness). So you know where it may come from when sometimes it doesn't work like you expected ("hey, maybe I need a new skill or skill level? What do I need to combine? Lets train that!") Keep your spirits up, you will improve! A lot!
Yep, I will join the chorus of voices to say "totally normal!" It took me a long time to see the training show up in my game, but when it did, it was like, automatic. I didn't even need to think about it and it came very naturally. But, in all honestly, even after years of training there are still some things that I train and do great with my coach that I can't quite pull off in a game. But I know that if I keep at it, I'll get there. You will too!
Just to add, there is an adjustment phase. Your body is in conflict with the old habits and new ones. When you train, you can focus on the new movements. In a game, because of the distractions, your old habits take over. It's a gradual process of changing over. Rather like learning Chinese as a non native speaker. Tones and fluency can completely go out of the window whereas in a non stressful situation with a tutor, a person can feel fluent and go at their own pace.
Just to share, here's a short sample of today's training session. Practicing returning drives at the front court with a forehand grip. Pardon the camera angle, the mount i put the camera on tilted a bit forward. Feel free to let me know if you spot any major issues or have suggestions.
Having some rhythm （節奏）is a great help for this exercise. Try to time your bounce at the same time as the feeder hits the shuttle. Bounce with both feet simultaneously landing on the floor. At present you bounce after you hit and return but the timing is not quite optimal for the getting to the next shot. There are other things but getting this should help you a lot and very quickly with your game play. It can be sometimes a bit difficult to adjust to in training.
I agree, I can actually feel the split step is out of sync. On the topic of the split step, maybe I'm misunderstanding how to properly use it. I've been working on the split step every so often outside of practice, but I reckon i still need some time to get it down. I've watched a lot of tutorial videos (in slow motion as well) to get an idea of how people use it. You drop down your center of gravity and put yourself in a position to push off in any direction quickly. From watching videos, i see almost every do the split step but immediately push with the primary leg before the other foot has even hit the floor. I was under the impression that was necessary and pretty much be the purpose. So essentially, i can split step and land with both feet first and then push off, depending on the shot i need to make, while immediately pushing off before landing with the other is just a matter of reacting even quicker to an incoming shuttle? Feel like I might be overly focussing on pushing off immediately, emulating what I see in videos.
At this stage, it will be better to focus on split step, muscle loading, then pushing off. There are still many issues to improve on - for example effective and coordinated use of foot, calf, gluteals, quads for optimal push off. However, it's very difficult to develop those other aspects properly and optimally if you don't have a strong understanding of split step in various situations. Here, your split step is to play a shot in a restricted area near the forecourt. Later, you'll be building up to running off this split step. But you need rhythm first. If you have rhythm, all else comes easier. No rhythm will make training frustrating. A common problem is that people try to be too fast. But being too fast can mess up your timing when you reach the shuttle (off balance, poor racquet preparation) so that your shot and recovery ends up being far worse than any advantage of being 'faster'. When you watch people play around you, some must be moving very easily around the court. They may not be faster than the opponent but they have better rhythm and they win without looking tired!
