Backhand?

Wall training has its limitations in that you cant do anything other practice clears. Real solution is ask someone to keep punting the feather to the back corners (if he just clears to your left then your going to stand there anticipating the shot). Then its identify why your backhand is weak and do something about it.

 

i made the same mistake in the past. in fact we don't need to smash all the time. drop shot is also good. use it and make your opponent move around the court.
don't be afraid of using backhand. he was just giving u chances to practice. if u wanna be more aggressive. try learning overhead smash.

 

if u have a particular weak spot on the backhand court then
any decent oppoent will continue to exploit on it over and over and over again, better get backhand right or learn cover it with quicker foot work and use overhead to substitue for a backhand swing
but overhead is no 100% replacment for backhand swing especialy when u are being presssured to play a passive shot, but it will atleast make your lack of backhand much less obvious
once u've fixed the holes then u can focus on how to setup a winning shot
"overhead" is a swing where u use your fore hand swing around your head to hit the bird on the back hand side, it can be used to drop smash clear as u see fit

 

With drop shots, the shuttle lands close to the net. If you can smash such that the shuttle lands within a foot from the net, then yes, you can consider your smash a drop shot.

 

my back hand is only average, probably a bit below average. anyways, i conpensate by being really fast around the court. im a righty too, so when my opponent clears to the far left hand side, i just try to get there really quickly and smash it down (or drop it cross court)

because i realized my backhand was my weakness, i just practiced my speed/footwork from the front of the net to the far left hand corner.

 

Overhead smash is also called around the head smash. Those are the shots that are taken on the backhand side with a over the head stroke with the slight bending of the waist. Make sure you don't bend your waist too much as this will cause waist injuries.

For a right-hander, if the shuttle is above the left side of the shoulder area you can bend your waist to the left side to hit the shuttle.

 

Backhand

A few years ago I was very weak on the backhand as well. What I did to improve is to practice using backhand 80% of the time by driving back and forth with my partner (now my backhand is stronger than my forehand .. lol .. not to mention backhand smash). But as others have pointed out, around the head shot is very useful. It is fast and with practice it can be very strong as well.

Hope this helps. Good Luck. =)

 

Mind your lobbing skill too. don't give him a chance to intercept your shot but should let him run more and consume stamina.

 

Do you guys feel that overhead smash can be very powerful? I feel that my overhead smash is more powerful than my normal straight smash. Maybe because I wind up body and when the racket face contacts the bird, I am at my tangential velocity, if you know what I mean. Maybe! I don't know. But it feels more powerful.

My backhand sucks too. I can return a backhand shot but I notice I have better backhand returns (from baseline to their 3/4 court) during warm ups. Maybe I am more prepared?

 

I think it's better not to jump too high when giving a overhead smash because it takes longer time back to position. If the smash is caught by opponent and a front drop is given, quite hard to catch it. Normally i use overhead smash to intercept but seldom use when i am near to baseline. How you all think?

 

Note that the correct term is "round-the-head", which describes playing a forehand overhead on your backhand side.

"Overhead" simply means any stroke played higher than the head. So all smashes are overhead ("overhead smash" is tautologous), but only forehand smashes played from the backhand side of your body are "round-the-head".

Round-the-head hitting actually encourages good technique, which may be why you feel your RTH smashes are better. You have to use a compact swing with maximum power from the fast "snapping" of arm, wrist, and fingers.

 

if it's a high ball to your backhand side you should practice TURNING YOUR BODY FAST, so u can use forehand to take the shot. the key is in fact moving your legs fast enough.
use backhand only if it's a low ball.
i remember someone said this : the best way to use backhand is not to use it at all

 

Exactly Many players believe that a big arm swing means more power, but really power is mainly from the timing of your swing. When you use a big swing, it is much harder to get good timing.

It's also useful to have the compact swing for situations where a full swing is impossible.

The pros can use a full swing and still maintain good timing, making their full swing smashes more powerful than their compact swing smashes. But most recreational players actually lose power with a big swing, because their timing is not good enough.

 

This is a very interesting thread about backhand
http://www.badmintoncentral.com/vb/showthread.php?t=36727

As for me, the comment of Taneepak about arm having to be straight on impact is a very good point (see post #15). First movement of arm should be stretching out, with relaxed grip so that the racket butt is pointing outward. The last swing involve only a pronation (arm arealdy stretched out) with tightened grip.

I do believe backhand clear does not involve large swing. It does not mean you use less power - you still you full power in fact, for backhand clear and smash, but the power is generated so compactly and requires good timing.

For the grip, as Gollum has said, it should be a pand handle grip. There are many ppl use conventional backhand grip and still produce enough power. However, with conventional backhand grip, it would be difficult to disguise a backhand clear and a back hand cross court drop from back court.

 

Gollum, yes I meant Round the head, but you guys know what I mean.

I feel that whenever the opponent returns the shuttle after my partner serves, they like to place the return to our left court. This forces me, the person covering for my serving partner at the back, to either return it using my backhand or a quick RTH smash/claer/drop. Somehow the RTH smash is POWERFUL ! I never get commented with my normal smash (overhead smashes) but the RTH smash was commented as being powerful by my friends. I don't exactly know the mechanics but it just feels powerful and fast. I guess the word "snap" describes it. But I am not sure which part of me snapped. I feel that my rightarm sweeping to the left side of my body followed by a fast wrist turning to bring the racket which is going towards the left side at that point to contact the shuttle and make it go straight, if not right-side.

 

I believe the reason is more wrist snap as over-the-head (or round the head) smash can generate more wrist snap than forehand smash. You can also get more power in your forehand smash by using more wrist snap-try a half smash using a whipping action using a strong wrist snap to strike the shuttle a little higher than in your normal hard smash. This way you get power from minimal effort and steepness. Remember, the stronger the wrist snap the more the forearm pronates or supinates, giving added power.
This is why a good backhand requires a strong wrist snap.