Heh. There's an older fellow at one of the gyms that I play with... he wears his shorts REAAAALY high so that he can perform illegally high serves (which are supposed to be below the waist). What are you gonna do, pull down his pants and check to see that his underwear band is equally high? XD
The waist is not where your shorts sit anyway. The waist is the narrow part of your torso. Shorts sit on the wider part -- the top of your pelvis. The laws define the waist to be an imaginary line level with the lowest part of your ribs. Definitely higher than the shorts (well, except for weirdos like that old guy at your club). Service judges use the free-hanging position of your elbow as a guide.
This rule has always bugged me because at the highschool/club level most people go by your shorts. For me, I always bag my shorts a bit because of my height and having long legs. I wish I knew about the whole elbow thing before.
I know it's not cheating in the strict sense but I'm always reluctant to give up a point that I have won from the shuttle hitting the frame of the racket. I'm not talking about friendly games but rather competetive league games. Am I being miserably unsportsmanlike? I also ought to say that if my opponent offered me the point because he/she had hit the frame I would be reluctant to accept it. The way I see it, if my smash hits the nettape and tumbles over there's no question that I should take the point. Why are frame shots different? They're both 'bad' shots.
No. Frame shots are perfectly legal. You are not required to hit the shuttle with the strings. Good opponents should take advantage of frame shots. When a smash tumbles over the net, however, there really is nothing your opponents can do.
But the unwritten rule seems to be that if you win the point with a frame shot, although its legal, you ought to give up the point. Maybe this practice varies from league to league. I take it that you havent come across this?
Occasionally I have come across this, but I ignore it. Bear in mind there are a lot of very competitive league players who will take any opportunity to manipulate you. Trying to make you feel guilty and accept "unwritten rules" is one way. Often these players are old hands, getting slow and crafty, with their own biased ideas of badminton etiquette. Don't let these characters dominate you. I don't care for unwritten rules in sport, with one general exception: behave well towards other people. If other players don't like your good luck, that's just tough. It's similar to players who don't like drive serves, even when the serve is legal.
Indeed. Sore losers and painfully annoying people often try to get you for "cheating", saying things like that's not fair, or not legal, or I wasn't ready, or net shots are lets (What in the world?!), etc. That's 'cause they're overly afraid to lose. In basic, they are cowards. The drive serve thing applies to one of my teammates (He's the guy who does the drive serve), who, when playing against an opponent, drew the rage of his opponent's coach, who kept criticizing his player (Who was losing). Finally, he started complaining about my teammate's drive serve, questioning its legality. Too bad, 'cause it was perfectly legal and he won. Anyways, I don't follow unwritten rules unless I feel like it (respect in general, and apologizing for net shots (pros will usually do this) and hitting the opponent.
Sure. That's just good manners. I would always acknowledge my luck, or indicate my apology for hitting an opponent with the shuttle. But I'll still take the point, and I'll keep aiming at the opponent's body if I believe it is effective. If the opponent becomes afraid of being hit, all the better for me (and for them. They need to learn how to cope with this).
Yes, I agree (Hope quisitor doesn't read this ). But unfortunately, some ppl won't apologize, or don't really care, and manners aren't required. As a result, I love it when, if they begin being ruthless and rude and start making netshots and body smashes and gloating over them or reacting to them in a negative manner, I begin to do the same shots back at them, except I DO APOLOGIZE. Winning with class.
Good opponents should take advantage of frame shots. When a smash tumbles over the net, however, there really is nothing your opponents can do. At our club, when you roll/tumble a shuttle over the net, is is customary at our little club to call the person a "prick" ( prick shot)- it's taken as compliment though. We do have to inform new member though they catch on pretty quick.
My team was playing a match on thursday night and I was watching two of my teammates play. One of them is a very experienced player and the other is a 16 year old (2 senior players had to drop out). The experienced player is a father himself and he was constantly encouraging the 16 year old. The opposition won the first game, lost the second game and were losing the third game. In fact they were playing appallingly badly in the third game and I knew we were going to win. The score was something like 12-5. The rally was won when the 16 year old after covering a lot of ground, hit a poor clear that went mid-court. One of the opposition players went for a smash and mistimed the shot and completely missed the shuttle. My colleague said "Well done, good shot" and the opposition player, in a sarcastic and aggressive tone said "It wasn't a good shot, it was a bad shot by me". There had been a few niggles before this though, so it didn't come out of the blue, but its still quite a distasteful thing to do given my teammates age. I put it down to the fact that they were losing and that they were embarrassed. We won the match though and I suppose thats the best response.
haha, i somewhat "cheat". whenever i think that a certain shot is inconcolusive (a birdie going out) or i have some doubt in my mind, i usually call it my way
If you play recreationally in a club, there is a price for cheating (on line calls): better players will refuse to play with you. And what's the point of cheating in a social game? Also, you go for fun, exercise, and friendship, and end up making people (yourself or others) unhappy, just to inflate your ego?
I just solve the problem a different way. If the cheater will call close line shots out I will just smash the bird into him.
