10 session challenge. I hope this is ok to put here. TL;DR If you change racquet often and feel you are not playing your best, STOP IT. Consistency counts for a lot! INTRO. Started the post covid return with P8, all was going well. Control at the net was way above expectations. Bought a backup. Backup off spec, the weight was weirdly distributed despite having same weight/headweight on paper. Ruined my game for 3 sessions, even when switching back to the known good P8. Got annoyed at my smash getting returned. Sold the spare and thought why not give an old favourite (Panda TPK) a go. Also chance to test a string combo using scraps not suitable for customer use. Last game or 2 of a session: Holy cow the control! During many of my racquets discussion with a wise man, this spurred me on to challenge myself not to change racaquet: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - you are way too jumpy when it comes to racket choice. Just use something else for a while and then get back to it. Success guaranteed.”. Thank you Simon for drilling home this point! So here’s my notes from the 10 sessions. I hope this idea is useful to some. It was definitely interesting for me to try and great results (I DID end up with a different racquet and grip size than i started with though). I think around 6 sessions was the sweetspot for me adjusting after switching racquet. 1) Good. Power seems to be coming back. 2) Yep. Control bonkers, power not quite there. 3) Sore elbow, swinging it wrong / too much effort for power early on. Later in the session – “I’m not even sorry” after 4th? UNS (unreturnable netshot), only counted 2 failed netshot attempts. 4) Not sure if it counts (bossman confirmed its OK!), but swapped to a marginally lighter pair of identical TPK, differently strung (still kicking myself over not going with the same awesome combo) but close enough. Focus tonight was on footwork and defence, and see if the touch at the net was still there. I felt defensively very strong, fast around the court. Can’t remember many smashes, so they weren’t whiffing at least. Net play was still top notch. More time and control on smash returns than last week, but not against same opponents. 5) Few wayward shots. Didn’t really like 66u (remembered really liking it, restrung one of the tpk), was very surprised by that. Maybe that racquet is a little lighter. 62f way better than expected. What’s up with me suddenly not liking string moving?? Legs hurt more than arms, did a physio session yesterday though. Power ok, control mostly ok to good. Lost points mainly because of poor: shot choice shot execution 6) Covid jab day! Easy opponents, slow shuttles. U66 restrung to 27lb combo, shots were off. Switching between 2 racquets effective 1lb tension difference not great. But still some good games. 7) Tougher club. Focus on split jump landing. Not so great. Changing racquet fails the challenge it seems. Wanted to because of new 27lb string, HAD to because of grip getting sweaty and slippery. Pick one per session again. 27lb only for fast shuttle club. Otherwise 26lb 62f. Did hit some beauts, but not many. Control was epic but more mishits than usual. Also missed 2 Friday sessions so more gaps between play than I'd like. 8) Easy Club. Stick to 62f. Went well. Cheated by using a thinner grip last 2 games. On new shuttles. Went really well, but v easy games. Note about the grip. Goign from stock + half an overgrip wiht no overalp to 50% overlap on wood - the channels created but the overlap seem to help reduce seweat significantly. 9) Tough club. Faster shuttles so used the 27lb higher tension one, and thinner grip. Left the other one bigger just in case I needed to fall back on it, for elbow pain probably. Went well. Smash seemed steeper/faster. More control due to more racquet rotation in my grip I think. Net control was on point. Really good session. Back on old shoes too, seem to have more grip. (Was told new shoes need breaking in outside/on gravel! Any truth to this? Have not done it to the pair I have for sale). Thought about swapping racquet briefly in one game when the shuttles slowed down, then just smashed less and did drops instead, then found a faster shuttle and my game came back! 10) Usual club, smash fest with select guests! Played REALLY well! Used a lot more drops and smash power was there enough to go for body shots to combine with the drops. Found it very effective. Managed to take an interception at the net without taking my eye off the opponents, that was a weird feeling! Only errors I remember were a few hit wide I think because of slower than expected smash, and a few failed netshots when the shuttle was way past its best and didn’t fly as well as I like. Then, for SCIENCE, I swapped back to P8 for last 2 games as my knees refused to let me move anyway. Back to fluffed shots, framed shots, mistiming etc. So definitely a worthwhile venture. The next 10 sessions will be on the Wucht P8, sponsored by daily requests to sell my TPK. So I will see if the TPK is just the best racquet for my muscle memory, or can I adjust again and see some magic in a month or so. 11) Control session. As in, making sure I’m not just a badminton genius who can play any racquet. We know this is not to be true anyway. Was going to give the TPK one final hurrah, but felt like an off day so why not do session one with P8? I definitely threw away more points than the extra power earned me, although smashes WERE more effective. Pure Li Ning at 26lb in a small hoop frame definitely does sounds very nice. Here is where I would put “at least I didn’t change during this session” but that would be a lie. I had a quick hit with a P09.1. It has now replaced the P8 and I'm restarting the 10 count! (I think I might make it slightly past 10, I played an absolute blinder last session).
