to forehand corner, I think it is easier to point your racquet shoulder to the corner and chasse, block jump, or chasse + scissor. To the back hand corner though it depends on how much time I have; I need more time to rotate and chasse back, than to run backwards.
Chasses are only faster over a short distance. For example, three consecutive chasses is slower than using running steps. I have a page about this in my footwork guide: steps or chasses? It really depends on the situation. I would be suspicious of any coach who teaches you to use chasses always and never use steps, or vice-versa.
Matrix2596 - Arun, Have downloaded Zhao & Xiao badminton training on http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...DE1E42B3A9BC37 Go thru's them very good on footwork and others.Gollum have set up www.badmintonbible.com heap of useful informations. You guys are my Badminton Hero.There are difference technique but you will have to learn one that suit you ( do a bit of modification to suit you style of play).If you want to be a good badminton player you MUST have the correct Grip for each shots and a good footwork and of course other skills.But without these 2 IMPORTANT things you will be an average player .
Thanks guys. jnrgirl02 - thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I do have follow-up questions. 1. Would you consider the distance from the normal base (which is slightly behind the physical center of the court) to any deep corner a short distance? Essentially, I'm trying to understand the definition of "short distance". 2. By extension, I suppose a run forward from one of the deep back corners to the fore-court corners would be "long distance". Thus running/cross-over steps should be used? 3. After you hit a shot from a deep corner, and before you know what your opponent's reply is, do you "normally" use chasse or steps to recover to the base? By normally, I mean you are able to hit the last shot with good balance, rather than get caught out of balance. 4. Having said all of the above, would anything be changed if we're talking about a kid less than 5 ft tall? After all, a distance that would otherwise be short for a tall adult could become rather long. If that's the case, I can see why one coach advocates the X-over steps over the chasse, as this might be more suitable for the student considering the height. I'm aware of Badminton Bible, and did visited it looking for an answer before I post here.
2 add.. Just to quickly add to the pool of resources.. Another good resource for footwork is Han Jian's book on the Basics of Badminton.. it maybe be slightly to primitive for more advanced players, though (but it is very specific..). For more Chinese style footwork, Xiong GuoBao's videos are also good to check out (yeah, the one with reverse backhand slices, WALAO! ). Just so you get more perspectives on how these good players from the past do their footwork - to judge later on which style you want to follow for good There's also Chen Weihua; I'm not sure how much he goes into footwork, though. Finally, you can also check Jake Downey's books... not sure if there's footwork in there, or if it's "outdated" or not... but good to add another perspective to your judgement. I agree with Mr. extremenanopower.. hahahahah
Both are good stuff. Just as we speak, I dug out Han Jian's book, as well as dusting off Xiong GuoBao's video. Thanks for bringing them up.
How old is the kid? As far as I know, in China the kids will not practice specific footwork until they are past 11-12. Before that age the focus is mostly on feet speed and agility.
No problem, Raymond. Always my pleasure to contribute... It's good to know you have a copy of both. As you said, both are great resources (but unfortunately not TOO many people know about such things..) Viver, I wouldn't be surprised.... it's like building up the foundation before going into specifics/ specializing.. especially if it's in China. Maybe it's kind of like building up general strength in muscles (isometric, circuits) when young, before developing the fast twitch muscles (plyometrics, eccentric loading, concentric blast off) when older - kind of anology .. One learns all the broad things, then streams off into his preferences, imo...
At this age, I wouldn't worry too much about the footwork issue. In my opinion I would let her enjoy playing badminton and develop her eye-hand coordination, form (strokes) and mobility around the court.
I would still let her enjoy badminton and put emphasis on court mobility and form. If she accepts willingly to work the footwork, then should be fine, but one has to be aware that the footwork we see the professionals do requires a lot of energy - even is a hard task for us adults. I have previously worked on a project (1 year) to coach badminton to kids of 12-16 yrs under the supervision of a Chinese coach (he was then part of China National youth badminton development and instructor to professional players turning coaches). For kids aged 12-13, the emphasis was more on speed and agility (important was foot positioning when in front). Other than badminton, we had setup games to improve body coordination, speed and strength. The 14-16 old group was more technically oriented, making adjustments on hitting and court coverage (preparation, pre-tension, acceleration, landing, recovery, etc)
Whoops, I lost track of the age issue (that's what happens when I dive back into a thread without reviewing the initial posts). For an 11-year old, I definitely wouldn't recommend much in the way of detailed, technical footwork training. As viver said, the emphasis should be on encouraging generally fast movement around the court. For one thing, training footwork patterns too early can be counter-productive, because the player's legs are going to get longer! Training some of the end-of-movement techniques, such as lunges and scissor jumps, can still be useful. (1) I'd consider that on the boundary of short/long. So medium, then. For example, if your opponent plays a very slow drop shot, then you should probably use steps to the forehand corner; but for most (fast) drops, it would be a chasse to the forehand. It also depends on orientation. For instance, if the fast drop shot went to your backhand instead, you would be less likely to use a chasse, because you need to turn your body to lunge with your racket foot. (2) That's correct. (3) Depends on the situation. After playing a high clear, for instance, you can often walk back to base. A drop shot gives you less recovery time, so you are more likely to chasse back to base (i.e. your base is not as far forwards). I would like to go into more detail, but I really need to research this topic better before I start saying, "in situation A you always do X". It's a complicated topic. (4) Absolutely. Shorter players will need to use steps more often.
Hmm, bad idea to contradict Gollum, but.. I think multiple chasses aren't slower, if they are executed in a stance where your knees are never fully elongated. Acceleration and deceleration are much faster, and you never loose balance, therefore you're much faster recovering a central position. see this (especially the 2nd point @00:17): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayhtuZW9jp0 Half the lane is 7 meters.
Running is always going to be faster than using a chasse, over longer distances (I'll eat my words when 100 m sprinters start using chasses ). As you say, however, there are more concerns than just raw speed. Your ability to recover, balance, and stance are important too. Fencers use chasses a lot, because they want to keep their sword arm forwards while presenting a narrower target to the opponent. Running forwards would reduce their balance, expose a wider target, and bring their sword arm backwards into a position where they can neither strike nor defend effectively. I can't think of any situation in badminton where it's effective to use three consecutive, uninterrupted chasses (i.e. no change of direction or split drop in the middle). The distinction is complicated by cross-over steps (the non-racket leg crosses behind the racket leg), as these are often more like chasses than steps...
*g The sprinter would probably take one whole jump across the court out of his starting position, with his weight already shifted to the starting direction. With chasse out of a neutral stance in the mid-court, I often get drops to the middle-net, forehand net-corner, fast shots to the mid-forehand side, and sometimes even rear-forehand-corner, if I can't take the shuttle high enough. Of course, If I'm late (not in ready-position or similar) I run, shifting my weight forwards. But deceleration also takes it's time and slows the overall movement down towards the end (If you don't want land in the wall next to the court), while with chasses you're almost capable to go from +100 to -100. Maybe it's a height/weight difference? I'm a tall and therefore rather heavy guy (194cm/85kg), I can lunge deep and maybe it's also easier for me not to turn my hip a lot, because I feel my legs somehow "swing" with a certain latency, witch slows the movement down. The feeling of chasses (small ones btw) for me is like hovering around court, because I'm able to "throw" as little weight around as possible, though in fast leg-movement. I will have a look at how many chasse-steps I do in such situations in this evenings session. Cheers
The situations you describe are all good ways to use chasses. Note, however, that you are starting from a roughly central base, and that from this position you don't have far to go. In many cases, chasses will beat steps when you're starting from this base. As an example of steps beating chasses, consider this situation: You play a round-the-head fast drop shot from your backhand corner; You recover by chasseing to a base position well behind the centre; Your opponent plays a net shot. In this situation, your base position is still quite close to the back of the court (because you didn't have time to get farther forwards). To reach the net, you could either take two running steps (step with your left, lunge on your right) or two long chasses (with the second chasse ending in a lunge). One chasse will not get you far enough (not even with your height!). The two steps will be much faster here than using two chasses. That doesn't mean steps are always better. Sometimes steps are better, and sometimes chasses are better. It depends on the situation.
Um, wrong sport! Can you show us a professional badminton player using multiple chasses? Say, Lin Dan doing a smash from the back of the court followed by three chasses to reach the net?
I agree.. I would say, once a player has to cover more than 2/3 distance of the court, he will not chasse. Sometimes you see them do 2xchasse > lunge for netshots (from a base position), where the first chasse is very small, so rather a position adjustment. As Gollum stated earlier. Actually, we where all talking about shorter distances, which maybe wasn't clear enough. For me, I often take 3 small & fast chasses, where a pro might take 2. (I will keep an eye on if this makes sense or not.) Still better than running full pace to the front corner and beeing stuck there, not beeing prepared for the next shot. (As I see it from lower level players.) But I think I don't have to tell you...
