This is why I suggested to start practicing footwork some time ago. There was a misunderstanding though and that was on me, I think. I was talking about separating it from the stroke at first to just focus on your feet and the pattern. Putting the pieces together will be difficult, but my guess is that you need to separate those things first. Like Cheung explained in another thread, start with one corner and practice only this, then take the next one, then add both together, .... It's all about repititions of the correct movement and learning as many ways to move on court as possible. If it helps you to focus on your feet, you can even start without even holding a racket. At the same time, by just adding one or two steps.
I noticed that I had a pretty nice jump smash on Wednesday. This might be my best jump smash that I’ve done so far ....?
Small remark about your smash : In your training, you seem to take the shuttle high (good) however in games you seem to take them too late, that way your right arm do not look fully stretched and a bit angled. When you make contact with the birdie, your arm should be fully stretched and your racquet should already be on the downfall. You should feel the racquet head weight pulling down like a hammer. People may have already commented but you should mirror a baseball throwing motion (don't need to have done it, just have a mental image) : weight on back foot > hip rotation > elbow throwing > wrist turning > arm motion continuing Linked to the previous point, you do not turn your hip enough. Look at your feet when preparing the shot, your right foot is behind, after the shot, your right foot should be in front (your body turns almost 180°), but it is not in the court video. Instead, they are both at the same level facing the net (turning 90°). I'm pretty sure that it is linked to the first point. If you do not turn your hip/body/shoulders enough and take the birdie more on the side of your body, then you won't be able to lift your racquet high enough to get to the highest point. To practice this, stand in the center, chasse to the back court (right foot should lead behind), hit a clear AND turn your body, then chasse back to the center (see at the start of this video for example ).
Another thing is your left arm does not look like it is being used aside from pointing to the shuttle. When you get ready, you have your right arm behind, your left arm up in the air and you lead the motion with your right arm (throwing your elbow) but your left arm does nothing. This contributes to the feeling that you do not turn your body enough (your shoulders do not move much). Something to try is to imagine that you have a rope on your left hand and you have to pull on it. This will lead the motion (your left shoulder will begin pullling back, your right shoulder will go in) and your right elbow will follow. The thing is to try to imagine it and not necessarily exaggerate as it will be counterproductive instead but it will help you "turn" more.
Thank you! It was recommended by others that I focus on proper grip and pronation and then move onto those things. But this feedback is very much appreciated.
I did a half hour of footwork along with some swings. I used the drill from BG badminton as recommended above and I also have an app on my iPad for badminton that randomly tells me which of the 6 spots to go to so I used that as well. Along with some random swings and random footwork drills. I feel like I got better as the session went on but I’d appreciate any feedback
I like the way you immediately raise up the racquet when you go backwards. That’s a good habit. However, I notice when you play your games, you don’t do this. Frequently, your racquet arm will drop to your hip height before coming up which slows your preparation. You can train on court with a training partner who makes you move to hit overheads and you just concentrate on your running and avoid dropping your racquet arm as you run backwards.
Wow... that's some serious dedication and serious improvement. And over the holidays too! Very nice stroke and footwork. You're getting your hip and trunk turn together with the scissor kick. Only 2 suggestions for fine tuning. 1. Your stroke has a nice shape. Only thing is the follow through is a bit too much, thus forcing your racket and body too low, which slow down your recovery for the next shot. 2. Good split steps. But try not to let your heels touch the ground, because that will slow you down. Keep up the good work! Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
And you're in no way relayed to the company selling this tracker, right? OP should simply continue what he's done the past months. His improvement in such a short amount of time is remarkable. From a noob-style panhandle wrist-only stroke to a fairly nice and clean overhead technique within a couple of months and without any "real life" coaching. Really impressive.
You got better by the end of the training (video). Some points : - My bad, the video that I linked was not the most representative exercise that you could do (it was a specific attack with back smash + front drive). This video is more beginner friendly and will show you the basics of moving efficiently in the court - By 3:55 and 8:00, when swinging without moving, you are not using your left arm, see the previous post, you have to use your left arm to start the movement and "pull". You will realize then that the rotation of your body/shoulders will be much better and easier, thus giving you more power. - It got better as the video went by but after swinging/jumping, you seem sometimes out of balance (maybe because your follow through is a bit too much), try to land with your body straight, both your feet at "around" the same time and push to the center as cleanly as possible. See for example 0:14 until 0:25 for how your stroke was perfect when standing, try to replicate that movement when you go from center to back and hit. - Sometimes your chasse are not good. it should look like a "jump" and both your feet should almost touch. 2:05 for instance was not good. - Be careful with your lift, you use a lot of arm/shoulder to give power (like in tennis). This is what I sense when looking at 4:35 or 5:05. Your wrist movement (supination) should be more than enough to lift. That's another chapter to cover but we will have to see you more in action doing backhands in a match before commenting
Thank you for the feedback. I especially like how you told me the time stamp of the points you were making. This is very helpful
I was going to practice more footwork today but it started to rain/snow. So I did 400 garage swings instead and watched the 2008 all England doubles semi finals and finals match
Well I haven’t been able to play for two weeks and finally played yesterday Here are some practice strokes. I felt like my drives had more pronation Here are my shots from the night. Not the best night and I definitely was not keeping my racket up like I should. Had a little bit better hip Movement
Well that’s good to hear , I didn’t catch that But yes I felt like I was playing the fast shots better
