Out of curiosity, how long did this practice session took? i rewatched the whole thing and dont see you panting at all. I would be gasping for air by the 4th set at that pace tbh.
I got in a bonus day last night of playing The night was unique as I was able play two games with really good players and the I played 2 hard singles games that both went to 20-22 and the. At the end of the night I played easier games but my quadriceps were cramping up. I focused on trying to relax on my stoke and use less raw force. I felt my like I was able to scissor on most of my shots that required a scissor Overall a good night ! I’ll post my singles game later
Here is one of the singles games I played. My opponent is around the same level as me even though he’s been playing badminton since a little kid and is 19 years old. I didn’t do half bad for a 36 year old My footwork is definitely getting better as I’m moving around the court much better in this singles game. And although I’m playing singles to get better at stroke technique and footwork for doubles I think my overall singles play is improving. I won this game 22-20 I think. The second game I lost but was also 22-20
Nice game. Just quick comments since I haven't watched in depth. Your serve could be more consistent - yes, it's singles, but I'm sure you are capable of better serves than what you're doing! Your recovery footwork from the front and back are almost always (running) steps. Consider chasse recovery to keep yourself more balanced and keep your racquet/elbow in a much better ready position, particularly if there is a risk of the opponent hitting a flat shot back. You heavily favour a left foot forward split step - this can make you slow at the front since you don't chasse back 1 step after playing a net shot - see 4:14 of an example where you played a good net shot but had to lift because your right foot was back. Consider working in right foot forward split step footworks. Both recovery step and right foot forward split steps shouldn't necessarily replace your existing footwork, but should be learned and practised to broaden your movement options.
Good points The right foot forward is definitely something I need to do more consistently. When I shadow footwork I normally have the right leg sightly forward but In games I sometimes revert to my left leg forward far too often
Definitely agree with the recovery back to the centre and the foot position. Your left foot is too far forward when you are waiting for the opponents shot after you have cleared. with the recovery footwork and choosing to chasse back or cross over steps, a rule of thumb is if you do the high clear , you can do crossover steps because there is time. However , if you do a clear that is lowish, there is less time for your recovery and you need to do the chasse to hasten back to centre.
Don't know what level of skill/competetion your goal is, but I would encourage to work on some kind of meta strategy, that is, what should I learn and practise to get better in my games regarding my goals. Regarding your currrent level in your singles video above, I would reconsider the following: A) Things, that hurts more than it helps - low serve in singles - jump smash (from previous videos) B) Things, that hurts more than it helps when used at the wrong time - smash (e.g. 3:02, boomerange if countered by drive defense, I fall victim to these shots myself too often) - slow drops C) Things, that are underestimated - consistent long (attack) clear - shot placement - footwork - shot variance D) Things, which are hard to learn, but will help in the future - deception - sliced drop shots I was able to play vs a good player last week, who played in the 5th league the last years (Verbandsliga in germany/nrw), and me theoretically in the lowest league (which is the 10th). He dominated me effortless with just deception and shot placement (lot of attack clears, low lifts), no smashing, no slicing, and me no chance. My take away: I will never reach this kind of deception, I need to get much better with my footwork(still unable to implement split steps into my game, so frustrating), attack clears really, really hurt.
I missed a week of playing so it was nice to get back going. I did a lot of clears in my warmup along with a basic scissor movement. The cue of not turning my lower body is still working quite well. I felt like I was getting better use of lower body the whole night and I felt good on the court. I also really work on trying to relax on my smash which seems to have helped.
I was able to do a good amount of footwork drills before the games today, then lots of clears, drop net lift drill, drives and smashes. I see from my video that I need to get further behind the shuttle on my smashes to have a steeper angle, sometimes much further. But overall a decent night
@Mason - that clip seems to be tailor made for you: I haven't visited this thread for a while but since I'm here now, I would like to chime in on that latest singles video... My advice: Go on and play more singles matches! Playing singles exposes every single weakness in terms of footwork and hitting technique as if you are looking through a microscope. I know it hurts, but that's how big improvements are initiated. First of all -as @DarkHiatus and @Ballschubser already said-, start working on your serve. I would highly recommend to focus on a deep high serve at the current level you're playing. This gives you a lot more time to actually get into the rallies and start to develop a feel on how to build up a rally strategically. Your short serve is a) inconsistent and passes the net way to high b) opens up a million opportunities for your opponent to massively pressure you immediately If you run into an opponent who is just remotely attacking your serve actively (Ammar is bloody lazy in that regard, let's be honest...) and uses only a tiny bit of deception, you will end up with zero points after a short serve as it is right now. Look at 1:41 in the clip to get a feel for what might happen to you on a regular basis against a more deceptive opponent. Everything else will develop and improve a lot once you start playing singles more often and take it more seriously. IMO it doesn't make sense to go into much more tactical and technical detail at this point since it is obvious that you haven't really developed any kind of real base to work on in your singles game. But overall I'm highly impressed by the improvements you have made so far. Hard work pays off.
Thank you , I just watched that scissor kick video.m as I’m subscribed to his channel I do not get a chance to play singles very often but I’ll keep trying. Regarding the serve, I do not too spend a considerable amount of time practicing the underhand serve for singles. I will get to that but since I mostly play doubles I feel like I more Important things that I need to practice
I had a really good night of practice yesterday and games. I once again realized something at least in my mind that is subtle but was greatly hurting my overhead shot. That is timing, and the use of the kinetic chain. I was not rotating my body fully and then swinging , I was swinging early and losing most of the power of my lower body and upper body. So I made it a point to “swing late” which was a mental cue that helped, but in order for me to do that I needed to scissor jump much earlier than what my brain was used to. I also noticed that last week my smashes were too flat so I also made it a point to be further behind the shuttle to hit more downward. And finally I really tried to stay relaxed during my stroke and not muscle it. Putting all of these things together I felt really made a difference in my game. First of all I had a lot more power in my smash with less effort. I was also able to be more accurate with my smash , utilizing half smashes more effectively and having a steeper angle. I still need to put a lot more practice with this new timing to make it muscle memory but I think I’m heading in the right direction. As usual any comments/suggestions would be appreciated ☺️
Here is one of my games from the other night. I am definitely improving at least within the club I belong to. There are players that last year would completely destroy me and now I am at least being slightly competitive with them. Besides my stroke I’ve been working on : -Steeper smashes (not caring about power) -More half smashes to set up a potential better smash - instead of lifting every drop to the net, trying to do a drop of my own at the net to force their front player to lift - more control on my return of service to force a lift I feel like I’ve made great improvements in these thing over the past month or so... I still need to work on better recovery from my back court forehand side. Many times I smash/ half smash or drop from there and I get beat on the return. I think some of that is poor recovery footwork and some is a poor shot selection or poor execution. Either way I’ll continue to work on it!
Your stroke could use less backswing. Also your grip seems a little tight, so you don't get as much snap. Try to keep it more loose. And you panhandle your overheads at the net as well. Your footwork at the back could use more chassés and jumps to reach the bird. It looks like you're running a lot. Also your last step before you hit the bird or as you land after hitting should stop your momentum. A lot of times it looks like your bodyweight is still moving in that direction and you take an extra step or two. This happens a lot when you're late to the bird and are just moving as fast as you can. Try to finish those late shots with a lunge and it will significantly speed up your recover.
Good observation, thank you ! Regarding the panhandling my overheads at the net, I thought I should be more towards panhandle when at the net ?
Had a good session last night. I was able to do 10 minutes of footwork drills before I started warming up with the shuttle. Then I did lots of drives, clears, smashes and drops. In my doubles games I was able to get some decent angles on my smashes and I was considerably better at the net forcing the opponents to lift. I still need to time my scissor jumps earlier so I can make better use of my kinetic chain. the last game of the night when I was completely spent I played a singles game. The opponent is far better than me at singles but this was the best I’ve ever done against him. I tried an underhand serve which seemed to have helped. I still have the habit of not having my right leg forward especially after I drop from the front court , so that were a few times instinctively that I wanted to bring my right leg back but had to force myself to keep it forward. This led to some extra steps in the front court. I know that I really have no no strategy in my singles game but I do feel I’m getting slightly better. here’s the singles game here are my shots
Looks like your over head action is coming along nicely. Really like the way you are trying to make that right leg come forward after an overhead with hip rotation. That is probably the most fundamental thing I can see. Once you have got that sorted, other issues on the overhead are more about fine tuning.
