Thank you both for the feedback. Last night tried two different methods in order to accomplish the changes. In the first set of swings I thought about “ leading with the end of the racket” basically have the butt end of the rack drive towards the shuttle and then at the last moment pronate to strike. To me , on video the racket preparation and the first 1/2 of the swing looks good but I didn’t like the end result the second method I tried was focusing on “ turning/rotating my upper body” far more than what I normal do. The end result felt better but I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly. many thoughts on either mental cue that I used ? Is one better than the other or maybe they both are good , or maybe the both are wrong ?
I felt like I didn’t hit the shuttle cleanly . But perhaps that means I just need to practice the first way more so ?
Probably takes a bit of time to get the micro adjustments. Once you get back on court , don’t be surprised if you clears smashes and drops become really inaccurate and uncontrollable. Many people will revert back to their previous technique to get back into their comfort zone. Remember for this overhead, it’s one step back on the accuracy to get two steps forward on technique, disguise, variation and power.
Yes that makes sense , I actually out outside and used my shuttle launcher with the “new” technique and it wasn’t too bad ! My mental cue is to drive the butt end of the racket to the shuttle and that seems to work for me
i think it is an improvement. when you eventually work up to playing a faster stroke or even a real game situation, the question is whether you can keep the form without resorting to old habit. instead of grasping the handle like a meat cleaver where every finger curls around the handle all the time, think of cradling a baby chick, at least until impact. try to relax the finger tips.
So when I try to have my grip very loose , the racket ends up moving around too much in my hand before impact and messes with the shot a lot !
i know i opened a can of worms...as cheung says it is hard to explain. the handle should not be wobbling. not sure if anymore analogy would help you, but think handshake not trigger. pros demonstrating net shots online usually have good close-up of the grip. practicing other shots, such as net shot help you improve not just your front game, but in this case, also your grip.
Have you tried being loose with thumb, first and second finger, 4th and 5th are for keeping it in your hand?
Don’t think of the grip as loose, the right word should be relaxed. Imagine you’re holding a large paper cone full of red wine and you’ve been given the task to pour it into a cup without spilling anything on the white carpet Too tight will squeeze the wine out and too loose will spill as there’s too much movement in the cup.
My coach (the first one where I learnt the huge amount of proper basic foundations) used to describe the grip as relaxed and I used to wonder what he was on about because I thought my grip was very relaxed in accordance with his instructions. After a few weeks of working with him, I asked him to show me his grip during the swing and it suddenly dawned on me what the meaning of relaxed was. His particular method was to use the thumb and first two fingers to hold the handle and have the butt end of the handle away from fleshy part of the hand during the first part of the overhead swing until the racquet is about 12 o’clock. Then squeeze and tighten the grip with the last two fingers just before hitting the shuttle. It was only then that I realised having a relaxed grip in badminton means the handle is not fully against the palm in the swing until just before striking the shuttle. The other method as described by @BadmintonDave is to hold the handle more tightly in the fourth and fifth fingers but the thumb and first two fingers are very lightly on the handle. This way, the upper part of the handle has some free movement (because it’s not right against the palm) and the thumb and first two fingers act like some fine control to help turn the racquet head just as the shuttle is struck.
