Fourcas, that's a pretty good example of how the wrist flick doesn't work to generate power. Wlifred, you're trying too hard and in doing so, using your shoulder to pull your upper arm to generate even more power - hence, the injury. Keep some ice on it, gentle stretching, and practice overheads gently trying to use more finger pronation
Thanks Cheung. People get carried away once in a while, esp when the shuttle floats weakly towards you in mid court...
There is definately a difference in the way people are taught. I think the UK were latecomers to the newer method of teaching. The change over here was the Chinese tour of 1974 (?) when coaches finally realised that badminton had moved on and the old rules no longer held true. Speaking to the older players and coaches they were all taught the throwing action for the clear and then told that to change this into a smash you snapped your wrist at impact and directed the shuttle down. Of course we now teach people to use the same action for clears and smashes but meet the shuttle further forward to dierct it down. THe main problem we have is that many of the present day coaches are sticking to the old ways of teaching rather than update their methods. This is, I believe, the main reason why there remains confusion over techniques in badminton. The general rule of thumb is 'If in doubt, look at what the Chinese are doing.' Earlier in this thread there was a reference to throwing the shuttle. I have my doubts about this excercise as a method of teaching. Arguments in favour are strong as it is an excellent method of teaching the overhead throwing action, and is easily incorporated in coaching children as it can be used in many feeding excercises. However, when you throw a shuttle your hand is in a very poor position. You grip the shuttle between the thumb and the forefinger and release it in that position, i.e. with the palm of your hand facing to the left (if you are a right hander). The correct hand position at impact for an overhead forehand is 90 degrees away from that, with the palm perpendicular to the impact to target line. Teaching the overhead action by geting children to throw shuttles runs a high risk, therefore, of encouraging children to either slice their forehand shots using the correct grip, or adopt a pan-handle grip to place the racquet in the correct position at impact.
Im not sure exaclty what you're talking about, but from what i get i think its something about proper smashing technique( correct me if im wrong). i get this from all my coaches over the years, you're supposed to snap your wrist and turn your waist as you smash down on the shuttle. If you do not turn your waist or snap use your wrist when smashing, your smash will be ALOT weaker.... I've tried
I would say that it's right to use the same action for clears and smashes, but would you agree that the difference does depend on the angle of the racquet head on impact? Either a smash or clear can be hit when the shuttle is in front, directly overhead, or behind, but, regardless of whether the player uses forearm pronation or wrist flexion, the clear has to be hit earlier in the arc of the forward wrist/forearm swing than the smash. Generally, the clear would be hit with what I call an "open face" of the racquet and the smash with a "closed face."
I suppose what I was trying to say (looking back now it is a little unclear) is that any tension in the arm costs flexibility, and any loss of flexibility has a corresponding loss of racquet head speed. It therefore follows that by deliberately snapping your wrist you are introducing tension into your arm, whereas a proper smash throwing action will automatically result in a wrist snap if you let it, and a better smash as a result. As for the angle of the racquet at impact, if you are using the same action but hitting clears and smashes from different positions then you have to adapt the action with either your elbow or wrist. This again leads to tension as the arm is placed into a position that is not completely natural to it, and again loses flexibility. Please bear in mind that I am talking about ideal situations on court, and I am well aware that in a good standard of game you are rarely able to play a shot without some measure of adaptation. It is the same idea as doing physics experiments in a vacuum with no gravity. The only time you get these situations is when someone is feeding you in half court, and when does that happen in a game?
Dont forget to relax your arm while you swing.Try to jump as high as you can to sharppenig the shuttle angle
wow reading through this i didnt read anything or very little about your body when your smashing. Its mostly all about your forearm, wrist, fingers, shoulder etc but i didnt read anything about your core and legs and there just as important in smashing as anything else. You have to make sure to rotate your body when your smashing so if your right handed your body should turn to your right when going back for the smash then when you do hit it you rotate your core to the left and come across your body to add power and also using your legs to add in that extra power as well. But yeah keep in mind that your core also plays a part and if i were to just stand there and not rotate yeah sure i might be able to maby hit a hard one but using more core and legs you can hit it alot harder. That is provided you have correct technique and all.
Well as a former baseball pitcher I can tell you that very FEW badminton players have good "throwing mechanics." My swing mimics my pitch and it the reason I hammer the snot out of the shuttle with relative ease, however it also means I have a very big swing motion, so it's not all that great a model to go by. My best hits are when I get my shoulder, elbow and forearm/wrist rotations all coming together at once to go along with core rotation. I tend to do best when I scissor kick alogn with it - or at the very least step into like a fastball delivery. I tend to take my smashes further in front of my body than most - which gives me the added oomph when I go body hunting. However I take the shuttle higher up to get angle or when in doubles I have the time to jump into it. I also find that most my "finger power" in through my middle and ring finger.
Turn to the right? Technically speaking, it would be a turn to the left, or more accurately a counter-clockwise rotation as seen from above. The thing is, full body rotation isn't completely necessary for a smash. The shuttle is very lightweight, after all, and doesn't need much power to get to a decent speed. Sure, without full rotation you sacrifice some speed, but tactically it is useful because you can smash with less preparation.
sorry didnt mention perspective last night but i was talking from perspective if your a right handed player you would be turing to your right when your starting and then when you execute the smash you turn left and come across your body all from the players perspective. Not to sure whar your refering to if you can clarify cause if im right handed im not gonna turn left or go counterclockwise, if i was left handed then yeah. Body rotation does add that power and does tech cottect technique as well more with the scissor kick and all if your going full out attack so that you can be ready and have the momentum going instead of not having anything to move off of. But yeah i you just stay square and jump and smash it does work to an extent but cant generate the same power with it.
haha thats pretty hard to follow.. perhaps what he meant was dont throw your whole shoulder and arm down when you smash.. yes this will generate some power but to do it properly you need to make the circle of the swing before you swing your arm down. very strong disadvantages of relying on your shoulder are slow recovery, weak outward cross (if ur a right-hander standing on the left and wanting to do cross smash to right corner), weaker smash by far, opponent would easily read your direction and the biggest disadvantages of all is you might get hurt permanently! shourder pain, back pain, etc2.
