What do you guys do if your shots start abandoning you during a game or during practice? Say that I was practicing smashing for about 30 min. and then I try switching to dropping, I make errors because my muscles are preloaded in the position to smash. How do I overcome this, or recover faster. During a game, if I were playing a banging game(i.e lots of smashing and driving) then I try dropping, many times I make an error well into the net. What are your thoughts?
"Preloaded" to a smash?? thats odd.. lol. Try rallying that involves switching from smashing and dropping to get you into the habit of being able to switch your mindset...kinda odd situation you got there. Try a "smash, drop, lift" rally. Have your partner serve to you, you smash, he does a drop, you lift, he smashes, you drop, he lifts, etc. We do this at our high school training.. I think it might help you a bit??
This may be a form problem. Keep in mind that the smash, drop, and clear should come from virtually the same shot. If switching between them is problematic, it's probably because you hit them differently and are struggling with what you want to do versus what your muscle memory wants to do. If your overhead shot form is not already 'united' in this manner, I would suggest working on that. And an excellent drill is to stand at the back, and hit clears (straight only), half-smashes, and drops (to both sides) trying to achieve ultimate deception. The worker will be working hard in an isolation style drill to recover the bird, but it should help your consistency from the back of the court.
Yep, forgot to mention this. This promotes good form and also disguises your shot. Ideally, all your shots should look the same until the moment of impact.