Badminton Coaching Newcastle

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: RECEIVING THE LOW SERVE

The backhand low serve (previously known as the short serve) is the most common serve in badminton. I'll talk about this in another post, but here I'll focus on the receiver and his/her movement to the served shuttle in doubles.

The receiver should stand about 1 to 2 feet back from the service line, with the non racket foot forward and the racket pointing forward at the server, weight on that front foot. Once the server has 'released' the low serve, the receiver should move to the shuttle rather than waiting for it to arrive - that way you can take the shuttle as high as possible. You can do this in 2 ways;

1. Move forward with the non-racket foot first, perhaps explosively to 'kill' the shuttle, or at least push the shuttle back.

2. Step forward with the racket foot. This is not so much of an explosive move as number 1 above, but mainly with the intent to push the shuttle back below net tape on your opponents side with a view to getting a lift.

The images below show the starting position of the pairs in doubles, including the receiver. Then two pictures showing the receiver moving to served shuttle with the non racket foot and then one showing movement with the racket foot.

The key thing is that the forward movement and momentum of the receiver brings him/her into the forecourt, ready to pick off a return to the net by your opponents.

At the All England, NIA, Birmingham Wed 9th Mar. Usual high quality games from the world's best, amazing to watch and such an inspiration. Championships run until Sunday 13th. Has already been upsets with Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long both out.

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK 2 - RACKET CARRIAGE FOR SMASH DEFENCE

It is preferential to prepare to defend a smash with the BACKHAND side of the racket: The moment the shuttle is lifted to your opponent you should first travel to the most appropriate 'base' position, split and widen your stance and ensure your racket is held out in front but with the backhand side facing your opponent - the thumb on the flat of the racket handle will drive your shot - whether it's a block, push or drive back.

This is nicely demonstrated by Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari, the South Korean pair in the London 2012 Olympics.

The advantage of this is that you can more easily play a backhand defensive shot on the forehand side if that is where the smash is directed. However, if the smash is far out on your forehand side you may have to revert to a lunge and forehand return as your only means of getting to the shuttle !

Beginners will often play a forehand return to a smash, and this is less effective as well as making it more prone to a lift return. So worth spending a little time getting beginners to practise 'backhand' defence.

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK; SMASH DEFENCE

Lifting to your opponent(s) is to be avoided if at all possible, remember the aim of each rally is to get the shuttle on the floor on the other side of the net ! However, that's often easier said than done - sometimes you need to buy some time, or lift/clear to a vacant area of the rearcourt, or maybe just exploit an opponents weakness. You should then be prepared to receive a smash.

If your opponent is playing a smash from midcourt, you need to adopt a very low, wide stance with your feet square, and just hope that you can simply get a racket to the shuttle - you're likely to receive a steep smash, with the shuttle close to the floor.

If you opponent is playing a smash from the rearcourt you will have more options, simply because you have more time to react. You have what's called more of a 'passive defence' - you are more upright in your stance with your racket foot further forwards, looking to try and convert defence back into attack - by maybe driving the shuttle back fast (thereby catching your opponent off balance), or maybe blocking to space in the forecourt either with a straight or angled reply - aiming to get the shuttle below net tape on your opponents side and thereby forcing your opponent to lift to you. This is a much preferred option !

Next post will look at the racket carriage and position when defending a smash.

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: RACKET CARRIAGE, BALANCE AND BODY POSTURE.

Being in balance on a badminton court is key to consistency and accuracy of shots. You are always trying to get your opponent off balance, as invariably this results in a mis-hit shot or weak reply from which you can win the point. Reaction and speed of movement are important to getting to the shuttle in plenty of time and in balance, and these aspects can be worked on outside of badminton - sprint training for example (Fartlek).

In the 'ready position' in-between shots the racket should always be carried forward and in the middle of the body. In addition, your legs should be 'loaded' with knees bent and on the balls of your feet, and in-conjunction with a split step allows quicker movement to the shuttle. Balance is better achieved if the non-racket arm extends in the opposite direction to the racket arm when hitting the shuttle itself. These pictures clearly demonstrate these points.

All together this can save a fraction of a second and can make the difference between playing a net return or net kill in the forecourt for example, the latter is preferable and is an 'attempted winner'.

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: FOREHAND OVERHEAD SMASH/CLEAR.

I'll be covering this in the next Monday junior colts session on 28th Sept. The setup is the same for both shots. There are numerous coaching points, but here I'll focus on 3 that are important just prior to the hit itself:

1. Keep the racket head within your peripheral vision as you draw it back just prior to hit. Strings face down.
2. Non racket arm high and to the front, you should be side on prior to hit.
3. Non racket arm shoulder high with racket arm shoulder low, perhaps almost at 45 degree angle - this helps create forearm rotation and develops power on hit.

These pictures of Lee Chong Wei, Peter Gade and Taufik Hidayat all nicely demonstrate the pre-hit setup, and in these cases have combined this with a jump such that the feet are off the ground on impact.

Best to get someone to multi-feed shuttles to you so you can groove this into your game.

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: FORECOURT NET RETURNS
Ideally you want to play a net kill (attempted winner) from the forecourt, but if the shuttle is at or below net tape then a net return is one option, depending on where your opponent is at that point in the rally. There are 2 types:

1. A flatter push, usually if you play the shuttle further away from the net (first picture below)
2. A 'hair-pin', tumbling and tighter net shot if the shuttle is played closer to the net (second picture below).

In addition with the second option it is very effective to impart 'spin' on the shuttle by not just simply offering a flat racket face, but by slicing across the shuttle on hit, either out to in or in to out. This makes it very difficult for your opponent to kill a bobbling, tumbling shuttle for fear of hitting the feathers rather than the cork base.

This applies to both backhand and forehand. They are what we call 'building shots', with the aim of forcing a weak reply from your opponent.

Lin Dan nicely demonstrates this shot, along with a lunge step and great balance, with his non-racket arm extended backwards

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: REARCOURT BACKHAND. Many players nightmare shot ! It's not as difficult as you might think: Key points in chronological order:
1. The only shot where you face the rear of the court on hit.
2. Thumb is placed on the bevel of the handle.
3. Pull the racket arm across the body just prior to hit, and imagine you are looking at a wrist-watch - 'backhand time'. Elbow has to come up as a result.
4. Then rotate the wrist (supination) and reach out to hit the shuttle, extending the arm in the process (slightly bent at the elbow). Racket head is above the hand on hit.
5. Re-bound action for smash or clear i.e. limited follow through after the hit.

You need to be fairly relaxed to play this shot, easy to say but not necessarily easy to accomplish ! If you can master it the shot can quickly get you out of trouble (as Taufik demonstrates in these photos). Good luck !

Glen

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: GRIP TIGHTENING ON HIT. The ability to do this not only helps to bring more power to your shot, especially lifts, clears and smashes, but can help with disguise. The grip on a racket handle is normally relatively loose (say 3 on a scale of 1 to 10), but on impact with the shuttle we tighten the grip then loosen it again afterwards. A simple net return in the forecourt can become a lift to the rearcourt with little give-away. A forehand drop shot to the forecourt can become a clear to the rearcourt or smash, again helped with grip tightening. We try to complete these actions with minimal arm movement, mainly whip of the wrist and forearm.

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: IMPROVING SPEED AND REACTION
This is a big part of my coaching philosophy - you can improve your game simply by working on footwork and fitness, simply because you are faster to the shuttle, hit the shuttle higher and have more time on the shot. It's about increasing the number of 'fast twitch' muscle fibres, especially in your legs. Some things you can do to help with this:

1. Run with high intensity and low distance i.e.

COACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: RECOVERY STEP

Following on from the previous tip about lunging: Invariably you'll play a net return after lunging for the shuttle in the forecourt, it may even be you're only option. Having played this shot you need to make a 'recovery step' - this is a 'jump back' with both feet towards your midcourt base, ready for the next shot. If you happen to play a very tight net return then only a short/small recovery step is needed, you still need to be biased towards the forecourt ready for a possible net shot from your opponent, the most likely outcome. If your net return isn't so tight then your opponent will have more options with the shuttle, so you make a much bigger 'recovery step' ready to receive a variety of shots, including a possible lift to the rearcourt. Hopefully that makes sense !?