Badminton Bible

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Badminton doubles tactics

Doubles is a team game!—!a team of two. Many doubles players, however, act as though they are playing “singles twice”.

This article will teach you how to cover the court effectively as a pair, and how to choose the right shots.

Your range of tactical options will be heavily influenced by your hitting skill, your movement skill, and your physical fitness.

For example: if your smash is weak, then it will be a much less effective choice of shot. Or if you are unfit, then you will miss out on manyattacking opportunities.

This guide is written with the assumption that you do not have any obvious weaknesses. I understand that’s an unrealistic assumption for mostplayers!

You will need to adapt your tactics to cover your weaknesses!—!and also to exploit your opponents’ weaknesses!

And of course, you can train to eliminate your weaknesses.

At high levels of play, one basic strategy is completely dominant: aggressive attacking play! Attacking play usually beats defensive play!—!inthe end.

What is “attacking” in doubles?

Attacking in doubles involves hitting the shuttlecock downwards, especially with net kills and smashes. These two shots are the mostcommon winning shots.

Any shot can potentially become an “attacking shot”!—!even a lift!—!but when we talk about attacking play in doubles, we really mean hittingdownwards.

The defenders’ dilemma

Attacking play!—!in the sense of hitting down!—!is not dominant in singles. That’s because it’s easy to escape the attack: you just have to blockthe opponent’s smash back to the net.

In doubles, however, it is difficult to escape the attack because the two attackers work together to maintain their attack. One playersmashes from the back, and the other intercepts any replies to the net or midcourt.

Attacking play is based around the smash. When you play a powerful smash, it creates a dilemma for the defenders. What can they do? If theylift the shuttlecock, you just continue smashing. If they block the shuttlecock to the net instead, your partner will play a net kill.

Tactics depend on skills

Strategy before tactics!

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It is possible to escape the attack, of course; and indeed, turning defence into attack is a crucial element of good doubles play.

If you’ve never played against a strong attacking pair, it’s hard to appreciate just how difficult it can be to escape the attack. Once they startedsmashing, you can easily find yourself trapped: your defence crumbles a little each shot; the smasher is a little nearer each time; and the frontplayer cuts out all your attempts at counter-attack.

If you’re still in any doubt about the supremacy of attacking in doubles, watch some world-class men’s doubles matches (Wijaya/Gunawan vs.Cai/Fu is a good start).

The downside to attacking play

Attacking play is exhausting. You need a high level of fitness to maintain a prolonged, powerful attack. You also need determination: you needto be motivated to make the effort.

Smashing requires a violent throwing action. Covering the court so that you can keep on smashing requires fast, explosive movements includingsideways and backwards jumps.

While the attackers are doing all this hard physical work, the defenders are standing relatively still and using little effort to lift the shuttlecock.It’s common to see the attacking pair leaping all over the court, while the defending pair hardly moves.

But it’s worth the effort. The defenders are likely to make the first mistake. It’s difficult to maintain an accurate defence; eventually, a liftwill travel long or short of the back tramlines. If it’s long, then you win the point just by letting it fall out; if it’s short, then you have a chance toplay a decisive smash.

Copyright © 2008–2013 Mike Hopley. All rights reserved.

This work is registered with the UK Copyright Service.

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The principle of attack

We’ve established a basic doubles strategy!—!attacking play wins out!—!but it’s still too early to jump into tactical details. First, we need tothink more generally about how we can implement our strategy.

Thankfully badminton is not chess, and we can implement our strategy by following one straightforward principle: the principle of attack.

The principle of attack

In doubles, always make choices that improve your opportunities to play attacking shots!—!especially smashes and net kills.

The reason for this is simple: smashes and net kills are the most effective winning shots. They’re not the only possible winning shots, of course;but at a high standard of play, most rallies will be ended by a smash or a net kill.

How you apply this principle will depend on the situation in the rally. In general, you should play the most aggressive shot possible, providing itdoes not expose you immediately to an even more violent counter-attack.

Here’s a summary of what you should do, in order of preference (best options first, worst options last):

• Play a winning shot

• Improve your current attack (create an opportunity for a winning shot)

• Maintain your current attack

• Gain a new attack

• Prevent your opponents from gaining an attack

• When your opponents are attacking, regain the attack yourself

• When your opponents are attacking too fiercely, defend (lift) and wait for a better counter-attacking opportunity

• When your opponents have a winning attack, do anything to stay in the rally

When you can play a winning shot

…then play it!

Always play net kills when you get the chance. Never play a fancy show-off net shot or push, hoping to make yourself look clever. You’ll lookpretty silly if your opponents scramble the shuttlecock back into play.

I am frequently dismayed by club players who fail to play the kill. Many will only attempt a kill in the easiest of situations, preferring otherwiseto take it easy and play a net shot, or even a lift.

Similarly, never pass up the chance to play a decisive smash from the midcourt. Many players choose a drop shot here, because they think it’s aclever variation. It’s not: you’re just handing your opponents a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Applying the principle


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(Of course, drop shots can be an excellent variation!—!just not when you have the alternative of an almost-certainly-winning smash.)

When you can play an effective attacking shot

…then play it!

If you have the chance to hit the shuttlecock downwards, use it immediately. Play smashes and drop shots, not clears.

When no-one can play an attacking shot

Fight for the next attack. Someone is going to get it!—!either you or your opponents. The aim here is to make your opponents lift theshuttlecock so that you can start attacking.

When your opponents are attacking

Try to regain the attack with counter-attacking smash defence such as blocks, pushes, and drives. Only lift the shuttlecock if the opponents’attack is too dangerous for you to play a counter-attacking shot.





Positions in badminton doubles

Doubles positioning is about how you and your partner cover the court.

Many players are purposeless in their positioning. It’s common to hear players say, “let’s play sides”, or “let’s play front-and-back”.

With an understanding of the basic doubles strategy, however, you can make purposeful decisions about where to stand.

At any given moment during a doubles rally, you are in one of three situations:

• Attacking

• Defending

• Fighting for who gets the next attack

Each of these situations is associated with standard positional ideas.

AttackingDoubles attacking formation

When attacking, you should adopt a formation with one player in the rearcourt, and the other player towards the front of the court.

The rear player will cover most shots to the rearcourt, continuing to play smashes or drop shots; the forwards player will cover replies to the netor midcourt, either playing kills or shots that provoke another lift.

DefendingDoubles defending formation

The three main situations

The basic positions


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When defending, you must adopt a side-by-side formation so that you can cover the full width of the doubles court. If you can’t cover the fullwidth of the court, then you will lose the rally immediately to any well-placed smash (or even a drop shot).

You should stand about one step back from the middle of the court, to give yourselves time to react to the smash. If either of you stands near thenet, then he will be vulnerable to a smash.

Fighting for the next attack

When both sides are fighting for the attack, they both tend to start in a “defensive” side-by-side position. As one side gains the advantage, one oftheir players will move forwards to claim the front of the court, and their attack will begin.





Choosing the right shots

This section will teach you how to make good shot choices.

All your shot choices should (ultimately) be guided by the principle of attack. Nevertheless, choosing the right shot is often a subtle decisionthat requires a good understanding of the situation.

• Attacking shots

• Defensive shots

• Attacking angles

• Defensive angles



Choosing the right type of shot

Choosing the right angle for your shot


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http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/doubles-tactics/choosing-the-right-shots/choosing-defensive-shots.php

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Choosing attacking shots

When you’re attacking, it’s important to keep the shuttlecock going downwards.

From the rearcourt, play smashes and drop shots; from the forecourt, play net shots, drives, pushes, and net kills (when you get the chance).

Smashes: your most powerful weapon

The back player should mainly play smashes, because the smash is the best attacking shot. It’s tactically sound to play four smashes in a row(or even more).

This idea is important, but often neglected because many club players believe that playing multiple consecutive smashes shows “inexperience”and “a poor understanding of tactics”. They say this because their smashes are weak, because their movement is slow, or because they are lazy!

If you have a good smash, use it!—!and use it more frequently than your drop shots.

Drop shots: changing the pace

Although the smash is your best attacking shot, you should also consider using drop shots as a variation.

Drop shots can win the rally, but this is rare at high levels of play. More commonly, the drop shot provokes a short lift which you can follow witha winning smash.

When you play several smashes in a row, your opponents often start to become fixed in their defensive positions!—!their feet are “rooted” to thefloor. If your attack has been especially fierce, they may also begin to back off farther from the net; and they may no longer be mentallyprepared for anything but a smash.

This is the best time to play a drop shot, because it disrupts your opponents’ defensive rhythm. Disrupting your opponents’ rhythm is a usefultactical device, and can be achieved in several different ways; in this case, it take the form of changing the pace of your shots (from fast to slow).

Key tip

The effectiveness of your drop shots depends on the quality of your smash.

If your smash poses no threat to the opponents’ defence, then they can move forwards and counter-attack your drop shots.

Use fast drops (which land about the service line), not slow drops (which land near the net). Slow drops give your opponents far too much time:they can take the shuttlecock near the net tape.

Slow drops are great against slow opponents, because the shuttlecock falls tight to the net. Against fast opponents, however, you should reserve

The back player’s choice of shot


slow drops for when an opponent is out of position (too far back) and will be late moving forwards. In this situation, the slow drop can be anoutright winner, or otherwise provoke a very short lift.

Clears: how to lose the attack in one shot

Never play a clear in doubles unless you have a compelling reason to do so!

Playing a clear is like saying to your opponents, “It’s only fair that I let you take a turn attacking”. As soon as you clear, they can start smashing.

There are only two good reasons to play a clear in doubles:

• You are too vulnerable to attempt an attack (very late to the shuttle, partner badly out of position…).

• You see that your opponents are out of position and will make a weak reply.

When you’re in trouble, play the clear high so that you have more time to recover.

When you spot that your opponents are failing to cover a rear corner, however, play the clear lower!—!just high enough to get past them!—!sothat they will have less time.

Net kills: the best shot in the game

They’re called kills for a reason! A good net kill is almost certain to win the rally. Always play them when you get the chance.

When the “kill” is much flatter!—!more like a downwards net drive!—!the decision is not so clear-cut. It’s still a good shot, but a tight spinningnet shot may be better: wait one more shot, and then you can play a proper kill.

Net shots: threaten a kill, force a lift

A good net shot will maintain your attack by forcing the opponents to lift the shuttlecock; after the lift, your partner can continue smashing.

It’s important that, after playing a net shot, you move in to cover any possible net replies: you are threatening to play a net kill if the opponentsplay a net shot. It’s this threat of a kill that forces the lift.

Pushes: using the open space

Normally net shots are better than pushes; but sometimes a push is necessary to counter your opponent’s attempt to steal the attack. Imaginethe following situation:

1. Your partner plays a straight smash.

2. Your opponent blocks the smash cross-court, and moves forwards (and across) to claim the net.

When you reach the shuttlecock, it is just below net height, between the net and the short service line. Your opponent is now encroaching on thenet, but has only just crossed the middle line. You have four possible shots:

• Net shot

• Drive

The front player’s choice of shot

• Push

• Lift

Obviously you don’t want to play a lift if you can avoid it. A drive may be a good option, but the opposing back player has a good chance tocounter-attack it.

The net shot would be nice, but because it’s a slow shot, your opponent will be able to reach it and counter-attack with a drive, with his own netshot, or even a kill if he’s really fast.

This is a good situation to use the push. Aim to push the shuttle straight into the tramlines, landing a little beyond the short service line.

The push has more pace than the net shot!—!just enough pace to get it past the front player. But because it’s slower than the drive, it falls wellbelow net height before the back player can reach it. As a result, he will have to play a lift (or attempt a risky counter-attack).

You can vary the placement of your pushes depending on the situation. The idea is to find the gap in the opponents’ formation, and hit theshuttlecock with just enough pace to make it past the forwards player.

When your opponents are not challenging you at the net, however, use a net shot instead.

Drives: direct pressure

If you are taking the shuttlecock from below net height, a drive is normally a bad idea. You would probably be better off playing a net shot, withthe idea of setting up your partner to continue smashing.

When the shuttlecock is slightly higher than net height, however, the front player also has the option of a direct attack: he can play a driveinstead of a net shot. This is especially effective when you are near the net, because your opponents have little time to react.

In this situation, you would normally aim your drives directly at the opponents, hoping for a weak reply.

Lifts: the last resort

Playing a lift concedes the attack.

You must be realistic, however. Often your opponents will play a good counter-attacking shot, and will quickly move to cover all your attackingoptions. Yes, playing a lift allows your opponents to smash; but playing a fanciful net shot allows them to win the rally immediately with a netkill.

The most common delusion is this: playing a cross-court net shot from near the floor, desperately hoping to continue your attack. It won’t workunless your opponent is half asleep; play a lift instead.





Choosing defensive shots

When you are defending, you must actively seek opportunities to regain the attack.

There are four possible replies to a smash:

• Lift

• Drive

• Block to the net

• Push to the midcourt

Lifts

Lifts allow the opponents to continue smashing, but they are often necessary because the attack is too strong to be countered immediately. Apoor counter-attacking shot will lose you the rally.

For example: under the pressure of a fierce smash, you try playing a block to the net, in order to regain the attack. Unfortunately you fail tocontrol the shot, and your block is too loose. The front player kills it.

Even at the world-class level, you will see many lifts. This is because the attack is ferocious, and the defenders are biding their time, waiting fora better opportunity to counter-attack: waiting for a smash that is just a little slower, less steep, or less well-placed.

So whenever you are unable to play a good counter-attacking shot, play a lift, and look for the next opportunity to counter-attack.

Drives

Drives are an excellent counter-attacking shot, especially against flat smashes. The main aim of a drive is to get the shuttlecock beyond the frontplayer, so that he cannot intercept it.

When the front player stands too far forward (say, on the short service line), drives are the shot of choice: it will be relatively easy to get theshuttlecock past him in this position.

If this happens, then you must still be prepared to fight for the attack. The rear player may be able to play a counter-drive, or a shot to the net.Nevertheless you have improved your situation greatly; and in many cases, your drive alone will be enough to gain the attack outright.

The front player will try to intercept your drive first, however. If he succeeds, you’re probably in trouble.

Blocks to the net

A block to the net is a direct challenge to the front player. Blocks are especially effective when the front player stands farther back from the net,in a position to intercept drives.

Defending against the smash


It’s essential that your blocks are not too loopy and slow; they need a bit of pace. Playing a slow block gives the front player too much time, andhe will meet the shuttlecock almost as it crosses the tape (then you lose).

If you play a block, follow it in to the net. This is standard even when you have blocked cross-court, because you can start moving beforeyour partner realises what shot you played (and your partner will also be well placed to become the rearcourt attacker). The only commonexception is for the man in mixed doubles, who should usually leave his woman partner to take the net position.

Following the block means you can challenge the front attacker for control of the net, pressuring him to play a lift. If you just hang back andwatch your shot instead, he can play a net shot!—!even a loose one!—!because no-one is covering it.

Pushes

A push is much the same as a block, but with extra pace. Unlike a block, however, you’re aiming to get the shuttlecock just past the front player,to fall in the midcourt.

As with drives, pushes can be more effective when the front player has moved farther forwards than usual. Because pushes are slower thandrives, however, it’s more difficult to sneak one past the front player; but if you succeed, then the back player will probably be forced to play alift.

Successful pushes are among the best counter-attacking shots, but you need good judgement to spot the right time to use them. They are usuallymore risky than drives, but also more rewarding.

Your choice of reply depends heavily upon how early you can take the shuttlecock. Most of the time you will be reaching it well below net height,and here your only viable option is a lift.

If you are able to reach it earlier, however, you should consider counter-attacking shots. The best shot is a net kill, but this is only possible whenyour opponent has played a very weak shot. Nevertheless this does happen, even at the highest levels of play; and you must make the effort totake advantage of your opponent’s mistake!

If you are taking it slightly below net height, then net shots, drives, and pushes are good options (again, use the push to get the shuttlecock pastthe front player, but in front of the rear player).

Be careful of playing a drive if it will travel to the back player’s forehand!



Defending against drop shots



Choosing angles of attack

The choice of attacking shot angles is one of the most commonly misunderstood areas of doubles tactics.

As a general guide, smashes and drops shots should be straight or to the centre (cross-courts tend to be suicidal).

Smashing angles can be straight, to the middle, or cross-court. When you’re playing a smash to either side (straight or cross-court), you havethe additional choice of whether to aim for the outside edge of the court, or aim directly at the defender.

Many players prefer cross-court drops and smashes, mainly because they think these shots are “advanced”. This shows a fundamental lack ofpositional understanding.

Straight smashes

When you are smashing from a corner, these are normally your best choice, because they have the shortest distance to travel.

Remember: the shorter the distance, the less time your opponents have to react, and the faster the shuttlecock will be travelling when it reachesthem (shuttlecocks slow down a lot over distance, due to air resistance).

Smashes to the middle

Smashing to the middle is a good variation, because it often causes uncertainty in the defenders about who should take the shot.

When you are smashing from the middle (as opposed to from a corner), aiming your smash towards the middle is especially effective; indeed,it’s such a good choice that it should be almost automatic. This is because:

• It travels the shortest distance, so your opponents have the least time to react.

• Your opponents may be unsure who should play the shot.

• It offers the least effective angles of counter-attack for your opponents.

This last point is important: it’s hard for your opponents to play any counter-attaking shots, because both you and your partner are alreadypositioned along the middle line. All possible replies are covered.

When you are smashing from a corner, the middle line of the court is not exactly where you should aim. Rather, aim between the players (thisusually means aiming slightly off towards the straight side, since the cross-court defender will probably be closer to the middle than the straightdefender is).

Cross-court smashes

You should usually avoid playing these, because they have the longest flying distance. Because the shuttlecock travels farther across court, ittakes longer to reach the same distance from the net; and it also slows down dramatically as it travels.

Smashing angles


The result is that your cross-court smash will be slower than your straight smash, and the cross-court defender will have more time to react (it’ssimple geometry).

To take advantage of this, a well-positioned cross-court defender will be standing closer to the net than his partner covering the straight angle.Because the cross-court defender is able to stand closer to the net, he can play much more effective counter-attacking shots.

Moreover, the angles for counter-attack are much better after you play a cross-court smash. The defenders will usually play a straight reply;even a lift can cause you problems, but a straight drive is absolutely lethal.

Of course, there are occasions when a cross-court smash is a good shot; but normally only when the opponents have been forced out of position.If they are covering the court well, you should probably avoid smashing cross-court.

Aiming at the defenders

Aiming at the defenders is a very effective tactic. The most vulnerable spot is around the defender’s racket-side hip, because it’s the point wherebackhand defence begins to become less effective, but forehand defence is still awkward.

If you aim for this point you may cause your opponent to be uncertain about whether to play a backhand or forehand, and you also make manyof his shots more difficult because his racket swing is cramped.

Steep or flat?

Most of the time, you should make your smashes as steep as possible. Top players make athletic jumps for height, so that they can play thesmash with an even steeper angle (a jump smash).

The advantage of a steep smash is that it is much harder to counter-attack, because the shuttlecock will be farther below net height when thedefender hits it.

As an occasional variation, however, you can also play the smash flatter. This is effective if your opponents are slow to bring their rackets upfrom a low defensive position. If you play a flat smash, it’s normally best to aim directly at the opponent (hitting towards his head or chest).Some players, especially those with long arms, have difficulty coping with these shots.

Be careful with flat smashes. If you hit them too hard, they will go out the back of the court!

In most respects, drop shots follow the same principles as smashes.

Straight, cross-court, or to the middle?

As with smashes, your default choice should be straight. Drop shots to the middle (between the players) are also a very good choice.

Cross-court drops should usually be avoided, because they give the cross-court defender far too much time; as with smashes, they expose you toa deadly counter-attack: straight net shots, pushes, and drives are murderous.

Hitting at the defenders is pointless

Unlike smashes, there’s no advantage in aiming your drop shots at your opponents. When you play a straight or cross-court drop shot, aim forthe side tramlines: it’s slightly farther for the defenders to move.

Drop shot angles

(When you play a drop shot to the middle, aim to place it between the opponents and cause maximum confusion.)

Net shots

These are normally best played straight or to the centre, because afterwards your side will be well positioned to cover the next shot; with across-court net shot, however, your court is opened up somewhat to straight counter-attacking shots (net shots, pushes, or even shallow lifts).

Another important difference between straight and cross-court net shots is that straight net shots can be played with spin. Cross-courtnet shots can never use spin.

Despite this, cross-court net shots are extremely useful when used at the right time. If you are engaged in a net duel, then a cross-court net shotplayed away from your net opponent can often secure you the attack.

Pushes

Pushes are usually played straight down the side tramlines, because a cross-court push will typically pass through the hitting area of theopponent who is challenging you for control of the net.

If the opponent is approaching the net from a straight defending position, however, and if his partner has already started to move around to arear attacking position, then a cross-court push could be the shot of choice (playing the shuttle into the open space). For example:

1. Your partner plays a straight smash.

2. The defender plays a straight block to the net, and begins to move in; his partner starts to move behind him into a rearcourt attackingposition

3. You play a cross-court push into the space just vacated by his partner.

Pushes to the centre are pretty much pointless in all situations. Remember: the push is a passing shot. If you play it towards the centre, then aforwards-moving player will easily intercept it.

Net kills

If the kill is steep and sharp, it really doesn’t matter where you hit it!—!just make sure you hit it inside the court! The opponents have no realchance of returning this shot, regardless of the angle.

Not all kills are steep, however. When the kill is slightly flatter, it’s worth playing it straight because this gives your opponents less time (thestraight route is shortest) and fewer opportunities to intercept it. Playing the kill straight also means you are well-positioned to cover a possiblenet reply.

When you are taking the kill at the absolute limit of your reach, however, you will have no choice but to play it cross-court.

Drives

Recall that attacking drives are usually most effective when played directly at the opponent. The effectiveness of drives as an attacking shotdepends on how much pressure you can exert on a single opponent.

For this reason, it usually makes sense to aim the drive at the defender who just returned your partner’s smash. This works because you givehim almost no time to recover from his last shot; he may be off-balance, and his racket may not have returned to a good defensive position.

Attacking angles for the front player

If your attacking drive is successful, the defender will usually return the shuttlecock back in your direction (with a weak counter-drive). Thebasic idea now is to keep playing drives at this one defender; as his responses become weaker, you move farther forwards. It is extremelydifficult for the defender to escape this cycle once it gets started.

Do not switch your attack to the other defender without a very good reason. It’s usually more effective to keep the pressure on a single player.

A particularly effective attacking combination is a straight smash, followed by a series of straight attacking drives. Use this attack when you getthe chance, because it applies maximum pressure against one defender.





Choosing angles of defence

With defensive shots, you have much more freedom to choose different angles. Whereas cross-court attacking shots are usually a bad idea,defensive shots are more about finding the gap!—!wherever it might be.

Since the attackers usually bias their position towards covering the straight shots, some of the best defensive shots by the straight defenderare played cross-court.

Lifts

Lifts should always be played to a corner, never to the middle. If you lift to the middle, then the attackers achieve their best possible position!They will smash down the middle, making it almost impossible for you to find an effective counter-attacking angle.

If possible, you should normally play the lift to the opposite corner from the smasher: make him move! If you lift to the same corner each time,it’s much easier for him to get into a good smashing position.

Drives

The front attacker will usually be biased towards the same side as his smashing partner. The most effective drives, therefore, are usually placedtowards the other side.

This means that the straight defender should play cross-court drives, and the cross-court defender should play straight drives.

Being realistic, however, the straight defender will not always be able to change the angle of the shot and play cross-court: it’s usually easier forhim to play straight. Straight drives can also be effective counter-attacking shots (although not usually as deadly as cross-court drives).

In both cases, the defender must be aware of the front attacker’s position. He must be careful not to allow the front attacker to intercept thedrive (especially with a forehand).

Drives to the centre are usually suicidal: the front player should cut these out easily.

Finally, note that the choice of straight vs. cross-court is affected by which side is the front attacker’s forehand. Often a straight drive past theopponent’s backhand can be safer than a cross-court drive to his forehand!

Blocks to the net

As with drives, these are best played away from the front attacker.

The cross-court defender should almost always place his blocks straight (away from the attacker). The straight defender would ideally hit thesame place by playing cross-court, but again this is a more difficult shot. Straight blocks can be risky, but will work in favourable circumstances.

Unlike drives, blocks to the centre can be effective (a drive to the centre passes upwards immediately through his hitting zone; a block is in front

Defending against smashes


of him). Blocks to the centre limit his possible net shot angles; between the two of you, you may be able to cover all his net shot replies.

Unlike drives, it may not matter much where the opponent’s forehand is. His backhand net play should be just as strong as his forehand netplay!

Pushes

Pushes are usually best played straight, by either defender.

This principle is not the same as drives, where the straight defender would usually prefer to play a cross-court drive.

The problem with a cross-court push is that it takes too long. A cross-court drive can pass the front player quickly, but a cross-court pushusually gives him time to move across and intercept it early.

Pushes to the centre are an extremely silly shot. You’re just handing the shuttlecock to the front attacker!

Lifts

The straight defender should normally play his lifts cross-court, because:

• It makes the opponent move (so it’s harder for him to reach an ideal smashing position).

• You can then retreat a shorter distance to cover the cross-court.

If the straight defender plays a straight lift instead, then he must move back very quickly into a defensive position.

The cross-court defender should play his lifts straight, leaving the smasher little time to get in position.

As when defending against smashes, you should never lift to the middle (this gives your opponents the best possible attacking position).

Net shots

If you can safely get away with a straight net shot, this is usually best because you are immediately in position to cover any net reply. If the dropshot is slow, then straight net shots also allow you to spin the shuttlecock.

When the back attacker plays a drop shot, his partner will move in to cover that part of the net. For this reason, cross-court net shots can beeffective (placing the shuttlecock away from your opponent).

Net shots to the centre are also a good option, with the idea of limiting your opponent’s effective angles of reply.

The cross-court defender should almost always play his net shots straight.

Drives

Drives are usually best played straight, by either defender.

The straight defender may sometimes play cross-court drives, but this is a very risky shot unless you are in an excellent position: it’s likely to becut out by the front attacker. Having said that, you can sometimes exploit the opponent’s rhythm of movement and racket carriage: there is

Defending against drop shots

often a moment when he lowers his racket, or shifts his weight as he moves forwards; sometimes a perfectly-timed cross-court drive can sailright past him. This trick is much more likely to work if you are hitting to his backhand.

Drives should never be played to the centre, unless you are reaching the drop shot extremely early and can attack directly at the front player’sbody.

Pushes

As when defending against a smash, pushes should almost always be played straight. A cross-court push takes too long to reach its destinationand should be easily intercepted by the front attacker.

Pushes to the centre, as usual, are an extremely silly shot (the front player should hit this one right back at you, and hard).

As with drives, the exception to this rule occurs when you are taking the shuttlecock extremely early and can play the push downwards or atleast flat. Here, since you are actually attacking, a push to the centre might even be the best angle: it’s the opponent’s shot, not yours, whichmust now travel upwards.





Backhand clear technique

Backhand clears are notoriously difficult. Most badminton players can’t get enough power, and are limited to playing drop shots instead.

Surprisingly, the technique is quite simple!—!much simpler than the technique for forehand clears!

You only play them when you’re already in trouble!

Good players will avoid backhand clears when possible, and play round-the-head forehands instead. This means backhand clears are onlyplayed when you’re under pressure.

Specifically, we only play backhand clears when the shuttle is out to the side, and usually also slightly behind us. This is a difficult, defensiveposition.

How good are your forehand clears from that position?

You don’t practise them as much

Since players avoid backhand clears, these shots get much less practice during games than forehands do. A good doubles player will hit at least10 times as many rearcourt forehands as backhands.

You probably have much more experience hitting forehand clears than backhand clears. That experience makes forehands easier.

They are physically more difficult

The shoulder is much less mobile when making a backhand hitting action, compared to a forehand action.

Loosely speaking, the shoulder can go farther “forwards” than “backwards”. When you’re playing a forehand, your shoulder movement cancontinue after impact with the shuttle: the impact point is somewhere in the middle of the shoulder’s range of motion.

With a backhand, the impact point is near the end of the shoulder’s range of motion. This limits the amount of force that the shoulder cancontribute to the shot.

A backhand clear action is also less “natural” than a forehand. It’s a movement you would almost never make except in racket sports.

Sometimes it’s just not possible to play a good clear, because you are under far too much pressure. Players tend to blame the last shot of therally, when often they should be thinking about how they got into that situation.

It is realistic to clear end-to-end on your backhand, even with decent height, and even cross-court. It’s not easy, but it’s something you can

Why are backhand clears difficult?

You need realistic expectations


learn.

It is not realistic to play a good clear when you’re desperately late to the shuttle, reaching behind you at full stretch, and off-balance.





Moving to the shuttle

When you play a backhand clear, you will be facing away from the net. This is unusual in badminton, and it puts you at a disadvantage.

While you are facing away from the net, you cannot see the opponent’s court; this makes it harder to play an accurate shot. You also cannot seeyour opponents, so you don’t know what they are doing.

Try to minimise how long you are facing away from the net. You should only turn your back on the net when you are about to hit the shuttle.

As always, the footwork may vary depending on the situation. From a roughly central position on court, the basic pattern is this:

1. Split drop

2. Chassé towards the corner

3. Turn and lunge into the corner

The turn involves swivelling around your left foot and turning your back on the net, as you lunge with your right foot into the corner.

Sometimes you don’t need a full lunge, and a semi-lunge is enough.

Notice that the turn is the last thing to happen before you hit the shuttle. Players often get this footwork wrong, by turning at the start and thenrunning to the corner. This is slower, harder to recover from, and prevents you from seeing what your opponents are doing.



Footwork for moving to a backhand clear




How to hit a backhand clear

The technique for hitting a backhand clear is surprisingly simple!—!but that doesn’t mean it’s easy!

You must make good use of arm rotation and grip tightening to generate power. Backhand clears require technique, not brute force!

Start with either a backhand grip or a bevel grip. Which one you use is down to personal preference; I recommend trying both.

You need to make good use of grip tightening to transfer power efficiently into the shuttle. Start with a relaxed grip; the thumb should bestraight (not curled). As you hit the shuttle, tighten your grip sharply, pressing with the thumb.

Do not use a thumb grip to play backhand clears, except when the shuttle is in front of you (and in this situation, you should probably beplaying a forehand instead!). Using a thumb grip will restrict your arm movements, which reduces your power; it will also cause you to hit outthe side of the court.

As you start moving towards the shuttle, let your elbow drop low, but keep your racket head up (about face height). Your arm and wristshould be relaxed.

Players often get this the wrong way around: they put the elbow high and the racket head low. This is like pointing the elbow at the shuttle.Don’t do this, because it will limit your ability to create power by uncoiling the arm from the elbow; it will also create tension in your armmuscles, which should be relaxed instead.

Remember: the elbow should point to the floor, not at the shuttle!

The hitting action is one continuous, flowing movement. Nevertheless, I’ve broken it down into three steps, to make it easier to learn:

What time is it? Backhand time!

Begin your hitting action by raising the elbow and dropping your hand, so that the racket is pointing downwards. As you do this, twist your arminwards. Imagine you are wearing a wristwatch, and want to check the time. You can remember this by saying to yourself, “What time is it?Backhand time!” I know that’s desperately corny, but it works.

Technically, this twisting of the arm is called internal rotation of the upper arm and pronation of the forearm.

At this point your racket head should still be low, and you should have a narrow angle at the elbow. Imagine you are pointing your elbow at theshuttle (now is right time to do this, not earlier).

Use the right grip

Getting ready to hit the shuttle

Hitting the shuttle


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Uncoil your arm from the elbow

Now uncoil your arm from the elbow and twist it sharply in the opposite direction (outwards), as you reach upwards and sideways for theshuttle. At the point of contact you should have a wide angle at the elbow.

Technically, this twisting of the arm is called external rotation of the upper arm and supination of the forearm.

Hit and rebound!

As you hit the shuttle, tighten your grip sharply, pressing with the thumb.

After hitting the shuttle, immediately stop the racket and let it rebound back. Do not attempt to follow-through. If you hit a backhand clearcorrectly, your shoulder should naturally stop moving just after the point of impact, because it cannot move any farther in that position.

This is very different from a forehand clear, where your arm continues moving forwards and downwards after contacting the shuttle.

It’s possible to force a follow-through, by hitting incorrectly: you use a sweeping, windmill-like action, with a straight arm, and also turn yourbody. The correct hitting technique uses a bent arm; even at the moment of contact, there is a slight bend at the elbow, and the wrist is bent in a“thumbs up” position (radially deviated).





Watching professional players

When you watch the professional players, it often looks like their backhand clear technique contradicts what I just taught you.

Be careful! Your eyes can deceive you.

When you watch professional players, especially the men’s singles players, they often appear to make a large, sweeping action. They appear tofollow-through without any rebound action, just like hitting a forehand clear or smash.

This is an illusion. Your eyes are tricked by the speed of their recovery movement. The appearance of a follow-through is created by tworecovery techniques:

• Immediately turning the body back into court

• Rapidly relaxing the racket arm downwards after hitting the shuttle

You can see this for yourself, but only on video. You need to pause the video and advance frame-by-frame to see what really happens. If youwatch carefully, you can see there is a rebound action, but the arm immediately relaxes afterwards. The player also turns rapidly back intocourt. The combination of these two movements gives the appearance of following-through from the shoulder.

Immediately turn back into court

Earlier on, I said that as you approach the shuttle, you should minimise how long your back is turned to the net.

Exactly the same principle applies to recovery after the shot. As soon as you hit the shuttle, turn back rapidly towards the net: use your rightfoot to push back out of the lunging position, as you swivel around your left foot.

Sometimes you can even make this recovery turn part of the hitting action, by starting the turn fractionally before you hit the shuttle. Thismakes your recovery even faster. The body rotation also creates some extra power.

Immediately relax your arm

Relax your arm immediately after hitting the shuttle.

A relaxed arm is crucial for playing backhand clears. Don’t get tense, and don’t try to force the power! You will get more power if youstay relaxed and hit the shuttle with a smooth, flowing motion.

The professionals seem to follow-through

What you should learn from watching professionals

What you should not learn from watching professionals


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/backhand-clear/movement.php

Don’t try to hit backhand clears with a large follow-through from the shoulder. If you do this, you will fail to use arm rotation correctly, andyour clears will be weak.

It would be a shame if you ruined your backhand technique by copying what you thought the professionals do, rather than copying what theyactually do!

We’ve covered the fundamental technique for backhand clears. In later content, we’ll discuss topics such as how to practise, and how to hit abackhand clear when the shuttle is behind you.



What next?



Drop shot technique

This article will teach you how to play drop shots, both forehand and backhand.

Drop shots are played from your rearcourt. You hit the shuttle softly downwards to land in your opponent’s forecourt area.

Drop shots are often referred to simply as drops.

Other terms that get confused with drop shots

Sometimes people confuse drop shots with net shots. These are completely different shots. The term “net drop” is especially unhelpful and isbest avoided.

Drop shots are also different from blocks and pushes, which are played from farther forwards and in a flat or upwards direction.

Drop shots are used extensively in both singles and doubles. They are primarily an attacking shot.

Drop shots are usually disguised to make the opponent expect a smash or clear. A good drop shot can be very deceptive, and can cause theopponent to reach the shuttle late and play a poor lift (giving an opportunity to attack).

Drop shots are also used defensively, especially in singles, as a maintaining or “get out of trouble” shot.

We’ll start by looking at the basic technique for playing a forehand drop shot, and how to vary the pace and direction. Then we’ll do the samething for backhand drops.

After that, we’ll look at how to make your drop shots more deceptive.

…and what it doesn’t cover

We’re not going to cover sliced drop shots in this article. Slicing drop shots is a huge topic by itself.

We’re also not going to cover all the different variations, such as drop shots from the midcourt. This article is about playing drop shots from therearcourt.

What are drop shots?

How are drop shots used in badminton?

What this article covers


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/net-shots/

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/drop-shots/forehand.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/drop-shots/backhand.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/drop-shots/deception.php



Basic technique for forehand drop shots

Let’s start with the basics. We’ll worry about deception later.

Stand near the back of the court, and have a partner racket-feed lifts to you. Ask him to hit the lifts high, so that you have plenty of time.

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Make your preparation the same as for a clear or smash: stand almost side-on to the net, with your right elbow back. Your elbows and shouldersshould be in a line.

Why does this preparation matter for drop shots?

If your opponent knows you are about to play a drop shot, he can wait for it at the net! By disguising your drop shots to look like clears orsmashes, you can make him wait longer before moving forwards.

It’s not only about disguise, however. The correct preparation will also help you play a better shot, by encouraging you to reach up and make asmooth hitting action. Which brings us to…

The higher you can contact the shuttle, the better. Ideally you should be hitting at full relaxed reach. Start your hitting action by bringing yourelbow upwards and forwards, and extend your arm as you reach upwards for the shuttle.

A high contact point means your drop shot will travel downwards, not flat; this makes it a more effective attacking shot.

Use the right grip

Hold your racket in a relaxed basic grip. You will need to make sure the racket strings are pointing at the shuttle when you hit it; to make thishappen, you’ll probably need to turn your arm inwards slightly.

Do not use a panhandle grip. For most beginners, a panhandle grip feels more natural, but it’s the wrong grip here. Using a panhandle grip willmake you hit with a low contact point, and will also cause other problems later.

Contact the shuttle slightly in front of you

Try to position yourself slightly behind the shuttle, so that you hit your drop shots from above and just in front of you. If the shuttle hastravelled behind you, it will be more difficult to play a good drop shot.

The ideal contact point is above and slightly in front of your right shoulder.

Preparation

Reach up for a high contact point

Use a soft pushing action


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Hit the shuttle gently and smoothly. You do not need much power to make it travel over the net. Keep your arm movement compact andcontrolled, and avoid making a snapping action with your wrist.

Think of it as pushing “through” the shuttle, rather than flicking or tapping at it. You are guiding the shuttle over the net with your whole arm.

After you hit the shuttle, follow through smoothly with your arm, rather than stopping suddenly. The follow-through should initially be in thedirection of your shot; after that, you can allow your arm to relax naturally across the front of your body.

What about arm rotation?

For forehand clears and smashes, generating power using arm rotation is a essential part of the technique. That power is not needed for playinga drop shot.

The arm does rotate during drop shots, but much less forcefully than for clears or smashes: for clears and smashes, arm rotation is sudden andviolent; for drop shots, it is gentle and smooth.

You probably don’t need to worry about getting the arm rotation right. Focus on the correct preparation, reaching up for a high contact point,and making the racket face the shuttle at impact. The required arm rotation will likely happen without thinking about it.

Basic control

At this stage, don’t worry about deception. Just concentrate on the quality of your drop shots.

Begin by aiming for the service line, and don’t worry about getting your drop shots to pass close over the net tape. At this stage you’re learningabout how much force to use when you hit the shuttle.

Once this is working, try making the shuttle pass closer over the net tape!—!say, no more than 30 cm (about a foot). Don’t try to make it perfect:you need to leave some margin for error. Although tighter is better, the exact height is not critical for drop shots.

Varying the pace

Try varying the pace of your drop shots. Can you make them land even closer to the net!—!say, halfway between the net and the service line? Canyou make them land farther from the net? These variations are useful.

To achieve these slower or faster drops, you need to use two techniques:

• Varying the speed of your hitting action

• Adjusting your contact point (by changing where you stand)

For a slower drop, slow down your pushing action even more. Contact the shuttle with your racket pointing somewhat upwards: you want tosend the shuttle upwards and forwards on a slower, loopier path. This works best if your wrist is bent back (extended) and your contact point isdirectly above your racket shoulder, rather than slightly in front.

For a faster drop, make the gentle pushing action more forceful. This time, the ideal contact point is slightly farther in front (more like a smash),and you’re hitting more steeply downwards. You can also try using the wrist to adjust how steeply and how hard you hit the shuttle, but keepany wrist movements small and subtle.

In other words: a very fast drop shot is like a very slow smash!

Goals

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Varying the direction

Next try varying the direction of your drop shots. Can you play them cross-court as well as straight? Can you play them to the middle? Can youdo this from either rearcourt corner (remember that we often play forehands in our backhand corner), or from the middle?

To control the direction of your drop shots, simply change the direction of your arm movement. Pay particular attention to your follow-throughmovement: after contact, your arm movement should initially follow the shuttle!—!almost as if the shuttle were dragging your arm behind it!

If you need a greater change of angle, you can bend (flex) your wrist as you hit the shuttle. This is especially useful when playing a cross-courtdrop shot from your backhand corner (round-the-head).

Because the cross-court distance is longer, cross-court drops require a bit more force.

Once you can hit all these different angles, try combining them with changes of pace. For example: can you hit a slow cross-court drop fromyour backhand corner, making the shuttle land close to the net? Can you do the same thing, but hit it faster to land beyond the service line?





Basic technique for backhand drop shots

The technique for backand drop shots is similar to the forehand technique, so I won’t repeat everything we just covered.

Instead, I’ll just explain the aspects that are different.

Make your preparation the same as for a backhand clear or smash. Your body should be turned away from the net, with the right foot steppingtowards your backhand corner. Your elbow should be low and your racket should be pointing in an upwards direction (the racket, not thestrings).

For a forehand drop shot, I said you should reach up for a high contact point. This doesn’t apply for backhands!—!at least, not to the sameextent.

You should never hit a backhand shot from directly above your right shoulder. Why? Because you should be playing a forehand instead! It’s alsophysically awkward to make a backhand hitting action in this position.

Instead, the contact point for backhands should be above and out to the side of your shoulder. This does not mean that you deliberately letthe shuttle drop lower before playing your shot; rather, it means you only play backhands when you cannot play a good forehand.

So the contact point for backhand drops is lower than for forehands, and is always out to the side. Nevertheless, it’s well above shoulder heightand usually above head height too.

For backhand drop shots, use a relaxed bevel grip or panhandle grip.

The bevel grip is good when the shuttle is level with your body. When the shuttle has travelled slightly behind you, you’ll need to shift towards apanhandle grip instead.

Bring the elbow upwards and forwards and extend your arm as you reach for the shuttle.

Just as with forehands, backhand drops are hit with a soft pushing action, using the whole arm to guide the shuttle gently over the net. You canalso think of it as a smooth pulling action. The pulling action comes mainly from the forearm, not the wrist; there is very little wrist movementin this shot.

As with forehands, some arm rotation does occur during a backhand drop shot, and it’s much gentler and smoother than for a clear or smash.

Preparation

Contact point

Grip

Hitting action


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Concentrate on the other aspects of the technique and this should happen naturally.

Backhand drop shots are typically played when you’re under pressure, so the shuttle will often be behind your body at the point of impact. Inthis situation, you need the wrist to be bent back (extended) as you hit the shuttle; this helps make the shuttle travel downwards.

Make your recovery part of the hitting action

As you hit the shuttle, turn your shoulders and body back into court. This recovery movement should not happen after you’ve hit the drop shot!—!rather, it should be part of the hitting action.

When you’re under more pressure, you need to start recovery even earlier. You can do this by placing your right foot onto the floor slightlybefore impact with the shuttle, which allows you to begin the turning action sooner.

Try hitting slower and faster drops, and try directing them straight, cross-court, and to the middle. For obvious reasons, you don’t need topractise backhand drop shots from your forehand corner!

Because you are typically under pressure when playing a backhand drop, it can be difficult to create a cross-court angle. To make matters worse,the shoulder cannot move as far with a backhand action as it can with a forehand action.

To get around this problem, it’s often helpful to adjust your grip farther towards panhandle when playing a cross-court backhand drop. You canalso use your wrist to help create the angle, by bending it backwards more (extending it fully).



Variations of speed and angle



Making your drop shots deceptive

Once you’ve learned the basic technique, it’s time to add more deception to your drop shots.

Deception is most effective when you’re playing a forehand drop from a good attacking position. For that reason, we’re going to focus mainlyon forehands here.

The basic method for adding deception is to make your hitting action appear to be faster, so that it looks more like a smash or a clear.

Previously, you were using a slow, smooth arm movement throughout the hitting action. This meant your opponents could recognise that youwere playing a drop shot before you actually hit the shuttle.

Now try changing your hitting action so that your arm movement is faster at first, and then suddenly slows down just before you hit the shuttle.You should still hit the shuttle with a soft pushing action, but this only starts shortly before contacting the shuttle.

The trade-off between deception and accuracy

The faster you make your initial swing, the more deceptive your drop shot will be. But this fast-then-slow swing is more difficult than the basictechnique. If you try to make the swing too fast, your accuracy will suffer.

You need to compromise between deception and accuracy. It’s no good playing a deceptive shot that keeps going in the net!

In a later article, we’ll look at how you can use slice to improve this trade-off.

Players often give away their intention to play a drop shot without realising it. For your deception to be convincing, every aspect of yourpreparation must look like a clear or a smash.

Make sure that your movement to the shuttle is convincing. Many players move fast to hit a smash, but slower to hit a drop shot!—!taking thedrop shot later and saving effort. A canny opponent will detect this discrepancy in your speed or style of movement, and will start anticipatingyour drop shots.

The top men players often take this deception to the extreme, by faking a big jump smash: they jump up high, only to play a soft drop shotinstead. Every aspect of their movement suggests that a powerful smash is coming.

…but the timing cannot be exactly the same

Your hitting action for a drop shot must start fractionally earlier than if you were playing a smash instead. This is necessary because the swing isslower, and therefore takes more time to complete.

Speed up the initial arm movement

Make your preparation convincing


It’s not a huge difference, but it can be a problem when players are obsessed with deception and want to start their swing at exactly the sametime.

If you start your drop shot swing at exactly the right instant for smashing, then your contact point will be lower. This is a common error in dropshot technique: the elbow drops, the contact point is too low, and the shuttle often goes in the net.

Many players have favourite shots in particular situations. For example, some players will almost always play a cross-court drop when underpressure in the rearcourt. This makes them predictable.

It doesn’t matter how good or “deceptive” the drop shot is. If your opponents can predict your shot based on your previous choices, then theycan move forwards and take it early at the net.

That doesn’t mean you should be constantly varying all your shots. Some shots are better than others in a given situation. But you should avoidbecoming too predictable in your shot selection, especially with drop shots.

All of the same ideas can be applied to backhand drop shots. In most situations, however, deception for backhand drop shots is less effective,because you’re in a defensive position.

In this situation, you’re probably unable to play a powerful smash, so no amount of deceptive technique will convince your opponent that a bigsmash is coming. Usually, therefore, you should prioritise accuracy over deception.

Of course, it’s always good to maintain a basic level of disguise, so that your next shot is not easily predictable.

In a later article, we’ll look at how you can use slice to make your drop shots more effective. Adding slice to your drop shots opens up manyopportunities for deception.



Be unpredictable

Deception for backhand drops

What next?



Lifts

Lifts are a badminton shot played from the midcourt or net area. A lift involves hitting the shuttle upwards towards the back of youropponent’s court.

Lifts and clears are different shots:

• Lifts are played from the midcourt or net; clears are played from the rearcourt.

• Lifts use an underarm hitting action; clears use an overhead/overarm hitting action.

The terminology is often used inconsistently. Sometimes you will hear people call lifts “underarm clears”, in an attempt to avoid confusion.

For now, we’ll look at these topics:

• Basic technique for a straight lift from the net

• Lifting cross-court

• Lifts after a spinning net shot

• Lifts from the midcourt

Deceptive lifts are not yet in this article, although you can read about the tactical ideas in my singles tactics article: deceptive shots from the net.

I also don’t cover lifts as smash defence here (“long defence”), since smash defence is a significant topic by itself.

Because lifts are primarily a defensive shot, some players find them boring and neglect to practise them. This is a mistake: if you can play anaccurate lift when under pressure, then you will win many more rallies.

Using lifts defensively

Men’s doubles players in particular often prefer to practise their attacking skills, correctly reasoning that attacking is the way to win in doubles.Yet your opponents are trying to attack too, and you must avoid throwing away points with weak defence.

Getting good height and depth on your lifts makes a huge difference. A high, deep lift will blunt your opponent’s attack, forcing him to workharder for a winning smash.

Direction matters too. In doubles, lifting accurately to the corners will allow you to maintain the best defensive position, open up space forcounter-attacking shots, and put some pressure on the attackers’ movement. In singles, lifting to the middle helps you narrow down your

Lifts vs. clears

What this article covers

Lifts are an essential shot


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http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/lifts/cross-court.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/lifts/spin.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/lifts/deeper.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/singles-tactics/

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/singles-tactics/deception/forecourt.php

opponent’s angles of attack.

Using lifts aggressively

Lifts can also be attacking shots. An attacking lift involves hitting the shuttle flatter (i.e. to a lower height): you’re trying to deprive youropponent of time and get the shuttle behind him.

Deceptive attacking lifts can be deadly, especially in singles. The idea is to fool your opponent into committing forwards to the net, beforeflicking the shuttle over his head.

You can also deceive opponents about the direction of your lifts. Once you recognise all the deceptive possibilities, it’s easy to see that lifts canbe some of the most advanced shots in badminton.

Lifts as feeding shots

In terms of your ability to train, lifts are the most important shot in the game. Before you can practise any rearcourt shot, you need a partner (orcoach) who can play good lifts!

The only alternative is to buy a shuttle-feeding machine. Although these have some use in coaching, they are prohibitively expensive and muchless versatile than a skilful human feeder.

So remember: by practising your lifts together with a practice partner, your rearcourt practices also become more effective. This is one reasonthat coaches usually teach lifts early on: they are training the players to feed for each other.





Basic technique for playing a net lift

When you’re first learning to play lifts, concentrate on straight lifts played from the net, on both the forehand and backhand sides.

If you can master this technique, it will make the other lift variations easier to learn.






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Approaching the shuttle

Hold your racket with a relaxed basic grip. Step forwards towards the net, to end with a lunge on your right foot.

For forehands, keep the racket head above the level of your hand as you approach the shuttle.

For backhands, push the elbow forwards as you approach the shuttle. The elbow should be bent to about 90 degrees. This helps get your arminto a position where you can uncoil from the elbow (rotating the arm), and also keeps you balanced as your body turns towards the backhandside.

Lunge forwards to reach the shuttle, and extend the rear arm for balance.

The hitting action

For forehands, turn your forearm so that your palm is facing upwards. For backhands, turn your forearm so that your knuckles are facingupwards. You can also think of this as turning your hand over. At the same time, bend back your wrist.

Reach forwards, bringing the racket upwards from underneath the shuttle. Flick through with the wrist, turn the forearm back in the oppositedirection, and tighten the fingers as you hit.

That’s an outline of the technique. Now let’s look at those points in more detail:

It’s essential to use the correct badminton grip, as this allows your arm, wrist, and fingers to work effectively.

For forehand lifts, it’s simple: use a basic grip.

For backhand lifts, I recommend slightly shifting your grip from a basic grip towards a thumb grip. At the same time, you need to make a littlemore space between the racket handle and the base of your thumb, and place the pad of your thumb-tip more directly onto the handle.

I believe this slight adjustment is a better default grip for playing backhand lifts, since it allows you to make better use of the thumb.

Do not use a full thumb grip!

Technique summary

Grip











Some coaches teach backhand lifts using a full thumb grip. This is a serious mistake, because a full thumb grip inhibits the forearm muscles andprevents players from using the fingers effectively.

Remember that we’re talking about the grip used at the start of the stroke. When you complete the stroke, the grip may be different. Forbackhands especially, there may even be some change in grip angle during the grip tightening: the grip angle can change towards a thumb gripas you twist the racket between your fingers.

For forehand lifts, the wrist should be bent back back substantially (extended) as you approach the shuttle. As you hit the shuttle, the wristshould return to approximately neutral; avoid bending the wrist forwards (flexing).

For backhands, the initial wrist movement is different and more constrained. You prepare with a slight “thumbs down” movement (radialdeviation); if you’ve got this right, then you’ll find it’s only possible to move your wrist a small amount. As you complete the stroke, allow thewrist to continue beyond neutral and bend forwards (extending).

The wrist movements should feel relaxed and flowing. If they feel awkward or uncomfortable, then you’re doing it wrong.

The forearm movement should happen together with the wrist movement and grip tightening: they are coordinated.

Forearm rotation is essential for power. For a forehand lift, you turn the forearm outwards (supinating) before twisting it back inwards(pronating) to hit the shuttle. For a backhand lift, it’s the opposite way around: turn the forearm inwards (pronating) before twisting it backoutwards (supinating).

Avoid using a flat hit

Most beginners naturally use a flat hit, where the racket strings are facing the shuttle throughout the stroke. In other words, they are not usingforearm rotation.

It’s natural to do this because the flat-hitting technique is much easier. Unfortunately, it’s also much weaker: using a flat hit will make it difficultto play high, deep lifts.

One indicator of flat-hitting is that the wrist movement is wrong: after hitting a forehand lift, the wrist continues to bend forwards, and finishesin a “curled up” position (flexed). The same error (a flexed wrist) occurs with backhands before contacting the shuttle. These errors happenbecause the player is trying to force the wrist to power the shot.

You should feel that your fingers are controlling the stroke. The power is coming from your arm, but it’s directed by the fingers. Remember tostart with a relaxed grip before tightening the grip sharply on impact.

The thumb plays a central role for backhand lifts. Try to press with the thumb as you tighten your grip. Keep the thumb straight to providestability in your stroke.

For forehands, the index finger plays a similar role. Press with the index finger as you flick through with the wrist and arm. The index fingershould not be held straight: keep it gently curled instead.

Wrist movement

Forearm movement

Use of the fingers

Of course, the other fingers are also involved in tightening your grip. But the thumb (for backhands) and the index finger (for forehands) play aspecial role: you should “feel backhands in your thumb”, and “feel forehands in your index finger”.

You should reach your racket forwards to the shuttle, rather than hitting close to the body. This gives you space for the arm and wristmovements.

Try to avoid reaching out to the side, and hit more directly in front of you whenever possible. This helps you to direct your power where it’sneeded (forwards).

Straighten your arm as you hit the shuttle, but maintain a slight bend at the elbow even at the moment of impact. Avoid hitting with acompletely straight arm, as this locks out your joints and prevents you from using forearm rotation effectively.

A common error is to sweep the arm sideways across your body as you hit the shuttle. This is a natural movement, but it’s poor technique.

Instead, try to keep the initial follow-after movement in line with the direction of your lift. For now, since you’re learning straight lifts, thismeans the arm movement after hitting the shuttle should continue straight. Imagine that you’re pointing the racket at the shuttle, or that theshuttle is dragging the racket head behind it.

Sweeping the arm across the body makes it almost impossible to play a straight lift: you are locked into a cross-court angle. Knowing this, thefault is easy to diagnose: if a player cannot hit his lifts straight, then he is probably sweeping the arm across.

That’s why I advise you to start with straight lifts: they help you detect and fix this error early on.

You don’t need a big swing to play a lift. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, you will get more power from a relatively compact swing. Moreimportantly, using a compact swing will help you maintain balance, reach the shuttle earlier, and open up potential for deception.

The overall hitting action should feel like an explosive flicking movement, rather than a wide sweeping movement. Try to extend your armforwards to the shuttle, rather than backwards-then-forwards in a large circle. A badminton lift is not like a golf swing!

Lunging lets you reach farther in front of you and bring your body to a stop before hitting the shuttle.

Your last step should be a lunge on your right foot. Time the lunge so that you land at the same moment as hitting the shuttle, or momentarilybefore. This helps you stay balanced during the stroke, and also improves your recovery for the next shot.

If you hit the shuttle before your lunging foot lands, then you will be unbalanced and your recovery will be compromised. This is sometimesnecessary when you’re scrambling to get the shuttle back, but should be avoided whenever possible.

Hit out in front of you

Follow-after in line with the shuttle

Keep the swing compact

Make a positive lunge forwards

Practising lifts

Start with a simple hand feed over the net. The feeder should be positioned in the midcourt so that the player has time to track the incomingshuttle; the player should also be positioned in the midcourt, so that he has room to step forwards into the shot.

Practise with underarm feeds first; this feed simulates a net shot. You should also practise with overarm feeds, which simulate a drop shot. In agame, you must be able to play lifts from the net in response to both drops and net shots.

When practising lifts for the first time, concentrate on achieving a good height first, and worry about depth later.

Progressing the practices

You can progress the practices by playing shot sequences, so that you get experience of lifting from a real shot, not just from a hand feed.

The two simplest repeating sequences are as follows:

• Lift, drop

• Lift, drop, net shot

The first sequence lets one player continuously practise lifting from his partner’s drop shots. The second sequence lets both players practiselifting from a net shot.

By adding another net shot, we get another common practice sequence:

• Lift, drop, net shot, net shot

This helps you practise lifting after a tighter net shot (a net shot will usually be tighter if it follows another net shot).

As you get confident with these practices, try to develop the movement so that you return to a sensible base position between shots. Eventhough you know what the next shot will be, it’s still good to maintain the habit of covering the court effectively.

To progress the practices further, add an element of uncertainty. For example, allow the players to choose either a drop shot or clear from therearcourt, and a lift or net shot from the front.



http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/singles-tactics/central-base-position.php



Directing your lifts cross-court

Before practising cross-court lifts, make sure that you can play effective straight lifts.

Cross-court lifts require only a few small changes to your hitting action.

Bear in mind that cross-court lifts require more power than straight lifts of the same height, because the cross-court distance is greater. It’scommon for players to hit all their cross-court lifts flatter than their straight lifts, without even realising they are doing this.

Try to avoid “running around” the shot in an attempt to get a better position for playing cross-court.

In badminton, you rarely have time to reposition your whole body as a method of changing your shot angles. Instead, you need to move directlyto the shuttle and still be able to hit different angles.

Before you swing forwards into the shot, the racket head should move slightly outside the line of the shuttle. In other words: considered in asideways direction only, the approaching shuttle should be between you and the racket head.

This helps you to bring the racket inwards in a cross-court direction.

Bringing the racket outside the line of the shuttle is often useful for other shots too, because it gives you options: from this preparation, you caneasily play straight lifts, cross-court lifts, cross-court net shots, or out-to-in spinning net shots.

If you begin the hitting action just fractionally earlier, then the angle of your shot will change from straight towards cross-court.

This works mainly because the forearm is rotating rapidly during the shot. With a straight lift, you time the hitting action so that the forearmhas turned back to (roughly) neutral at the moment of impact. For a cross-court lift, beginning the hitting action an instant earlier means thatthe forearm will have turned farther by the time you contact the shuttle.

You can also flick the wrist forwards slightly more to adjust the angle of your lifts towards cross-court.

Using the wrist is more effective for backhand lifts than forehand lifts. If you bend the wrist forwards too much with a forehand lift, it willinterfere with your ability to generate power from your forearm.

Adjusting your position is not the answer

Bring the racket outside the line of the shuttle

Adjust the timing of your lifts

Using the wrist


When you’re reaching out to the side, it’s much more difficult to play a cross-court lift.

If you’re reaching sideways at full stretch, then you will probably find it impossible to play any cross-court shot. However, if you are underslightly less pressure, it may still be possible to hit cross-court, provided you adjust your grip.

To do this, move your grip towards a thumb grip for forehands or a panhandle grip for backhands. These grips change the angle of your rackethead towards cross-court.

The downside of these grip adjustments is that you will lose power: forearm rotation will be less effective, since you are holding the racket at anawkward angle. It will also be harder to use the fingers effectively.

You should take this loss of power into consideration tactically. Although you can achieve a cross-court lift with these grip adjustments, the liftmay travel flatter than you would like. Depending on the situation, it may be wiser to play a straight lift instead; remember also that straightlifts require less power than cross-court lifts, since they travel a shorter distance.



When you’re reaching out to the side



Playing a lift after a spinning net shot

Spinning net shots can make it difficult to control your lifts.

By lifting high and towards the middle (rather than a corner), you have a better chance of keeping the shuttle in the court.

When your opponent plays a spinning net shot, you are often faced with two extra difficulties:

• The net shot may be very tight.

• The spin may make it hard to control your shot.

Of course, any net shot can be tight, but typically spinning net shots are the tightest. This means you will have to lift the shuttle very high tomake it reach the back.

You need to get your racket more directly underneath the shuttle, so that you can hit steeply upwards. It often helps to crouch down low, as thisgets your body in a good position to unleash power upwards. Make a positive follow-after movement to help achieve as much height as you canon the lift, but be careful not to hit the net with your racket.

Because you need to hit the shuttle very high, you should use a longer swing than you normally would for a lift. This will allow you to get morepower.

It’s often helpful to delay your shot slightly, as this can provide several benefits:

• The shuttle will be spinning less when you hit it.

• You will have more time to get into a low, stable position.

• You will have time to make a longer backswing.

Delaying the shot in this way affects your position of preparation. Normally, you would place more emphasis on reaching the shuttle as early aspossible.

Because of this difference in preparation, it’s useful to recognise early when you will need to play this shot. This means you make the decision toplay a high lift as you are approaching the net, rather than at the last moment. This allows you to approach with the best posture for thisparticular shot.

It’s worth noting that some net shots are so extremely tight that you do not have the option to delay hitting them: to do so would leave your liftlanding woefully short. In this situation, you’ll just have to take your chances with a turbulently spinning shuttle!

Especially when the net shot has sideways spin, the spin can alter the direction of your lift; this happens when you are forced to play your shotbefore the shuttle has fully stabilised.

Dealing with tight net shots

Dealing with spin


The most dangerous example is when your opponent has played in-to-out spin near a net corner, as this spin will tend to push your lifts out atthe side. This is also a possibility after any spinning net shot.

To counteract this problem, it’s often wise to play your lift towards the middle of the court, rather than aiming for a corner. This gives you alarger margin for error.

Cross-court drops or net shots

A similar problem can occur after your opponent’s cross-court drop or net shot: because the shuttle is still angled when you hit it, you can losecontrol of the direction and height of your lift. The effect is most pronounced with a heavily sliced cross-court drop shot: these have a curvingtrajectory and seem to “die” as they cross the net.

These are nowhere near as dangerous as spinning net shots, but they can still upset your lifts. Learn to adjust your stroke to compensate for thetrajectory of your opponent’s shot. When you’re practising lifts, don’t forget to practise against cross-court drops (sliced) and cross-court netshots.





Playing a lift from farther back in court

So far, we’ve only discussed lifts played from the net.

Lifts are also played from the midcourt, and occasionally from the rearcourt too.

There are two main situations where lifts are played from the midcourt:

• When defending an opponent’s smash

• After the opponent plays a push or drive

I’ll discuss smash defence elsewhere; here, we are concerned with playing a lift from your opponent’s push or drive.

Pushes and drives are most common in doubles, although they do sometimes occur in singles too. Especially after your opponent plays a drive,you will need more power to play a lift. You need more power because you’re positioned farther back in court, and your lift must therefore travelfarther to reach the back.

You’ll also typically be reaching out towards the side in this situation, as drives and pushes are mainly placed towards the side of the court.

There’s no special secret to help get that extra power. The technique is much the same as for a net lift, except that you’ll be stepping out in asideways direction rather than forwards. Focus on reacting quickly and addressing the shuttle while it’s still partially in front of you. Do notmake the tempting mistake of building up for a big swing: while you are making a large backswing, the shuttle is passing you. The strokebecomes much more difficult if you let the shuttle get behind you.

Remember that cross-court lifts require more power. It’s usually wise to lift straight in this situation. In doubles, a cross-court lift from thisposition will also send your partner scrambling backwards to defend the straight smash!

Also remember that flat lifts require less power. It’s better to lift flat than short. A flat lift may be risky, but sometimes it can put the attackerunder pressure.

In the rearcourt, you usually hit the shuttle with an overhead action, where the contact point is higher than the level of your head. This actionhelps you generate much more power.

Sometimes you’ll find yourself in serious trouble, with the shuttle low (below shoulder height) and deep in your rearcourt; perhaps the shuttle iseven behind you. This is a desperate situation, and the best advice is to think about how you got into trouble in the first place. Try to find waysof stopping it from happening again!

It’s very difficult to play defensive lifts from this position, especially on the backhand. You will need a longer backswing than normal to helpcreate the power. Even so, you will likely find that your lifts travel flat or short. Given the choice, go for a flat lift rather than a short lift.

Lifts from the midcourt

Lifts from the rearcourt


It’s often wiser to play a different shot, such as a drive or push back to the net. Try to spot gaps that a lazy opponent is leaving, and place theshuttle into them.

Players often fixate on these desperate situations, asking how they can get enough power to play an incredible defensive shot. You can build upyour power through training, although there’s no special trick for this situation. A saner approach is to improve your footwork, positioning, andtactics to avoid these desperate situations. Stop thinking about the losing shot, and start thinking about the rally that preceded it!





Badminton net kills

Net kills are the most aggressive shots in badminton: rallies are frequently ended by a net kill, in both singles and doubles.

This guide will teach you how to play them.

A net kill is when you hit the shuttle downwards from the net area, with the aim of winning the rally immediately. Net kills are played with pace,but they don’t require much power.

Net kills should be played as steeply as possible. Ideally, a net kill will land before the front service line; this is almost impossible to return.

Steepness is more important than power. If you try to hit the shuttle too hard, it will often go flat. These flat “kills” are much easier to return,and they often go out at the back!

During a rally, you’re not allowed to reach over the net with your racket. So when playing a net kill, you must make contact with the shuttle onyour side of the net.

However, providing you contacted the shuttle on your side, you may complete your stroke with your racket passing over the net during thefollow-through movement.

You’re also not allowed to touch the net, which is easily done when trying to kill a tight shuttle. The techniques in this article will help you avoidhitting the net on your kills.

Playing good net kills is not just about technique; it’s also about your state of mind.

You need to be aggressive, and seize any opportunity to play the kill. You should be looking for chances to kill the shuttle, rather than justplaying a kill when it’s easy.

This aggression should be controlled. Get to the shuttle early, and seize your chance to play the kill; but don’t take a huge swipe at it. Your aimis to get the shuttle on the ground, not to drill a hole through the floor! We’ll discuss this more when we look at technique.

Reach the shuttle early

To play a net kill, you must reach the shuttle while it is still above net height.

Don’t be lazy! It’s often tempting to let the shuttle drop and play a net shot instead!—!or even worse, a lift. We’ve all done this, but it’s a badhabit. Train yourself to make that extra effort.

There are some situations in badminton where a tiny delay can completely change the outcome; this is one of them. Delaying even a fraction of

Know the rules!

Controlled aggression


a second can make the difference between a winning net kill and a defensive lift.

Take on the challenge!

When the shuttle is falling tight to the net, players often lose the courage to play a net kill. Nervous of hitting the net, they play a net shotinstead, because it’s “safer”.

Think about this for a moment: is the net shot really safer? It seems so at first, because it’s easier to avoid hitting the net. So yes, you are lesslikely to make an error.

But when you play a net shot, your opponents can usually return it. You probably still have an advantage, but how much is that worth?Advantages can disappear in one shot.

This means your “safe” net shot has given your opponents a good chance of winning the rally. You had a chance to end the rally immediately,and you blew it for fear of making an error!

Take on the challenge, and attempt the kill. Don’t be put off when you make mistakes: you will get better with practice and experience.

When to avoid a net kill

I just told you to be aggressive and attempt the kill, even when it’s difficult. This is generally good advice, but there are exceptions.

If you can keep it steep, a net kill is always the best shot. But sometimes the shuttle has fallen too low, making a steep angle impossible.

In this situation, you can play a flat net kill, which will travel deeper into your opponents’ court. You could also call this shot a steep net drive.

Unlike steep net kills, flat net kills often come back. If your kill is very flat, your opponents may counter-attack immediately. Depending on thesituation, it may be better to play another shot instead!—!such as a tight, spinning net shot.



http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/net-shots/



General net kill technique

You should play net kills using a short, sharp hitting action.

The exact technique varies depending on the situation. In all cases, however, remember to keep your hitting action compact and controlled.

Keep your swing short

Most players use far too big a swing for their net kills. This causes them to lose accuracy.

As a result, their net kills often go out or into the net. When you make a big swing, it’s much harder to control the accuracy of your shot.

Using a large swing can also cause you to hit the net with your racket (which is a fault).

Get your racket up early, and change grip in time

Players often delay too long before bringing their racket head up for the kill. This causes them to making a larger swing than necessary, and hitthe shot flat.

Get your racket up before the shuttle arrives. Try to get “on top” of the shuttle, so you are ready to hit downwards.

You’ll often need to change grip when you hit a net kill. For example, you often need a thumb grip when hitting a backhand net kill. Make sureyour grip change is complete before you hit the shuttle.

Use grip tightening for power

Net kills depend on good use of grip tightening for power. Grip tightening allows you to get moderate power even with a short swing.

Start with a relaxed grip, then tighten your grip as you hit the shuttle.

There are several technique variations for playing net kills. Which one you use will depend on the situation.

I’ve divided these techniques into four main types:

• Tap net kills

• Finger-power net kills

• Brush net kills

• Midcourt net kills

General net kill technique

Technique variations



http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/net-kills/technique/tap.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/net-kills/technique/finger-power.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/net-kills/technique/brush.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/net-kills/technique/midcourt.php

In reality, there’s no exact boundary between these techniques. Once you’ve learned these different styles of net kill, you can blend themtogether to suit the situation in the rally.





Tap net kills

The tap technique is used when the shuttle is quite close to the net.

By using a short tapping action, you can play an accurate net kill without hitting the net with your racket.

I consider this the “main” technique for playing net kills: it’s the one you should learn first, and use most often.

Prepare by raising your elbow and bending back your wrist. There should also be a slight bend at the elbow.

As you do this, change grip. Move towards a panhandle grip for forehands, and a thumb grip grip for backhands.

Keep the backswing compact. The racket head should stay in front of you, rather than passing behind your shoulders.

Hit the shuttle by straightening your arm at the elbow, and flicking your wrist forwards. Use a tapping action, so that the racket head stops afterimpact or rebounds backwards; in other words, try to stop the racket head from continuing forwards and hitting the net!

Forearm rotation will help you get more power.

The idea is to begin your hitting action with the racket face angled somewhat sideways, and then twist your forearm so that you contact theshuttle with the racket strings facing directly forwards.

Here’s another way to think about it: when you are preparing to hit the shuttle, the outside edge of your racket frame should be slightly nearerthe net than the inside edge. When you contact the shuttle, the racket should be square-on to the net.

(The outside edge is the edge nearer the side tramlines; the inside edge is the edge nearer the middle of the court.)

The technical, precise explanation

For backhands, pronate your forearm on the backswing and supinate it on the forwards swing (twist inwards, then twist outwards).

For foreands, supinate on the backswing and pronate on the forwards swing (twist outwards, then twist inwards).

When the shuttle is wide of you

When you are are reaching out sideways for a net kill, it’s harder to get the power. The problem here is that your elbow and wrist can’t help youas much, as they are pointing in the wrong direction (sideways, not forwards).

The basics

Using the forearm for power




To compensate for this, you will need to use more forearm rotation. You’ll also need to adjust the angle of your grip, so that the racket facesforwards on impact (rather than out the side).

If you don’t use forearm rotation, then you will be hitting with a flat racket face throughout the stroke. This will cause you to lose power.

Hitting flat is often connected with using your grip incorrectly. This is a very subtle point, but important.

Making your grip too “extreme”

I said earlier that you should move towards a panhandle grip for forehands, and a thumb grip for backhands. I chose those words carefully!

Notice what I didn’t say. I didn’t say you should use a panhandle or thumb grip. Why not?

When playing net kills, a common error is to prepare for the shot using a full thumb or panhandle grip!—!going “all the way” to these extremes.For example, a full thumb grip has the thumb placed directly along the back of the racket handle.

On the backhand side, for example, preparing with a full thumb grip restricts the rotation of the racket, and also restricts the interaction ofthumb and fingers on the racket handle. As a result, you will use a “flat bat” hit, which is less powerful.

Establishing the final grip too early in the stroke

It’s quite likely that you will finish the stroke with a panhandle or thumb grip. But that doesn’t mean you should start with one.

The grip should change during the stroke, as you tighten your fingers and snap the racket handle into your palm. Done correctly, this action willhelp you use forearm rotation effectively.

On the forehand side, for example, players commonly establish a full panhandle grip early in the stroke, preventing them from using forearmrotation effectively. As a result, they rely too much on the wrist movement, which is weaker.



Hitting flat — a common error



Finger-power net kills

Finger-power is a highly specialised technique for playing net kills.

The idea is to kill the shuttle with almost no backswing. This is useful when you have very little time between shots, and can only kill theshuttle if you reach it immediately.






Net kills: finger power technique

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With the standard tap technique, you use a short tapping action with some forearm rotation.

The finger-power technique makes the hitting action even shorter. The idea is to use as little backswing as possible, so that you can reach theshuttle before it drops too low.

Because you’re trying to use as short a swing as possible, I recommend holding the racket with a short grip.

Take the racket straight to the shuttle

From your starting position, you should move the racket head directly to the shuttle.

The whole point of this technique is to reach the shuttle sooner, so you can play a kill rather than a net shot. By taking the racket directly to theshuttle, you reach it earlier.

Limit forearm rotation: hit with a “flat racket” instead

With the tap technique, I taught you to use forearm rotation for power. For the finger-power technique, I’m teaching you the opposite.

Almost all power shots in badminton should use arm rotation. Finger-power net kills are a rare exception. By using little or noforearm rotation, you can hit the shuttle with a shorter action, which takes less time.

Because you’re not using forearm rotation, you’ll need to rely entirely on grip tightening to generate power. That’s why this technique is called“finger power”.

You do need to extend your elbow too, however. Although we call it “finger power”, the power is really coming from the action of straighteningyour arm. The finger-tightening action transfers this power into the racket head.

Establish the final grip early

Again, this differs from the standard tap technique.

With the tap technique, you should avoid preparing with a full thumb or panhandle grip, because these grips will limit the involvement of yourforearm. The final grip should be established late in the stroke.

With the finger-power technique, however, you’re using as little forearm movement as possible. You should change grip fully before hitting theshuttle, as this will help you get the most power from your grip tightening.

Playing net kills with almost no backswing







http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grip-adjustments/grip-length.php

Your grip should still be relaxed before hitting the shuttle. When I say “change grip fully”, I’m talking about the angle of the racket in your hand,not how tight your grip is.

Hold, then hit

Your kills will be more effective if you can get the racket into position momentarily before the shuttle arrives. You then hold this position for aninstant, before hitting the shuttle.

This may be counter-intuitive, because it seems slow. You’re low on time, so why waste time with this momentary hold?

In reality, you’re not wasting any time. When I ask players to “hold, then hit”, I’m actually trying to make them do two things:

• Change grip quickly

• Get ahead of the shuttle, rather than following the shuttle

A common error is to follow the shuttle with your racket, and then try to hit it. Instead, you should try to get your racket there first, so you havean instant to wait; this makes your shot more controlled.

By thinking “hold, then hit”, you are motivated to move the racket sooner, rather than waiting. So it actually saves you time!

You can learn this technique by practising net kills with a head cover on your racket.

Caution

This practice increases the stress on your arm!—!especially your wrist and elbow. Be careful not to practise for too long at once (e.g. don’tspend a whole hour doing this).

As a general rule, this practice is not suitable for children (under about 15 years).

Many modern rackets come with full-body covers. These are not suitable; you need one that only covers the head of the racket. If necessary, justbuy a really cheap racket that comes with a head cover!

You need a partner to hand-feed shuttles for you to kill. He should have two stacks of shuttles ready.

First, practise with the head cover on

With the head cover on, you will find it difficult to play net kills, because air resistance will cause you to lose control of the racket movement.

This might be annoying at first, but it’s actually helping you learn. Using the head cover will force you to make a shorter swing.

Try to avoid making any backswing. Change grip, and take the racket directly towards the shuttle. Just before the shuttle arrives, tighten yourgrip violently as you straighten your arm.

Remember to relax your grip before tightening it. Relax, then tighten.

How to practise finger-power net kills

Next, take off the head cover

After you’ve hit one stack of shuttles, take off the racket head cover. Your partner should immediately start feeding you the second stack.

It’s important to start immediately. Don’t hang around to collect shuttles!—!that’s why the feeder started with two stacks!

The racket will now feel bizarrely light, but try to keep your technique exactly the same. You’re trying to keep the same timing and feeling aswhen you had the racket head cover on.

This finger-power technique lets you play kills that otherwise would be impossible with the standard tap technique.

Be careful not to neglect the tap technique. Once a player learns this finger-power method, there is a danger he will use it all the time!—!even when it’s not a good choice for the situation.

It’s important for players’ skill development that they learn how to hit all power shots!—!including net kills!—!using arm rotation. If you don’tlearn this, then your skills will be limited.

When is the finger-power technique good?

Probably the most common application of this technique is during doubles net play. As an example, suppose you have served low in doubles andthe receiver plays a net shot return.

In this situation, you have very little time to react. You need to get your racket to the shuttle quickly, before it falls below net height.

Sometimes, using the finger-power technique will allow you to kill the shuttle, when otherwise you would have played a net shot or lift.

It can also be useful when the receiver plays a midcourt push. Sometimes, you barely have time to intercept the shuttle, and this makes itdifficult to play anything but a block to the net. Using the finger-power technique, you may be able to play a kill or drive instead.

When is the finger-power technique bad?

The benefit of the finger-power technique is that it takes less time to prepare for your net kill: you can react more quickly. The drawback is thatyou get significantly less power.

In many situations, this means that using the finger-power technique will make your net kills unnecessarily weak. This doesn’t matter when thekill is extremely steep (landing near the service line), but in real game conditions, most net kills will be flatter.

When you play against strong defenders, your flatter net kills will often come back. If you can hit them a bit harder, then more of them will bewinners.

For example, suppose your doubles partner just smashed, and the opponent plays a block to the net. As the front attacker, you will moveforwards from a midcourt position and try to kill the shuttle (if possible).

Here, you have enough time to make a backswing and use some forearm rotation. This will help you get more power on your net kill, so it’smore likely to win the rally.

Using the finger-power technique here would needlessly reduce the power of your net kill.

A warning about this technique



Brush net kills

When the shuttle is extremely tight to the net, you cannot play a normal net kill, because you’ll hit the net with your racket.

By using a sideways brushing action, however, you can kill even the tightest of net shots. This is called a brush net kill.






Brush net kills

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The sideways brushing action is inwards towards the centre of the net (out-to-in).

To make this work, start the stroke with the racket head angled just slightly inwards towards the centre of the net. The racket head should beslightly outside the line of the shuttle, giving you space for the sideways movement.

Brush across the shuttle using a short, sweeping action.

This brushing technique is more difficult to learn than the others. When the shuttle is extremely tight to the net, playing a net kill takes a lot ofskill.

Brush net kills are definitely worth learning, but be patient. You’ll probably lose many rallies when you first try them. While you’re still learningthem, consider playing easier shots instead during an important match (for example, a net shot).

Nevertheless, it’s important to let yourself make mistakes during practice and casual games. Go for the brush net kill! It doesn’t matter if youlose the rally; improving your skills is more important.

Brush net kills use sideways movement to generate power in a forwards direction.

Avoid using a forwards tapping action. In particular, be careful not to snap the wrist forwards, as this will cause you to hit the net.

It’s often helpful to withdraw the racket immediately after contacting the shuttle.

Controlled forearm rotation and grip tightening

You might wonder how it’s possible to hit forwards using a sideways action.

It works by starting with a slightly angled racket face, and carefully using forearm rotation to twist the racket face during the shot. The racketwill move mainly sideways, but with a very tight forwards arc. At the point of contact, the racket strings should be facing forwards (anddownwards), rather than still being angled sideways.

The racket shaft will start at an angle, and will move towards vertical during the stroke.

Control the shot by twisting the racket in your fingers: this will help you keep the forearm movement small.

Brush net kills are difficult!

Hit mainly sideways, not forwards






Tighten your grip to make the shot sharp, but take care not to snap the racket head forwards. The grip tightening should be directed to move theracket mainly sideways.

In theory, you can use this technique to kill any shuttle, providing you contact it above the level of the net.

In reality, it’s extremely difficult to kill the tightest of net shots. If the shuttle is rolling over the net cord, you need superb control to play the kill.

The difficulty is greatly increased if you are still moving rapidly when you hit the shot. In this situation, it’s almost impossible to avoid hittingthe net, because you are off balance.

In a match, I suggest you only attempt these extreme net kills if you are on balance, and only if you’ve mastered the technique.

If you’re charging forwards from the rearcourt to kill a shuttle that’s just rolling over the net cord, you will hit the net. Play a different shotinstead.

Pinning shuttles to the net

You can practise the technique by pinning shuttles to the net, and then brushing them off.

You will need feather shuttles for this!—!preferably old, damaged ones. Push the feathers into the net, so that they hold the shuttle in place withthe cork pointing upwards.

Only brush one shuttle at a time: when you brush a shuttle, the net movement will dislodge any other shuttles you have attached!

You can progress this exercise by adding some movement towards the shuttle. For a challenge, try jumping forwards to play the kill. Rememberyou’re not allowed to touch the net!

Practising without a shuttle

The technique for brush net kills is very delicate. You can refine it by practising in slow-motion without a shuttle.

Concentrate on the subtle interaction of fingers, wrist, and forearm to make the racket brush close alongside the net in a tight arcing movement.Practise in slow-motion, and then try speeding it up gradually.

You don’t even need a badminton court for this practice. You can just as well practise against any soft, level object!—!such as the side of a bed(with you kneeling on the floor).

Practising with a feed

Brushing a static shuttle off the net is a good start, but you need to cope with a moving shuttle.

One option is for a partner to hand-feed very tight net shots. Alternatively, you can play the following sequence:

1. Feeder racket-feeds a net shot

2. You play a tight net shot

You can’t kill everything. Be realistic!

How to practise brush net kills

3. Feeder plays a tight net shot back

4. You play a brush net kill

In these practices, the feeder should be wearing safety glasses to protect his eyes.

The main purpose of brush net kills is to kill extremely tight net shots. However, the brushing action can also be useful when the shuttle is onlymoderately tight to the net.

When you’re moving forwards quickly

The brushing technique can be helpful when you are moving forwards at speed. This is especially common in singles. The brushing action canhelp in three ways:

• It lets you adjust the sideways position of your contact point.

• It helps you control the forwards movement of the racket head.

• When killing a cross-court shot, it helps keep the shuttle in court.

Adjusting the position of your contact point is useful when you’ve slightly misjudged the direction of the shuttle. The brush technique effectivelyprovides margin for error in predicting where the shuttle is going to be. This makes it especially useful when your opponent’s shot is travellingacross the court.

When you are moving forwards quickly, your body movement makes it harder to stop the racket head from continuing forwards and hitting thenet. The brushing action has a built-in “braking” movement, which can help limit your forwards swing.

If your opponent’s shot is travelling across court, it’s easy to send your net kill out at the sidelines. Because the brush technique uses an out-to-in movement, it tends to direct the shuttle back towards the centre of the court.

When you’re prepared to play an upwards shot

In singles net play, players will often wait in the forecourt with their racket below net height. This preparation allows them to play lifts or netshots.

If your opponent loses control of his net shot, however, then you should play a net kill instead. Here, the brush technique can be used to bringyour racket upwards from below net height, and kill the shuttle in one swift movement.

The other techniques are less effective here, because they require you to make two actions: first, get the racket up; second, hit forwards. Withthe brush technique, both these actions are combined into one fluid movement, which takes less time.



Other uses for the brushing technique



Midcourt net kills

So far, I’ve shown you techniques for killing shuttles that are close to the net.

When the shuttle is farther away from the net, however, you don’t need to worry about hitting the net with your racket. This means you canmake a slightly larger swing, for more power.

A typical example is when you move forwards to play a net kill from around the short service line. This situation is somewhere in between amidcourt smash and a tight net kill, and the technique should reflect that: it’s not a full smash, but it does use a more powerful arm swing than atight net kill.

Forehands

By using more arm rotation, you’ll get more power. The arm action should be similar to hitting a smash, but shorter. The hitting action shouldalso be adjusted to account for the position of the shuttle, which will often be farther in front of you or out to the side.

You may need to adjust your grip. Use the basic grip as a default, but be prepared to move towards a panhandle grip if the shuttle is farther infront of you.

Hit with a sharp rebound action, so that your racket immediately comes back up after playing the net kill. You need to be ready in case your killis returned!

Although the arm action should be similar to playing a smash, the footwork and posture are different. Do not use body rotation or prepare witha sideways-on posture. Body rotation is appropriate for rearcourt play, where you need that much power. In the front midcourt, your arm swingshould provide plenty of power.

Instead of using body rotation, you will typically be stepping forwards into the shot with your right foot leading.

Backhands

Backhands are essentially the same, but many players struggle with this shot.

Remember to turn your body towards the backhand side before you start the shot. When playing backhand shots at the net, players oftenforget about their body angle until it’s too late.

During your backswing, bring the elbow up to about neck height, and pronate your forearm (turn it inwards) so that the racket strings arepointing upwards. Leaving the elbow low is a common error, which causes the player’s arm swing to “collapse” as he hits the shot.

Lead the forwards swing from the shoulder, reversing the movements you made for the backswing: bring the elbow back down as you violentlysupinate the forearm (turn it outwards).

Use a bevel grip or thumb grip, depending on the position of the shuttle. Start with a relaxed grip, and tighten the grip as you hit the shuttle.Remember to keep the hitting action compact, with a clear stopping or rebound movement after you contact the shuttle.

Using a shortened smash action







When your doubles partner is attacking from the back, you should adopt an attacking position in the midcourt (see doubles positions).

The defenders will often use drives to counter-attack your partner’s smashes. By hitting the shuttle fast and flat, they hope to get it past youbefore you can react.

If you can intercept these counter-attacking drives, you will often be able to win the rally outright, or provoke a weak reply. Because their driveswill travel in an upwards direction, your interceptions can go downwards. Effectively, this is another type of net kill.

In the techniques we’ve looked at so far, I’ve often emphasised the need to move forwards and reach the shuttle early. This is the typicalsituation for playing a net kill.

With doubles interceptions, however, you have the opposite problem: the shuttle is passing you very quickly. Instead of using a technique thathelps you reach forwards, you need a technique that helps you intercept flat, fast shots that are travelling past you.

For this reason, you need to use a technique that lets you hit when the shuttle is level with your body, or even slightly behind you.

Technique for interceptions

As the front attacker, your feet should be roughly side-by-side with your body facing the net. Hold the racket in a short basic grip.

From this position, bring the racket head up so that it’s above your head, with the racket shaft approximately horizontal!—!the racket is “lying onits side”, resting above your head. Your palm, and the racket strings, should be facing forwards. Your wrist should be bent (radially deviated) tocreate a narrow angle between the hand and forearm (about 90 degrees).

From this position, you generate power by rotating your arm. For the backswing, move your hand backwards as you twist your arm outwards(external rotation & supination); this will bring your elbow forwards slightly. For the forwards swing, reverse that movement: bring the handback forwards as your twist your arm inwards (interal rotation & pronation).

It’s essential that both the elbow and wrist stay high throughout this process; do not allow them to drop much from their starting positions.

Get your racket up early

You must get your racket up before the shuttle comes. Your racket should be starting to come upwards about the time your partner hits theshuttle.

There’s no need to wait with your racket up the whole time; this just tires your arm and creates power-sapping tension in the muscles. Justbring the racket up before you need it, not after!

Play forehands where possible

Using this technique, you can play forehand interceptions across a wide area!—!including shots that are on your backhand side! For shotsfarther to your forehand side, simply reach sideways with your hand as you drop your elbow. For shots farther to your backhand side, reachyour hand over your over your head and to the left.

Try it in slow motion: reach to the forehand side, and then the backhand side, at all times keeping your whole arm level with your body (not infront or behind). This is like making a large waving action, as if signalling for help!

To help control the placement of your shot, you can flick your wrist forwards by varying amounts. This is especially important when reaching

Midcourt interceptions in doubles

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around-the-head to your backhand side, as you may need to use your wrist to keep the shuttle from going out at the side.

If you watch professional doubles players, you’ll see that a high percentage of these midcourt interceptions are made with a forehand action.The front attacker positions himself to maximise his forehand coverage of these shots.

The problem with using a backhand here is that you need to turn your body before you can reach across to your backhand side. This takes toolong when you’re intercepting fast, flat shots: the shuttle will pass you before you’re ready to hit it. Backhands are normally only used when thesmash return is a softer shot, such as a push to the midcourt or a block to the net.

This technique can be used in other situatons

I’ve described this technique as a midcourt interception in doubles, but it can also be useful in the forecourt!—!for example, to intercept apush or drive return to your low serve.

Sometimes this technique (or something similar) can even be useful in singles.





Forehand power shots: clear and smash technique

This guide will teach you how to play forehand clears and smashes.

We’ll concentrate on how you can generate more power, so that clears reach the back and smashes are more threatening.






Forehand clear & smash technique: introduction

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The techniques explained in this article are mainly about helping you generate more power when you play a clear or smash.

Top players can hit the shuttle extremely hard: the fastest recorded smash is 421 kph (262 mph). Generating this much power requires excellenttechnique.

At a more basic level, many club players struggle to hit clears all the way to the back. Because their technique is poor, clearing the shuttlerequires a lot of energy, and they soon become tired.

It’s not about how big your muscles are

Some badminton players think that developing big muscles is the way to improve their power.

It’s true that fitness training will help, but the main issue is technique. No matter how big your muscles are, you will have a weak smash unlessyour technique is right.

There’s not much difference in technique between a clear and a smash. In both cases, the challenge is getting enough power.

The main technical difference is the contact point. Clears are hit with the shuttle directly above the right shoulder, whereas the contact point forsmashes is slightly out in front of the body. This difference occurs because clears are hit in an upwards direction, whereas smashes are hitdownwards.

For this reason, getting behind the shuttle is especially important if you want to play a good smash.



Generating power

Differences between clears and smashes








Basic hitting technique for forehand clears and smashes

This section offers three lessons to help you develop your power for forehand clears and smashes.

Even the basic technique for forehand overheads is quite complex. It takes time to learn.

To make it easier to learn, this section follows a structure similar to actual coaching sessions. I’ve divided it into three lessons:

• Body rotation

• Arm rotation

• Combining arm rotation with body rotation

In the first lesson, we’ll cover the topic of body rotation. You’ll learn the overall shape or “form” that your hitting action should have. This is the“big picture”.

In the second lesson, we’ll learn about arm rotation. This is a “fine detail” that’s easily missed, but it’s absolutely essential for generating power.

In the third lesson, we’ll put both of these techniques together. By looking at both the “big picture” and the “fine details”, you’ll develop acomplete hitting technique.



Learning the basic hitting technique







Body rotation: the forehand throwing action

To get the most power, you need to prepare in a side-on hitting position. This allows you to create power from body rotation.






Forehand clear & smash technique: body rotation

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Most beginners stand square-on to the net, holding the racket in a panhandle grip. To get power, they try flicking their arm forwards from theelbow and wrist.

This beginner technique is called panhandling. Panhandling has one advantage: making a clean contact is easy, because the racket strings arealways pointing at the shuttle.

Even experienced players get it wrong

Although I’ve called it a “beginner technique”, most club players suffer from panhandling to some extent.

Panhandling can be overcome with good coaching and dedicated practices. Without such help, most players will always be stuck with somepanhandling in their technique.

Being technical, pandhandling uses mainly elbow extension and wrist flexion to power the shot. Unfortunately, these arm movements arerelatively weak on their own. If you want to develop powerful shots, you must learn better technique instead.

Because panhandling uses a low contact point out in front of the body, it also restricts players to hitting relatively flat shots: it’s difficult to playa steep smash or a high clear.

The correct technique allows you to use body and arm rotation to power your shots. It also lets you reach higher, so you can hit the shuttlemore steeply downwards.

Almost all beginners find the correct technique much harder to learn; many just give up and stick with panhandling. Persevere! Once you get itright, your clears and smashes will be far more powerful, and you’ll be using less effort to hit them.

We’ll start by learning the basics of body rotation. After that, we’ll move on to arm rotation.

Learning body rotation

Start with a relaxed basic grip.

Turn your whole body sideways, so that your left side is closer to the net than your right side. Your left foot should be in front of your right foot.Make sure your right foot is pointing out to the side of the court.

Raise both your arms so that your elbows are level with your shoulders: your elbows and shoulders should be in a line. Lean back slightly, so

The wrong way: panhandling

The right way: body and arm rotation








that your right elbow is lower than your left elbow.

You should be looking forwards towards the net, not sideways.

Key tip

This sideways-on posture is similar to the action of an archer drawing back a bowstring.

Imagine you are getting ready to fire an arrow!

From this side-on position, step forwards with your right foot and reach up high to hit the shuttle.

As you step forwards, your hips and shoulders should turn: you begin with your body facing to the right, you hit the shuttle with your bodyfacing the net, and you finish the stroke with your body facing mainly to the left.

Temporary footwork

For now, you should keep your left foot on the ground as you hit the shot, and step forwards with your right foot.

I call this footwork a step-through: you’re stepping through the shot. This is a simplified footwork method, which makes it easier to learn thehitting technique. Later on, you can learn to use a scissor jump instead, which will increase the power you get from body rotation.

The hitting technique for forehand clears and smashes is often likened to throwing a ball a long distance, with an overhead throwing action. It’sas though you throw the racket at the shuttle!—!but without letting go of the racket!

You can practise the correct throwing action by standing at the back of the court and trying to throw a shuttle over the net. You can also trythrowing other items, such as tennis balls.

Then try making the same action while holding your racket. You may find it helpful to practise the movement without a shuttle (shadowing theshot).

I suggest you start by practising a forehand clear. You can also practise smashes if you prefer, but most players find the clear easier to beginwith.

First, just focus on a high contact point

For your first practice, focus on these two coaching points:

• Start with a relaxed basic grip.

• Reach up above your head for a high contact point.

The ideal contact point is above your right shoulder, at full relaxed reach. You should be reaching up, but your arm should not be completely

The forehand “throwing action”

How to practise the hitting technique


straight: there should be small angles at the elbow, wrist, and shoulder.

Next, try to add body rotation

Once you are comfortable reaching up for a high contact point, try adding more parts of the technique:

• Get into a side-on stance, with your right foot back and your arms elevated.

• Step into the shot with your right foot, turning your body and shoulders.

• Use an overhead “throwing” action to hit the shuttle.





Learning arm rotation on its own

Arm rotation is essential for creating power in badminton. In my opinion, it’s the most important aspect of hitting a powerful shot.






Forehand clear & smash technique: arm rotation

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Arm rotation involves turning the arm inwards or outwards. In badminton, both the upper and lower arm contribute power.

Let’s try out both of these arm rotations. First, get yourself into the following starting position:

Starting position

Put your arms at your sides, with your palms facing inwards and your fingers pointing towards the floor.

Now bend your elbows 90 degrees, so that your hands are out in front of you with the palms facing each other. Your fingers should bepointing forwards.

Rotation of the upper arm

From the starting position, reach each hand across to touch the opposite elbow. Keep your elbows pinned to your side as you do this: the elbowsshould not move! This movement is internal rotation of the upper arm.

Return to the starting position. This time, move your hands away from each other so that your fingers are pointing out to the side. Again, keepyour elbows pinned in place. This movement is external rotation of the upper arm.

Rotation of the lower arm (forearm)

From the starting position, turn your hands over so that your palms are facing the floor. This movement is pronation of the forearm.

Return to the starting position, and turn your hands so that the palms face upwards. This movement is supination of the forearm.

Now you know what I mean by arm rotation, but I haven’t yet showed you how to use it in badminton.

Let’s start with some simplified practices. In the previous topic, you learned about getting side-on and using body rotation. For this practice, I’dlike you to stop doing that temporarily.

We’ll return to body rotation soon, but for these first practices I want to isolate the arm rotation so that it’s easier to learn.

Practice setup

What is arm rotation?

Your first lesson in arm rotation





You need two people for these practices: the player and the feeder.

You can do these practices in any part of the court, but the feeder will need to be close to you. I usually arrange these practices with the player inhis forecourt area, and the feeder on the other side of the net throwing shuttles.

The feed needs to be very accurate. For this reason, I recommend that the feeder throw shuttles by hand. The feeder must be careful toprotect his eyes, or he risks being blinded. I recommend wearing shatter-proof safety glasses.

The feeder should use an underarm throw, and make sure the player has enough time to play his shot: it’s best if the shuttle travels slightlyhigher than the player’s reach, before dropping down for him to hit. Try to deliver the feeds right onto the racket strings, so that the player hasto make only minimal adjustments to his position.

As the player, you should stand with your chest square-on to the net, and your feet approximately side-by-side. Reach up with your right arm sothat your elbow is high and slightly ahead of you. There should be a wide angle at the elbow, but your arm should still be slightly bent.

Turn your arm outwards so that your palm is facing inwards (you are externally rotating the upper arm and supinating the forearm). You arenow in the starting position for these practices.

1. Hitting the shuttle with the racket frame!

To start with, I just want you to hit the shuttle with the side of the racket frame. This may seem a bizarre exercise, but trust me!—!there’s methodin my madness!

Your hitting action must be very short. From the starting position, move your hand a short distance backwards, bending at the elbow.Thenbring it forwards more sharply, leading with your little finger, so that you hit the shuttle with the side of the racket frame. Imagine that you’rechopping the shuttle in half!

At the point of impact, stop your swing: do not allow the racket to continue going forwards and downwards. For these practices, we want ashort, sharp swing.

2. Turning the arm back inwards

For this practice, I want you to imagine that you’re still chopping the shuttle with the frame. But at the last moment, you twist your handinwards, to hit with the strings instead.

Start with a relaxed grip, and tighten it just before hitting the shuttle. Keep your hitting action very short: stop the racket at the point of impact,creating a rebound action.

Just to be clear, this is what you’re aiming for:

1. Small backswing from the elbow. The grip is relaxed.

2. Small forwards swing from the elbow. The racket is still facing sideways.

3. Tighten your grip and twist your arm inwards so that the racket faces the shuttle on impact.

Once you get the hang of this, you will find that the shuttle travels surprisingly fast, despite your short hitting action. That’s why grip tighteningand arm rotation are so important.

A common mistake in this practice

Players commonly get this practice wrong. It’s essential to do it properly, or you won’t get any benefit. The correct sequence is this:

1. Backswing

2. Start forwards swing

3. Turn arm to face racket forwards

In my experience, about 40% of beginners actually do this:

1. Backswing

2. Turn arm to face racket forwards

3. Forwards swing

Unless this is corrected, the practice is pointless. Ask your feeder to watch what you’re doing carefully. Even better, get someone else toobserve.





Combining arm rotation with body rotation

In this lesson, we’ll complete your basic technique by learning how to combine arm rotation with body rotation.






Forehand clear & smash technique: Using the elbow

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Let’s improve your throwing action by focusing on the role played by the elbow. We’ll break the throwing action down into three stages:

1. Side-on preparation

2. Just before hitting

3. Hitting and follow-through

1. Side-on preparation

You’ve already learned about getting sideways-on in preparation for the shot. Now let’s make sure the elbow position is correct.

At this stage of the shot, you should have a narrow angle at your elbow!—!about 45 degrees. The exact angle doesn’t matter, just that it should beless than 90 degrees.

To remember this, it often helps to look at the shape your elbow makes. With this narrow angle, the elbow makes a V-shape.

Remember that your elbow should also be slightly lower than your shoulder, and that your racket strings should be facing forwards anddownwards (not out to the side).

2. Just before hitting

Now bring the elbow upwards and forwards, turning your shoulders as you do so. Your chest should be square-on to the net.

You should have a wide angle at the elbow now!—!about 135 degrees. Coaches often call this an L-shape (but actually, it’s wider than the letterL).

As you lead with the elbow, your racket head should naturally drop behind your shoulder. Your racket strings should now be facing inwards(sideways).

Recognise this position? It’s the starting position from when you were practising arm rotation.

3. Hitting and follow through

From this position, you use arm rotation to hit the shuttle!—!just as you learned before.

This time, you can allow yourself to make a larger swing: after you hit the shuttle, the arm will continue turning, so that the racket strings brieflyface out to the right.

Nevertheless, the swing should remain compact. Don’t take a great big swipe at the shuttle! Keep it compact and controlled.







First practise getting these three positions right (especially the first two). Stop and hold each position for a few seconds, checking that it’scorrect. Take your time over this, and do it in front of a mirror if possible.

Then try moving smoothly from start to finish. Do this in slow-motion, and gradually increase the speed as you get more confident.

Finally, try hitting a shuttle! Concentrate on getting the technique right, and try not to worry about the results. Focus on going from a narrow V-shape to a wide L-shape at the elbow.

For this last practice, the feeder should be using a racket-feed and the player should be around the middle–rear of the court.



Practising this



Improving your technique for clears and smashes

Here are some tips for improving your technique, so that you can get more power in your clears and smashes.

Make sure you’re confident with the basics before moving on to these details.

When describing the basic hitting technique, I gave you a temporary footwork pattern (the step-through). This pattern is easy to learn, but it’srarely a good option.

Instead, you should try using a scissor jump when you hit your clears and smashes. Scissor jumps get both feet off the ground, which allows youto use body rotation more effectively. Keeping the left foot on the ground is less effective, because it inhibits your hip rotation.

Try to get your right hip moving forwards fractionally ahead of your shoulders turning. It should feel like you’re leading the shot with your hip,as opposed to following the shot with your hip. By leading with the hip, you can transfer power from the lower body into the upper body, andultimately into the shuttle. If the hip follows rather than leads, then the lower body rotation is too late to help power the shot.

Make sure you establish a wide base (feet at least shoulder-width apart) before hitting the shuttle, giving you a solid platform for the jump andbody rotation. Land with a wide base too.

Smashes and clears are much easier if you can get into a position slightly behind the shuttle. This allows you to make the best use of bodyrotation for power.

The ideal contact point for a smash is farther in front of the body than for a clear (high clears are hit more directly overhead). Consequently, it’sespecially important to get behind the shuttle when you want to play a powerful smash.

It’s still possible to play both clears and smashes when the shuttle has travelled behind you, but it’s more difficult and you won’t get as muchpower.

Don’t “follow” the shuttle; get there first!

A common error is to “follow” the shuttle as you move backwards to hit the shot, so that you stay underneath the shuttle at all times. As a result,you will reach a hitting position with the shuttle level with you or even behind you.

Players do this because it helps them “track” the shuttle and move to the right place. As you get more experienced, however, you can learn toknow immediately where the shuttle is going, based on its speed and trajectory.

As you get better at judging where the shuttle is heading, you can move faster and get there first. This will help you get into a hitting positionbehind the shuttle with enough time to play a powerful shot.

Better footwork: the scissor jump

Get behind the shuttle


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When you’re travelling towards the shuttle, you should already be in the “ready-to-hit” position (sideways-on posture with the arms elevated).

This means you should be moving with your right leg behind the left leg, and in a position where you would be ready to hit the shuttleimmediately. Doing this has several benefits:

• When you arrive at the hitting position, you are ready to play the shot.

• It encourages a compact, explosive hitting action.

• It helps you move backwards and stay balanced.

If you don’t do this, you will probably make a larger, slower swing, with less arm rotation.

Even the most powerful smashes use a relatively compact swing. Don’t believe me? Then watch this video of Tan Boon Heong’s smash, whichset a new world record of 421 kph (262 mph).

Most people find this counter-intuitive: our intuition says that a big smash should use a big, powerful-looking arm swing. It turns out ourintuition is wrong.

Using a compact swing, you can concentrate all your power at the moment of impact. An expansive swing looks more powerful, but that’sbecause the power isn’t being transferred into the shuttle.

Getting the follow-through right

After you hit the shuttle, your follow-through should initially be in the direction of the shot. A common mistake is to follow-through across yourbody, which causes you to lose power and hit all your smashes off to the left.

There will often be a visible rebound action at this point, where the racket briefly “bounces back” in the direction it came from. This rebound ismore pronounced for half-smashes (or stick-smashes), but can also be seen in full-power smashes when you watch them in slow-motion video.

After this initial follow through, allow the arm to relax. At this point it’s okay for the arm to move across the body.

By controlling the direction of your follow-through, you ensure that the power is concentrated in the direction of your shot. If you’re hitting astraight smash, for example, then you want all your power to be directed straight, and not cross-court.

The worst kind of follow-through is a huge across-the-body swipe, where the racket ends up behind your body (on the left side). As well aswasting power, this kind of follow-through will reduce your balance and make you slow to recover.

Keep the follow-through compact!

Players often tense up when they’re trying to hit a powerful shot. This ruins your muscles’ ability to generate explosive power: if your arm istense, then it won’t transfer the power.

Try to stay relaxed, and aim for a smooth, flowing action with a whip-like feeling. Don’t try to force the power, as this will cause you to tense up.

When travelling, be prepared!

Keep the swing compact

Stay relaxed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTS95B652pw

In other words: don’t try to make a powerful swing; try to make a fast swing instead.

It’s often difficult to stay relaxed under pressure. This even affects world-class players, who sometimes tense up in a difficult match. Your stateof mind can easily affect your hitting technique!

Don’t ignore your left arm!

As you turn your shoulders, bend your left elbow and tuck the left arm into your body. Do not allow it to swing out wildly behind you, as this willupset your balance, rob you of power, and lower your point of contact with the shuttle.

Your left arm and shoulder should start moving momentarily before your right. Use the left arm to start the shoulder turn, with a rapid“left-right” rhythm. Remember: for the shoulders to rotate effectively, the left arm must be leading the motion.

Many players, and even some coaches, are confused about the role of the wrist in badminton.

It’s often said that the wrist generates most of the power for badminton shots. This simply isn’t true: most of the power, especially for smashesand clears, comes from body and arm rotation.

For a normal smash or clear, your wrist should stay relatively still during the hitting action. A common error is to bend (flex) the wrist forwardson impact with the shuttle, so that you complete the shot with the wrist bent forwards at up to 90 degrees.

Avoid bending the wrist this much, as it prevents you from using arm rotation effectively. For a full-power smash, your wrist should stayrelatively neutral.

See this slow-motion video of Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei smashing, and note how the wrist stays relatively neutral, whereas the arm rotates agreat deal.

It often looks as though the wrist is bending a lot, but the eye is easily deceived by fast motion. Watching carefully in slow motion replays, youcan see that it’s really arm rotation.

Half-smashes and deceptive clears

The wrist plays a greater role in half-smashes (stick-smashes), and deceptive attacking clears. These are less powerful shots, where you’re moreconcerned with angle and placement. The wrist is great for altering angles.

We’ll look at these shots in later articles.



Use the left arm correctly

Don’t bend the wrist too much

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKC1Depuf6Q



Badminton net shots guide

Net shots are among the subtlest shots in badminton. A good net shot puts you in control of the rally!—!and sometimes even wins you therally right away!

This guide is primarily about technique, not tactics. In other words, the purpose of this guide is to teach you how to play net shots, not when toplay them.

As you’ll read on the next page, there are lots of different types of net shots. I’ve tried to separate them out so you can learn one thing at time.The main sections are:

• Basic (straight) net shots

• Cross-court and angled net shots

I’m also planning to add a section on spinning net shots, but it’s not ready yet.

You need to understand basic net shots before you move on to other types of net shot. It’s important to realise that the coaching points for thesebasic net shots create the foundation for playing all the advanced variations.

In each section, I include a separate page for overhand net shots. Overhand net shots use essentially the same techniques as their underhandcounterparts, but there are some subtle differences.



How to use this guide


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Different types of net shot

All net shots are played from near the front of the court, and they all land near the front of the opponent’s court. Nevertheless, there are manyvariations.

We’ll cover all the different combinations in detail over the course of this article; but for now, here’s an overview.

Net shots can be either straight or angled.

Straight net shots are where the shuttle doesn’t travel sideways along the net. So if you’re making contact with the shuttle on the left side of thenet, you will send it directly over to the same side (the left, as you see it). If you’re making contact in the middle of the net, you will send it backover to the middle (not to either side).

Angled net shots are where you add a sideways component to your net shot. Some angled shots travel the length of the net, from one corner tothe other; these are called cross-court net shots.

An underhand net shot is where the racket head is below the level of the hand; the racket head is pointing mainly to the ceiling (and also slightlyforwards). An overhand net shot is where the racket head is above the level of the hand, and facing more directly forwards.

Overhand net shots are used when the shuttle is above the level of the net tape; underhand net shots are used when the shuttle is below the levelof the net tape. There’s a small area of cross-over, around net tape height, where either type of net shot can be used.

Underhand net shots are the more common type, especially in singles. Overhand net shots are often used in doubles, however, as the frontattacking player can often reach the shuttle while it’s still above net height.

Another reason that underhand net shots are preferred in singles is that this racket position makes it much easier to threaten playing a lift. Indoubles, the overhand action makes it easier to threaten a drive or push.

A slight flaw in this categorisation

The point about underhand vs. overhand net shots is that, generally speaking, the racket head should be under the hand when the shuttle isunder net height, and over the hand when the shuttle is over net height.

However, when playing cross-court net shots, the racket head normally ends up above the hand, even if the shuttle is below the net! This is alsosometimes true for other angled net shots.

In certain situations, you can apply spin to your net shots, which makes them more difficult to return and causes them to fall tighter to the net.

Net shot angles

Underhand vs. overhand net shots

Spinning net shots



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Spinning net shots are used in all forms of the game, but are especially important for high-level men’s singles.

Spinning net shots are not currently covered by this guide. I will be adding them later, however!

You can often disguise your intentions by preparing as though to play one shot, before actually playing something different.

You can disguise the direction of your net shots, or even disguise them as a completely different shot (such as a lift). If the disguise is goodenough, you may deceive your opponent so that he moves the wrong way.

We’ll look at the issue of deception throughout this guide, as it’s an important theme around the net. However, it’s not always beneficial toattempt deception, as it often causes you to play a less accurate shot and to take the shuttle later than you could have done.



Simple vs. deceptive net shots



Basic technique for straight net shots

The technique for playing a basic, straight net shot is easy to learn. Even complete beginners can pick it up quickly.

You might be tempted to skip past this page, being eager to learn more glamorous variations such as cross-court or spinning net shots. Wait!You must get the basic technique right, or your “advanced” shots will never work.






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Net shots are delicate and sensitive. You don’t need any power, but you do need exquisite “touch”!—!the ability to control the shuttle precisely.

Your fingertips are the most sensitive part of your hand. For net shots, therefore, you should hold the racket in your fingertips, with a larger gapin your palm than for other shots.

For learning basic net shots, use a basic grip for forehands and a bevel grip for backhands. There are situations that require other grips, but we’lllook at those later.

Your posture is crucial when playing a net shot. Make a balanced lunge forwards with your right foot, so that you can reach forwards to take theshuttle early. Try to keep as balanced as possible, with your arms positioned over your legs.

Sometimes on the backhand side, when you only have a short distance to lunge, it’s faster to lunge with your left foot (because it takes time toturn your body for a right-footed lunge). This commonly happens in doubles net play.

The racket arm

Your racket should be well in front of you. You should be at full relaxed reach: you’re reaching forwards, but there’s still a slight bend at yourelbow.

The racket frame should be oriented horizontally. Imagine you are going to post the racket into a letterbox!

Bend your wrist so that the racket head is below your hand. This angles the racket slightly forwards, which is necessary to make the shuttle passover the net.

Use your left arm

It’s easy to forget about the left arm, since it’s not actually hitting the shuttle.

To play a good net shot, however, you must maintain excellent balance. Use your left arm as a counter-balance against your right, by raising itout behind you.

The timing of your arm movements should be together. As you raise your right arm and move it forwards, do the same thing with your left arm!—!except that the left arm goes backwards, not forwards. Notice that this also keeps your left arm balanced over your left leg.

Grip

Posture









http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/footwork/movement-elements/lunge-technique.php

If you are making a left-footed lunge on the backhand side, however, you need to use the left arm differently. Instead of raising your left armbehind you (as you normally would), you will get better balance by moving it out to your left.

Get your eyes near the same level as the shuttle

For an accurate net shot, you must be able to see what you’re doing. Adjust your posture so that your eyes are near the same height as theshuttle. The idea is to help you watch three different things at (roughly) the same time:

• The shuttle

• The net

• Your opponent

At the instant you hit the shuttle, your focus must be on the shuttle (and not on your opponent or the net). Nevertheless, being able to see thenet better will help you play an accurate shot (it improves your spatial awareness), and being aware of your opponent’s position will help youchoose the right shot (it improves your tactical awareness).

This doesn’t mean that your eyes must be at exactly the same height as the shuttle. Normally, your eyes will be slightly higher than the shuttle.

Players commonly get this wrong when the shuttle is near the ground. Because it’s more comfortable, they stay upright. This means that theireyes are much higher than the shuttle, and consequently they are looking down at the floor as they play a net shot.

Instead, they should make a deeper lunge. This gets their body (and eyes) lower down. This way, while they are looking at the shuttle, they arealso looking forwards towards the net, and not down at the floor.

As you are travelling to the shuttle, keep your racket in a comfortable “neutral” position!—!pointing towards neither the forehand nor thebackhand. Then, as you approach the shuttle, reach your racket forwards and turn your hand outwards (for forehands) or inwards (forbackhands).

Key tip

Forehand net shots are “palm up”!—!as though putting out your hand for money!

Backhand net shots are “knuckles up”!—!as though offering your hand to be kissed!

Make sure that you get your racket into position before hitting the shuttle. Do not bring the racket upwards to meet the shuttle; the racketshould already be there!

The hitting action should be a gentle push. Do not flick the wrist! The wrist should stay still (or very nearly still) throughout this shot. Yourwhole arm, from shoulder to fingertips, should feel as though it’s one piece; in other words, keep the movement to a minimum.

Your push will be softer or firmer, depending on how near the shuttle is to the net. Sometimes, if the shuttle is right next to the net tape, youjust let it bounce off the racket strings without pushing it at all.

Racket carriage

Hitting action



Differences for an overhand net shot

When the shuttle is above net height, you can play an overhand net shot.

Don’t forget that, if the shuttle is high enough, you may be able to kill it instead.

For an overhand net shot, use a panhandle grip on the forehand side and a thumb grip on the backhand side.

When the shuttle is farther out to the side of you, you need to adjust the angle of your grip, so that you can still place the shuttle straight (andnot hit it out the side of court!).

You grip should still be held delicately in the finger tips, for maximum control.

Your posture should be the same as for an underhand net shot, with one exception: bend your wrist back so that the racket head is above yourhand.

With the racket head in this position, you will necessarily have less reach than you get with an underhand net shot.

As you approach the shuttle, you should usually keep your wrist bent back so that the racket head is very slightly behind the hand, rather thandirectly above it. This gives you the option of playing a drive instead, by snapping your wrist forwards. The threat of a drive will often preventyour opponent from rushing forwards.

Much of the time, your choice is forced: you must use an underhand net shot, because you will be contacting the shuttle below net height, andyou need the extra reach.

When you arrive early enough to reach the shuttle above the net, however, an overhand net shot is usually better. Take the shuttle immediately,rather than waiting for it to drop and playing an underhand shot.

What about when it’s really close?

Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you will make it to the net in time to play an overhand net shot. You know it’s going to be close, but you’reworried that the shuttle will fall just fractionally too far and you’ll be stuck trying to play an impossible overhand shot.

In this situation, approach the net with your racket raised in an overhand position anyway. If you have misjudged the timing slightly, you canstill switch from an overhand to an underhand action, by rolling your racket under the shuttle.

Grip

Posture

Choosing between overhand and underhand




It’s also possible to switch from underhand to overhand, but this is more difficult. This action is mainly used when you want to play a deceptivedrive off a (fake) underhand net shot action.





Simple deception for a straight net shot

Here are some simple methods of applying deception to your straight net shots.

The problem with these deceptions is that they reduce the accuracy of your net shots. Use them with discretion, when you feel your opponentis especially vulnerable to the deceptive effect.

You make an apparently powerful lift action (the fake), but stop the racket short of the shuttle, withdraw it slightly to start a new (and softer)swing, and play a net shot.

This deception is suitable for using against opponents who are slow to read your shots, and therefore need a very obvious fake action in order tobe deceived. At higher levels of play, this deception is rather useless, as the accuracy penalty is too great.

This deception has three parts:

1. You prepare as normal, ready for a straight net shot.

2. As the shuttle approaches, you withdraw your racket a short distance, as though playing a deceptive lift.

3. You slow down the lift action, and play a straight net shot.

This deception is suitable for using against opponents who can read your shots quickly. The idea is to make them think they’ve spotted yourdeceptive intention (the lift), and then reverse the deception so that you play the original “fake” shot (the net shot). Against inexperiencedplayers, you may find that this deception is too subtle: they will not notice your fake lift action, and will continue blithely forwards towards yournet shot.

Essentially, this deception relies on your opponent looking out for deceptions. Against opponents who are not watching for deceptions, thisattempted deception will fail; in other words, you’ve chosen a deception that is too sophisticated for the opponent.

This deception has much better accuracy than the previous one, but you will still lose some accuracy.

This time, you’re going to fake a net drive and play an overhand net shot. This is mainly useful in doubles.

You need to make an action suggestive of a powerful drive, but don’t overdo it: drives from the net require little power anyway. Don’t make alarge arm swing, as this will ruin the accuracy of your shot; but do bend your wrist back, as though preparing to flick the wrist forwards and hitthe shuttle with a sharp tap action.

Your speed of forwards movement alone can often “freeze” the opponents. When a player moves forwards very fast and aggressively to the net,

Faking a lift, and then playing a net shot

A more sophisticated version

An overhand version


it’s natural to expect he will play a fast shot. You can use this expectation to your advantage.

At the last moment, slow down the hitting action, so that you play a net shot. Keep your wrist bent back throughout the shot, and gently push itover the net.





Cross-court and angled net shots

Learning cross-court and angled net shots will let you place the shuttle anywhere along the net. This is useful when your opponent is readyfor your straight net shot.

There are several techniques you can use to play these shots, and each technique has its place.

Cross-court net shots are a specific type of angled net shot: they travel along most of the net. In other words, you hit them from one net cornerto the other net corner!—!so they “cross the court”.

There are other types of angled net shot too, such as when you hit the shuttle from the middle of the net and direct it towards either side. Theseare not really cross-court shots.

This terminology might be confusing, so let’s look at some examples. First, suppose the shuttle is in your left net corner. Here are youroptions:

• A straight net shot, which returns the shuttle to the same corner (the left)

• A cross-court net shot, sending the shuttle to the opposite corner (the right)

• An angled net shot, sending the shuttle towards the middle of the net

Now suppose that the shuttle is near the middle of the net. In this situation, your options are:

• A straight net shot, which returns the shuttle straight back to the middle

• An angled net shot travelling to the left corner

• An angled net shot travelling to the right corner

Why make the distinction?

There are some subtle technical and tactical differences that distinguish true cross-court net shots from other angled net shots. We’ll look atthese distinctions in the section on angled net shots from the middle.

However, it’s worth noting that there is no exact boundary at which an angled net shot becomes a cross-court net shot.



“Angled” or “cross-court”?


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Simple cross-court net shots

Learning this simple technique will make it easier to play cross-court net shots. You should learn this first, before you try adding deception.

In some situations, this simple technique is actually better than using deception.






Simple cross-court net shot technique

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Hold the racket out in front of you, using a relaxed bevel grip. This grip will work for both forehands and backhands.

The racket frame should be in an almost vertical orientation. Imagine it’s a hand axe, or a cleaver! This makes the strings face sideways alongthe net.

The racket head should be above the height of your hand, so that your wrist is in a comfortable, neutral position.

Use a short, controlled hitting action to guide the shuttle along the net; the hitting action should use mainly the wrist and fingers. Use gentlegrip tightening to control the amount of force in your shot.

If you are forced to reach out sideways, then you will need to adjust your grip towards a thumb grip (for forehands) or a panhandle grip (forbackhands).

You’ll also need to bend your wrist more, to make the racket face sideways enough. On the forehand side, this means bending your wrist in a“thumbs up” direction (radial deviation); on the backhand, it means bending your wrist backwards (extension); this is the same wrist positionyou would get if you were signalling traffic to stop with your hand!



When you are reaching out sideways











Deceptive cross-court net shots

Most of the time, cross-court net shots are played with deception.

The idea is that you fake a straight net shot, and then change the angle to play cross-court.






Deceptive cross-court net shots

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Deception is effective here because your opponent must move across to cover the straight net shot (which takes the shortest time to arrive).Because this pulls him away from the centre, the cross-court angle becomes more damaging.

In other words, your opponent will find it more difficult to cover the whole net when you are hitting the shuttle from one corner. Deceptionalways becomes more effective when your opponent has greater difficulty covering the different options.

Prepare as though you are going to play a straight net shot. Everything has to look the same, especially your racket angle.

The fake action must be obvious: your opponent must have time to see it. Try to “hold” this position for a moment, if you have time. Holding theshot will make it more deceptive.

Delay changing the angle as long as you can. You want to use a short, quick action so that your opponent has little time to correct his position.

Just before you play the shot, move the racket head slightly sideways, outside the line of the shuttle!—!that is, away from the centre of the court.This creates the space needed to change the angle.

How to change the angle of the racket

Avoid making a big, sweeping action of the arm. This takes too long, so it’s not deceptive; you also lose accuracy.

Instead, try to turn the racket face sideways, but without changing the position of the racket head. To achieve this, you will need to make severalcoordinated movements of the wrist and arm:

• Lower your wrist and elbow

• Turn your forearm inwards

• Adjust the angle of your wrist

Combining all these movements into one fluid motion takes practice!

The wrist movement

On the forehand side, the wrist movement is small. You only need to change from a slightly bent (extended) wrist to a neutral wrist position.

On the backhand side, however, the wrist movement needs to be larger: it changes from a “bent forwards” position (flexed) to a “bentbackwards” position (extended). This backwards-bending wrist movement may feel unnatural, but it’s essential for achieving a tight cross-courtangle.

Faking straight, then playing across






Because of this larger wrist movement, you will likely find that deceptive cross-court net shots are more difficult on the backhand side.

Using the fingers to help change the angle

You can use your fingers to help control the change of angle. Tightening your grip correctly will help you make the movement faster andsharper; this is especially important on the backhand side, where the change of angle is more difficult.

The following suggestions are only for backhands. For forehands, the angle change is better controlled without using the fingers to turnthe racket: the change of angle comes mainly from the forearm. Nevertheless, grip tightening will help on forehands too.

Make sure that you have plenty of space in your grip: there should be a gap between your palm and the racket handle.

Tightening the grip with your last two fingers (ring finger and little finger) will cause the racket to rotate inwards. This will close the gap thatyou had in your palm (that’s why you need the gap to start with).

You can also twist the racket between your thumb and index finger during this grip tightening. This can contribute additional turning of theracket face.

Try to coordinate this grip tightening with your wrist and arm movements. If you time it right, the grip tightening can help make your wristmovement faster and more precise.

A trick to make it easier

If you are able to take the shuttle very early, near the top of the net tape, then you can approach straight net shots with a flat racket. You thenuse forwards motion alone to push the shuttle over the net, instead of needing to angle the racket face forwards. This typically produces high,tight net shots; consequently, this method is almost never used in doubles, where such net shots are extremely vulnerable to a net kill.

This posture will make it easier to change the angle from straight to cross-court, especially on your backhand, because the wrist is already in aneutral position: the wrist doesn’t need to move as much. However, it also makes playing a lift more difficult.

This is not effective when you are positioned farther back from the net. Here, in order to show a convincing straight net shot, you really need theracket facing forwards somewhat.

The hitting action

You have two options for the hitting action:

• A sharp action with a sudden stop (and a rebound)

• A smoother “pulling” or “hooking” action

I’ve seen the sharper action taught by Peter Rasmussen, and the smoother action taught by Badminton England. Both are valid; certainly I’veseen world-class players use both actions.

In my opinion, the sharper action is more deceptive. However, it doesn’t work well when you are reaching farther out to the side and thereforeneed more wrist movement; in this situation, especially on the backhand, I recommend using a smooth pulling action to help control your shot.

Now let’s look at a more sophisticated version of the basic cross-court deception.

Adding an extra fake

Warning!

“Sophisticated” does not mean “better”! The basic deception should be the mainstay of your cross-court net shots.

Treat the following deception as an additional weapon, not as a replacement.

This deception involves two fake shots:

• You fake a straight net shot

• For your second fake, lower the racket, as though playing a deceptive lift

• Finally, play a cross-court net shot instead

Both fake shots must be obvious enough so that your opponent can detect them. The real action, however, should be quick. The technique forchanging the angle is just the same as in the basic deception.

This deception is really only useful in singles. Before learning this deception, you must learn how to play a deceptive lift from the net. Whenyour opponent starts adjusting to your deceptive lifts, you can confound him again by faking these lifts and playing a cross-court net shotinstead.

And what if he adjusts to this new deception? Why, revert to the old one, of course! You now have plenty of weapons to play with.

The disadvantage of this deception is that you are deliberately letting the shuttle drop slightly before you play the shot. In theory, this gives youropponent more time; however, if the deception is effective, the disruption of his movement will more than compensate for this.





Angled net shots from the middle to the sides

Angled net shots are usually played with a simple hitting technique: unlike cross-court net shots, angled net shots usually do not involvedeception.

I’m going to concentrate on angled net shots played from the middle of the net. You can also play angled net shots from one corner to themiddle; these are just like a cross-court net shot, but hit more softly.

To play an angled net shot from the middle, simply guide the shuttle gently towards a net corner, with a soft pushing action. Angled net shotsare normally played with a basic grip or a bevel grip.

The idea is to place the shuttle just beyond the attacking reach of your opponent, who is covering the straight net shot.

Using deception for angled net shots is much less effective than for cross-court net shots. This is mainly because it’s easier for your opponent tocover the full width of the net.

You need a delicate touch to control the shot and avoid hitting it out the side of the court. The grip tightening during the shot should be verysubtle, with the racket still held quite gently in the fingers even as you finish the shot.

When you are playing the shuttle from a net corner, the threat of a straight net shot creates space in your opponent’s court: he is forced tomove away from the middle, so that he can cover your straight net shot. This creates space on the opposite side of the court, and you can thenplace the shuttle cross-court into this open space. The open space is what makes deception effective.

From the middle of the net, however, the threat of a straight net shot does not create space at the sides, because your opponent covers the shotby positioning himself in the middle. From this position, it’s only a short distance to reach either net corner. Consequently, deception is lesseffective.

Despite what I just said, it’s still possible to play angled net shots with deception. These shots can really surprise your opponent, and can beoutright winners if played at the right time. They also make excellent service returns in men’s singles.

To make an angled net shot deceptive, you need to fake a shot to one net corner, before playing the real shot to the opposite corner. Faking astraight net shot (to the middle) is usually not good enough, because the distance is too small from the middle to either corner.

“Natural” and “unnatural” corners

For backhands, the natural shot direction is left-to-right. For forehands, the natural direction is right-to-left. If you are approaching the net shotwith a backhand preparation, then your opponent will be ready for either a straight net shot or an angled net shot directed to his left (yourright).

So for a backhand, your right corner is the natural corner to place an angled net shot. Your left corner is the unnatural corner: it’s much more

Deception is less effective

How to use deception




difficult to place the shuttle into this corner. For a forehand, these corners are reversed: left is natural, right is unnatural

To successfully deceive your opponent, therefore, you need to achieve two things:

• Fake an angled net shot to the natural corner

• Play your real net shot to the unnatural corner

This process involves double-motion: you approach the shuttle with the racket facing in one direction, before withdrawing the racket, changingthe angle, and starting a new stroke in the opposite direction.

Getting the fake right

For your fake to be convincing, your racket must approach the shuttle from the side opposite your natural corner. I know that sounds likegibberish, but it’s easy to understand once you take an example:

Forget about deception for a moment. Let’s say you are playing a backhand net shot towards your right net corner. Think about where the racketcomes from. You move your racket left-to-right, and the racket contacts the left side of the shuttle.

A fake must look the same as the real thing. So if you wanted to fake this shot, you would still have to approach the shuttle with a left-to-rightaction, suggesting that you are going to contact the shuttle on its left side (as you see it).

Avoid over-exaggerating the fake

Don’t exaggerate your fake, as this will make it much harder to change direction and play the real shot. For example, if you approach the shuttlewith a large left-to-right swing, and the racket facing completely sideways, then it will be extremely difficult to change direction and hit right-to-left.

Instead, approach with only a slight–moderate tilt of the racket head and a small movement in the fake direction. This is realistic, and makesyour shot easier and quicker to play.

Changing the angle

After your intial fake action, you need to change the angle of your shot. It’s important to time this right: if you leave it too late, then you won’thave time to make the change; but if you start too early, your shot will be less deceptive.

To change the angle, you need to get your racket on the other side of the shuttle before you hit it. You’re going to hit with the same side ofthe racket as you suggested during the fake. The hitting action will be in an “unnatural” direction!—!for example, after faking a “natural”backhand towards your right, you will hit a backhand towards your left instead!—!which is an unnatural direction.

To do this, turn your forearm so that the racket face tilts in the intended direction. For backhands, turn your forearm inwards (pronating); forforehands, turn it outwards (supination). This turning of the forearm will also change the position of the racket head, so that you create somemore space between your racket and the shuttle. This gives you enough room to play your shot.

You can also try using your fingers and wrist to help control the change of angle.

Your hitting action will need to be very short and controlled.

Reversing the deception

You can also reverse this deception, by faking towards the unnatural corner, before playing your real shot to the natural corner.

This can be a good way to confound an opponent who has adapted to your original deception.





Differences for overhand angled net shots

For a simple (non-deceptive) angled net shot, there’s very little difference between overhand and underhand.

When using deception for a cross-court net shot, however, the technique is quite different. Instead of dropping your elbow and wrist, thechange of angle is mainly made using the fingers.

When playing deceptive angled overhand net shots from the middle, you also need to make more use of the fingers than you did for theunderhand equivalent.

When playing a simple “underhand” angled (or cross-court) net shot, you may have noticed that the racket head is actually above your hand!

There’s very little difference here for an “overhand” shot. Although the shuttle is above net height, you can use the same technique!—!just bringyour racket up a little higher to meet the shuttle early.

Deceptive overhand cross-court net shots are relatively unusual, and often quite tricky. Most of the time you will be better playing simplershots. Nevertheless, if you take the time to practise these unusual shots, they can really surprise your opponent.

The more common variation is to fake straight, and play your real shot cross-court.

As with an underhand cross-court net shot, you need to move the racket head slightly outside the line of the shuttle, just before you completethe shot. This gives you room to complete the shot with a short, controlled movement to guide the shuttle along the net.

Unlike underhand net shots, you cannot change the angle by dropping your wrist and elbow. With an overhand net shot, your wrist is in thewrong orientation for that technique to work.

The good news is that you can change the angle using your fingers.

Using the fingers to change the angle of your grip

You change the angle of your grip by twisting the racket handle between your thumb and index finger. This causes you to roll the racket in yourfingers.

This is different from your normal grip changes, which you use when switching grips before hitting a shot. With those grip changes, you roll theracket in your fingers and then let go for a moment, so that you can reposition your fingers on the handle. For these overhand angled net shots,you roll the racket in your fingers without letting go, and without repositioning the fingers.

On the backhand side, this rolling action will increase the space between your palm and the racket handle, and will leave your fingers in anarched position. On the forehand side, it happens the other way around: you begin with that extra space and arched fingers, and the gap closeswhen you change the angle.

Simple overhand angled net shots

Cross-court deception


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This technique feels fairly awkward!—!even uncomfortable! However, it allows you to keep the racket head in the same place while you turn it.

The angle of the racket shaft

This technique will be easier and more deceptive if you can reach the shuttle with the racket shaft mostly vertical.

If the racket shaft is more horizontal (you’re reaching out to the side), then you will need a larger wrist movement to complete the shot, and thiswill mean you need to get the racket head farther outside the line of the shuttle (creating more room for the larger movement). This movementis necessary to make the racket face more directly sideways, rather than facing updards too much.

Reversing the deception

As usual, you can also reverse the deception: fake cross-court, and play your real shot straight.

When changing the angle from cross-court to straight, it’s natural to end with your racket head tilted somewhat downwards (as it would be for anet kill). This will probably cause you to hit the shuttle into the net.

To avoid this, you need to bend your wrist backwards before hitting the real shot, causing the racket head to tilt upwards. Unfortunately, thiscreates a new problem: the racket is now farther away from the shuttle. So at the same time, you need to push the racket forwards to close thegap.

We’re now getting into quite fancy shots! These shots are even less common than cross-courts, and can be very tricky to play.

You can of course simply play a variation of the cross-court deception, where you fake straight to the middle before playing to the natural corner(left for forehands, right for backhands). This is relatively simple, and often sufficient. The most difficult and damaging deceptions, however,involve faking to one corner before playing to the other.

For now, I’ll describe two general approaches:

• Twisting the racket in your fingers

• “Missing” the shuttle and hitting with the opposite side

Twisting the racket in your fingers

This method is similar to the deception for underhand angled net shots, in that you turn your forearm to get the racket head on the other side ofthe shuttle and create space for playing the new stroke.

The main difference is that you need to get the fingers and wrist more involved in creating the change of angle. On its own, the forearm rotationwill not get you the right angle.

As with the underhand version, your real stroke will need to use a very short, controlled hitting action.

This shot is easy to do badly, but extremely difficult to do well. The challenge is to combine effective deception with an accurate net shot.

“Missing” the shuttle

Deception from the middle of the net

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For this method, you fake a backhand, deliberately miss the shuttle, and then play a forehand instead. Or you do the opposite: fake a forehand,miss the shuttle, and play a backhand. In both cases, your real shot is played with the opposite side of the racket than your fake shot suggested.

Your fake hitting action should be played “early”, as if the shuttle had already arrived at your racket!—!when in reality it’s not quite there yet.This might seem like an unconvincing fake, but opponents will often follow the direction that your racket suggests, even when the timing isslightly wrong.

After you complete the fake shot, you pause, wait an instant for the shuttle to arrive, and then play the real shot with the opposite side of theracket face.

Are these just trick shots?

When using the first deception (twisting the racket), it’s difficult to maintain the accuracy of your net shots. It’s more common to see this styleof deception used for drives or pushes, where the change of angle is smaller.

The second deception (“missing” the shuttle) requires a relatively large delay between when you could have hit the shuttle, and when youactually hit the shuttle. It also relies on your opponent over-anticipating your shot; experienced opponents may realise that the timing of yourfake shot is wrong, and simply wait for the real shot.

Both of these deceptions can be considered trick shots, and you will rarely (if ever) see them used in professional badminton. Yet they can befun to play, and there’s nothing wrong with spending a small amount of your practice time on trick shots.

Which method is better?

If you just want a fun trick shot for casual club play, then try the second deception (“missing” the shuttle). This is much easier to learn, but youwill probably find it doesn’t work well against experienced players.

If you want to learn one of the most deceptive shots in the game, then try the first deception (twisting the racket). This method is very difficult,but in my opinion it has the potential to work at a high level of play.

I can’t recall an example where I’ve seen either of these deceptive net shots used in professional matches, however (let me know if you find one).



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Returning serve in badminton — preparation

This article will teach you how to prepare for your opponent’s serve.

Preparation is crucial. Before your opponent serves, you need to get yourself ready in a way that helps you respond effectively to any serve.

Once the opponent serves, you have little time to respond. If you are badly prepared, then he may even win the rally outright with his serve (an“ace”). For example, if you’re standing in the wrong place or have your racket down by your ankles, then a drive serve can beat you completely:you won’t even touch the shuttle.

Apart from making you vulnerable to particular serves, bad preparation will reduce the quality of your returns. This is especially true for the lowserve in doubles, where your attacking options are severely reduced if you are slow to reach the shuttle.

In my coaching, preparation is the first thing I teach players about returning serve. If players can get the preparation right, then the otheraspects!—!such as how you hit the shuttle!—!will be easier to learn.

In this article, we’ll look at the three main aspects of preparing to return serve:

• How to stand

• Where to stand

• Racket preparation and grip

These ideas apply to both singles and doubles. The details are not exactly the same, however, so I’ll explain differences as we go along. Forexample, your position for receiving serve should be farther forwards in doubles than in singles.

Your preparation may need to vary depending on what the server is doing. For example, if your opponent has an excellent flick serve, then youmay need to stand farther back than usual (depending on your ability).

Good preparation may intimidate the server

Good preparation can present an intimidating prospect to the server!—!especially in doubles, where the receiver stands farther forwards and willtry to attack the low serve more aggressively.

Do not underestimate the psychological effect that your preparation can have on the server! Quite often, a server will play some of his low servesinto the net, because he felt the pressure from your intimidating stance and position. When faced with an aggressive-looking receiver, serverswill often forsake low serves in favour of flick or high serves; this plays to your advantage, providing you have good returns of serve from therearcourt.

Why preparation matters

How to prepare well

What this article doesn’t cover


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serve-return/stance.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serve-return/position.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serve-return/racket.php

This article doesn’t teach you everything about returning serve. In particular, it doesn’t cover the following topics:

• How to play specific shots, such as a midcourt push return in doubles

• Footwork or hitting techniques

• How to prepare when your opponent serves from an unorthodox position

All of these are topics for future content!





Stance for returning serve

How you stand will affect how rapidly you can get moving once your opponent serves.

Avoid being casual. If you prepare with a casual stance, then your service return will also be casual. Be serious! Be sharp!






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When you are getting ready for the serve, you should stand with your left foot forwards and your right foot back.

To understand why this is best, you need to think about the movements required to reach a flick serve. A flick serve forces you to movebackwards rapidly, and may also force you to hit the shuttle when it has passed behind your body.

Why not have the feet side-by-side?

If your feet are lined up side-by-side, then you cannot move backwards quickly enough: this foot position is good for moving sideways, notbackwards or forwards. Although you will need to move sideways to cover a wide low serve, the distance is much smaller. With a flick serve, youhave a long distance to move back and little time to get there.

In particular, this foot position makes it impossible to use backwards chassés, hitches, and jumps effectively (see elements of movement). Theseexplosive movements are essential for responding to flick serves.

Why not have the right foot forwards?

Standing with the right foot forwards means that, if your opponent plays a flick serve, you will need to turn your body nearly 180 degrees whilemoving back at full speed. Adding this 180-degree spin causes your backwards movement to be much less balanced; and as a result, themovement will be slower. It just takes too long to move back and turn your body.

Instead, by starting with the left foot forwards, your body is already at the correct angle for returning a flick serve. This makes it much easier tomove backwards quickly and on balance. You’ll get there earlier, and because you’re on balance you will play a more controlled shot.

Both legs should be bent at the knee, as this will help you push off quickly. Your left knee should be bent more than your right knee. This putsyou in a half-crouched position, rather than standing upright. You should have a wide stance, with your feet more than shoulder-width apart.

If you allow either leg to be completely straight, then it will take longer to get moving.

You should angle your feet and body partially sideways-on to the server, instead of facing him square-on. This will help you push off backwards,especially towards the corner (where the wide flick serve will go).

Lean forwards onto your left foot

You should be leaning forwards somewhat, so that most of your weight is over your left foot. This distribution of weight helps you to push off

Feet position

Posture






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backwards quickly.

Your left foot should be flat on the ground, whereas your right foot should be “pointed”: only the toes are touching the ground, and the rest ofthe foot is off the ground.

Why keep the left foot flat?

It’s common for coaches to say that you should stay “on your toes”, and that neither heel should be on the ground. But this doesn’t match whatthe best players actually do.

The best players put their non-racket foot flat on the ground. Why?

In my opinion, the main reason is that the forwards foot must provide stability in order to push off fast for a flick serve. If your left heel is off theground, then it provides a less stable platform for pushing off backwards; this loss of stability will slow down your backwards movement.





Where to stand when returning serve

When you are getting ready for the serve, you must choose a position that allows you to cover all the different possible serves. In particular,you need to be ready for both low and flick serves.






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The farther forwards you stand, the more effectively you can attack low serves. Yet this also makes it harder to cope with a flick serve.

The general principle is that you should stand as far forwards as you can, while still being able to play effective flick serve returns. If you copeeasily with flick serves, then you’re standing too far back! Force yourself to move farther forwards.

Some players also worry about drive serves, because standing farther forwards gives them less time to react to this shot. I recommend that youdo not allow drive serves to influence your receiving position. With more experience, you will get better at fending off these serves(and later on, I’ll teach you some ways to cope with them).

It may not be wise for you to stand as far forwards as the professionals do. Nevertheless, you should challenge yourself! Try standing slightlyfarther forwards than you feel comfortable with, and see what happens.

Differences between singles and doubles

In doubles, you can safely stand closer to the service line than in singles, for two reasons:

• A doubles flick serve is not allowed into the back tramlines.

• After your shot, your partner can help you cover the court.

You are also compelled to reach the low serve early in doubles, because the server is fully committed to intercepting your net shots, drives, andpushes; if you take the shuttle late, these shots will become ineffective as the shuttle is travelling upwards and you have allowed the server toomuch time.

The best doubles players stand very close to the service line; the men in particular place their front foot just behind the line. In singles, theystand farther back: about 1–1.5 metres behind the service line.

Standing closer to the midline will help you return straight serves; standing farther away from the midline will help you return wide serves.

In doubles, the service court is wider than in singles. You might expect, then, that singles players would stand nearer the midline; but this isn’talways true. Here are some average distances, based on my measurements of professional games:

Mean distance (cm) from midline to receiver’s frontfoot

Forehand service court Backhand service court

Singles 77 88

Doubles 68 109

How far forwards?

How close to the middle?





You can see from these data that players stand wider when in their backhand service court. This is because they need to protect their backhandagainst a wide flick serve (see below).

Covering the straight low serve

The closer you are to the middle, the easier it will be to attack straight low serves to the T area. To understand why, let’s take an example:

• You are playing doubles, and receiving serve in your right service court.

• You are standing one metre away from the middle line.• The server serves low, straight to the T (your backhand side).

In this scenario, it’s extremely difficult for you to direct your return towards your right side. For example, one of the best serve returns herewould be an angled push to the midcourt tramlines, directed towards your right. But in order to play this shot, you need to get your racket onthe left side of the shuttle to play a backhand!—!and you can’t reach this, because you’re standing too far wide of the middle line.

You can play the same shot to the left instead, using a forehand action; but this is heading towards the server. And because he knows you cannothit towards your right side, he can anticipate a return straight or towards your left side. In other words, he can be ready for your shot.

Now let’s take the same scenario, but change your receiving position to be nearer the midline (about 70 cm). This time, you will be able to reacharound to the left side of the shuttle, and play a backhand shot directed towards your right. So by changing your receiving position to be nearerthe midline, you gain more options for returning a straight low serve.

The change from 100 to 70 cm might seem small, but it can make all the difference. It’s the difference between a shot that’s just beyond yourreach, and a shot that is within reach.

Covering the wide flick serve

Moving away from the midline is necessary mainly because of the wide flick serve. If you stand very close to the midline, this is the serve thatcan do real damage.

You should always try to return flick serves using a forehand action, because backhand returns are much weaker. This is why you need to standout wider in your left service court: you need to protect your backhand from a wide flick serve.

Of course, standing wider makes it more difficult to play forehand returns to a straight low serve. Thankfully, this isn’t as big a problem as it wasin your right service court with a backhand: because of your receiving posture, it’s a little easier to reach out to your forehand side.

Secondary considerations

If you stand very near the midline, you may also have trouble with wide low serves, especially to your backhand (in the left service court).

If you stand very wide, then a straight drive serve could be a serious problem: the shuttle may be completely beyond your reach!





Racket preparation and grip for returning serve

Your racket needs to be ready before the serve, and you must be able to change to different grips.






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Put the racket forwards

Hold the racket out in front of you, rather than keeping it close to your body.

By putting the racket forwards, you can reach the low serve earlier, because you don’t need to waste time extending your arm. It also enouragesyou to use a shorter swing.

This is mainly important for doubles, because you’re standing closer to the front and need to take the shuttle earlier. In singles, it’s less of anissue, as you are standing farther back. Many top singles players keep their rackets relatively close to their body!—!certainly when you comparethem to the top doubles players.

Put the left arm forwards too

The left arm should go forwards together with the racket arm, to improve your balance: the left arm balances the right arm.

Don’t allow your left arm to dangle at your side! This reduces your balance.

But stay relaxed!

Despite what I just said about putting both arms forwards, you should be careful not to overdo it and lock out your joints.

Maintain a relaxed bend at your elbows and shoulders. The arm position should feel comfortable, and not as though you’re straining to reachforwards.

Keep your wrist in a relaxed, neutral position, so that it’s in line with your arm. Do not bend your wrist, as this introduces tension into your armand makes it harder to change grip.

Keep the racket head about net height

The racket head should be about the same height as the net. This is only an approximate guideline; it could be slightly higher or lower. Analternative guideline is to keep the racket approximately head height!—!i.e. it should not be down by your waist, and it should not be a metreabove your head.

The racket head should also be above the level of your wrist. This means your arm is pointing at least slightly upwards, and your wrist is in aneutral position.

This preparation is mainly important for when you return a low serve, as it allows you to take the racket directly to the shuttle and play flat ordownwards returns.

If the racket is too low, then you’ll meet the low serve by bringing your racket upwards to the shuttle. This means you will likely play a lift or a

Racket preparation





bad net shot.

If the racket is too high (way above your head), then you will meet the low serve by bringing it downwards to the shuttle. Against a good lowserve, this means you will likely hit the shuttle into the net.

When your racket is too low or too high, you are also vulnerable to a drive serve (especially in doubles). The drive serve will pass you about headheight, and you won’t have time to adjust your racket height. If you keep the racket about net height instead, you can cope with drive servesbetter.

When you’re getting ready for the serve, hold your racket in a relaxed basic grip or bevel grip. These grips help you change quickly to othergrips, which is especially important when returning a low serve.

The ability to change grip is important, because it allows you to cope with different serves and play a wide range of returns. Limiting yourself toa single grip makes you vulnerable to certain serves, and reduces your options of return.

For singles, use a long grip, as this lets you reach farther. In doubles, I recommend a short grip.

Although most professional doubles players use a short grip, some use a long or medium grip. This is especially common for the man in mixeddoubles, who will frequently retreat quickly to the rearcourt after returning the serve.

Which grip for returning serve? [Grips guide]More details about grips.



Grip



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Badminton footwork

Footwork is about movement skills. While it’s obvious that racket skills are important in badminton, many players underestimate theimportance of good movement skills.

Badminton is a fast game; you have little time to respond after each shot. A second’s delay often turns a winning situation into a losing one.

Reaching the shuttle early

Good footwork will help you to reach the shuttlecock early. This is desirable in all situations.

You should play your shots from the highest point you can. Don’t allow the shuttlecock to drop! Playing the shuttlecock from the highestpoint gives you options to hit downwards. You don’t necessarily have to use those options every time, but the mere threat of downwards shotsgives your opponents a lot more to worry about.

At the front of the court, taking the shuttlecock early has an especially dramatic effect. If you reach it early, you can often play a net kill and endthe rally at once; but if you delay even a second, then you will lose the option to play a net kill, as the shuttlecock drops below net height. Youcan still play a net shot, but that’s not as good as a kill.

At the back of the court, you want to hit the shuttlecock overhead at full relaxed reach. Reach upwards! Allowing the shuttlecock to drop hereis fatal! You will be forced to play a weak shot; when the shuttlecock is below net height, most players struggle to play a good-length clear, andobviously a smash is impossible.

It’s also much better to get behind the shuttlecock at the back of the court. This gives you a more threatening smash, and makes all youroverhead shots easier. If you are slow to move backwards, then you may be forced to hit the shuttlecock from behind your body. It’s stillpossible to play smashes, clears, and drops; but it’s much more difficult, and your smashes will be less powerful.

Hitting from a balanced position

Good footwork helps you remain balanced while you hit the shuttlecock. Staying balanced affords you the best control of your shot, because youdo not need to correct for body movement.

If you are unbalanced, then it’s much harder to control your hitting action. You have to compensate for your body motion; the greater your bodymotion, the harder it is to compensate.

Think about it like this: if you were playing golf, would you rather play in a hurricane or on a calm day? It’s possible to correct for wind, butstrong winds make it much harder to control your shot. Body movement is like wind: it’s a distraction from your precise control of theshuttlecock.

Quicker recovery for the next shot

It’s not much good retrieving only one shot. You need to get ready for the next one.

The importance of footwork


Good footwork will help you recover into a position to cover the next shot. If you are slow to recover, however, then your opponent willinevitably gain an advantage. Even a slight delay can be exploited, because it can be compounded: if your opponent plays intelligently, you willfind yourself even farther out of position on the next shot.

Prevention of injuries

Poor footwork often leads to injuries. Many of these can be prevented with only a few minutes’ instruction in safe footwork.

In particular, all players should learn good lunge technique.






The ready position

Your ready position is the stance and position that you want to reach before your opponent hits the shuttlecock.

It’s called the ready position because it helps you get ready for the next shot.

Your actual position on court will vary a lot depending on whether you are playing singles or doubles, and also depending on the circumstancesduring the rally.

(For the basic positions in doubles, read about doubles positioning.)

Although there are many variations, it’s still good to learn a basic ready position. Once you understand these basic ideas, you can adapt theready position for different situations.

Stance

You should be ready with a somewhat wide stance: your feet a little more than shoulder-width apart. You cannot simply stand there, feettogether, as though waiting for a bus!

Your weight should be lowered a little, with your knees slightly bent. Your weight should be shifted forwards a little, so that you are “on the ballsof your toes”.

This does not mean that you should be perched uncomfortably on your tiptoes, leaning forwards so much that you almost fall over! Rather, youneed to lean forwards just enough to take the weight off your heels. Failure to do this will leave you “flat footed”.

Your right foot should be slightly ahead of your left foot!—!only about half a foot length ahead. This position is effective for covering all fourcorners of the court (I’ll explain why later when we look at singles footwork).

Racket carriage

Your badminton racket position varies a lot depending on the situation.

It should never be left to dangle near your ankles, however. Bring your racket up! Your racket should be held out in front of you, and awayfrom your body. Typically you will hold it about waist height; but you’ll hold it higher when attacking and lower when defending.

Your left arm

Don’t forget that you have two arms! Although your left arm does not hit the shuttlecock, it affects your balance a great deal.

Your left arm should be used to balance your right arm and racket. In the ready position, this generally means holding it in front of your bodyand slightly out to the side.

Elements of the ready position


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/doubles-tactics/doubles-positioning.php

Never leave your left arm dangling at your side!





Elements of badminton movement

Badminton footwork patterns use a variety of basic movement elements; this page gives a brief overview.

The professionals make it look easy. When you watch their footwork, you’ll often get the feeling that they are gliding effortlessly around thecourt. They make the court look smaller than it really is.

What you’re observing here is fluid footwork. Each movement flows seamlessly into the next, and every movement is made without hesitation.Professional badminton players know exactly which footwork patterns to use, without having to think: their vast experience allows them toselect the right patterns instinctively.

Learning this quality of footwork takes a long time. Before you can put it all together, you need to become familiar and comfortable with thebasic elements of badminton movement.










Elements of movement

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Steps are the most natural element of badminton movement. Everyone knows how to put one foot in front of the other!

But in badminton, you need to be comfortable stepping in all directions: forwards, backwards, sideways, and diagonally. Everyone iscomfortable stepping forwards; but ask people to step backwards quickly and without looking, and you’ll find few people who succeed on theirfirst attempt.

But this is fundamental to badminton. You must learn to be comfortable taking large, fast steps backwards.

To distinguish steps from chassés, we often describe steps in badminton as cross-overs. For example, I might say something like this: “Tryusing a cross-over instead of a chassé.”

A chassé is an alternative movement to a step. Which is better? Well, they are different movements, and all good players will use both; tocompare their virtues, read about steps vs. chassés.

To perform a chassé, step out with one foot and then bring the other foot in the same direction!—!but do not cross your feet. In a chassé, onefoot leads while the other foot follows. The leading foot is always ahead of the following foot.

Key tip

The word chassé means chase in French.

Imagine that one foot is chasing the other, but never quite catches up.

The leading foot often points in the direction of travel, but not always. For example, a typical backwards chassé for an overhead forehand keepsthe leading foot pointing sideways, not backwards.

Steps

Chassés

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The following foot always points at right-angles to the direction of travel. For example, if you are chasséing to your right, then your left foot (thefollowing foot) will be pointing roughly forwards.

When chasséing, keep your movements long and low. A high, bouncy chassé is useless; remember that your purpose is to cover distancequickly.

A hitch is a fast, short movement along the ground that uses mainly the ankles.

You must start with a wide base (legs wide apart). Your feet must be aligned in the direction you want to travel (imagine drawing a line betweenthe feet).

To perform a hitch, push off with both ankles, so that you spring lightly along the ground. You should travel a short distance very quickly,without having moved your legs.

These movements are much neglected in badminton coaching. Indeed, they are ignored to such an extent that we don’t even have a standardname for them! The term hitch is obscure, but I can’t find a better alternative.

Hitches are sometimes called shuffles or hops.

Jumping is fundamental to badminton movement, especially in the rearcourt.

Jumps can be in any direction. You can push off with one or two feet, and land with one or two feet (a two-footed landing is greatly preferredwhen possible, because it’s kinder on your knees).

When most players think about jumping in badminton, they imagine the jump smash. A jump smash involves jumping for height, so that youcan smash with a steeper angle.

Although a big jump smash is a fearsome shot, it’s also advanced and specialist. There are many other, more useful jumps in badminton!—!thesubtler jumps that help you cover the court faster.

In particular, jumping is useful for playing overhead forehands. In most situations, you should get both feet off the ground at least for amoment, while you are playing an overhead forehand shot.

Lunges are useful in all corners of the court, but especially at the front. Lunges can be in any direction, but you always lunge in the direction youare moving.

At the net, a lunge allows you to reach forwards to take the shuttlecock early, while also preparing to recover to a more central position.

Good lunging technique is very important, both for your speed of movement and also to prevent injuries.

Hitches

Jumps

Lunges

The split drop

The split drop is a technique for making a quick start, when you don’t know in advance which way you will need to go.

This skill is so important that I’ve devoted a separate page to explaining the split drop (and I’ll probably write several more pages about itlater!).



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The split drop

The split drop is an essential technique for starting quickly in badminton.

It may sound mysterious and technical; but every professional player does this, every time.

The split drop is also known by the names split step, pre-loading hop, bounce start, and many other variations. They all refer to the same thing.






The split drop

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After your opponent makes a shot, you need to react quickly.

You don’t need to move very far!—!typically just two large steps!—!but you don’t have much time to get there.

Think about how important the start is for 100m sprinters. Unlike marathon runners, sprinters use special starting blocks to help launchthemselves forwards. The shorter the distance, the more important your starting movement is.

But in badminton, you typically move only about 3–4 metres from your starting position. Compare that to 100m sprinting, and you canunderstand how essential a quick start is in badminton.

The split drop involves widening your base (the split) and lowering your base (the drop) at the same time.

Start in the ready position. Now push upwards slightly to get your feet just off the ground. As your feet are coming off the ground, widen yourlegs so that you land with your feet farther apart. As you land, bend your knees so that you land in a slightly lower posture than before (with theknees bent more).

A casual observer would not even realise that you momentarily took your feet off the floor. Your feet barely leave the surface before you landagain.

The whole process takes a mere instant, and then you are ready to push off and move to the shuttlecock.

Timing the split drop

You should start your split drop just as the opponent is hitting the shuttlecock, so that you complete it just after you see where the shuttlecock isgoing.

This timing must be precise. If you split too late, your movement is delayed; but if you split too early, you lose the bouncing effect.

Practise timing your split drop so that you can move off immediately after seeing where the shuttlecock is going.

The importance of a quick start

Split drop technique

How does the split drop work?








http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/footwork/the-ready-position.php

Counter-movements

Widening your base allows you to push off into the ground with one foot, at an angle. For every movement, you need an initial counter-movement in the opposite direction. So if you want to move forwards, you have to push off backwards with one foot.

That’s why the ready position has your right foot slightly in front of your left foot. If the feet were completely side-by-side, it would be difficult toinitiate forwards or backwards movement.

The stretch-shortening cycle

Muscles are able to generate more force if they are lengthened (stretched) and then immediately shortened (contracted). This is called thestretch-shortening cycle.

More technically, this occurs when an eccentric muscle contraction is followed immediately by a concentric muscle contraction.

The important thing to understand is that you cannot wait. Your pushing-off movement must immediately follow your split-drop; otherwise,the benefits are lost.






Steps or chassés?

Even among coaches, there is often confusion about the merits of steps vs. chassés. Sometimes a coach will teach only chassés, believing thatthey make steps redundant (this is an error).

The reality is that both steps and chassés are useful, but they have different merits.

Consider (again) a 100m race. If one of the runners decided to use chassé steps instead, how well do you think he would perform?

Chassés are much slower at covering long distances, because the length of each stride is smaller. Because of this, there are many situations inbadminton where running steps are by far the faster method to reach the shuttlecock, and using a chassé instead would just be silly.

You should generally avoid stringing multiple chassés together for covering distance. Running steps would be faster. Most of the time, it’sinefficient to string two chassés together; and you should certainly not string three chassés together!

(This is not the same as following one chassé with another. Multiple consecutive chassés can often be useful to help you change directionquickly.)

Chassés, although slower over distance, have some interesting advantages over steps.

Chassés are adaptable for different distances

The effective length of a running step is fixed by your leg length: short steps are a hideously inefficient method of movement. Chassés, however,remain efficient regardless of whether you need a full-length chassé or a small adjustment chassé.

It’s important to realise that you do not need to bring your feet fully together for a chassé. This is optional; sometimes the feet come almosttogether, and sometimes they stay wide apart. The more distance you intend to cover with a single chassé, the closer your following foot mustmove to the leading foot.

This is what makes chassés so adaptable: you can speed up a short chassé by moving each foot only a small amount (so the feet don’t move closetogether). This doesn’t work with ordinary running steps.

Because of these differences, chassés are faster than running steps over very short distances. They also keep you on-balance throughout thewhole movement, and minimise body rotation (which can get in the way of hitting a good shot).

Chassés help you jump

Unlike running steps, chassés keep both feet close to the ground at all times. A good chassé feels like you are skimming across the floor! Chassésalso keep you in a balanced position at all times, whereas a running step depends on using imbalance to create movement.

Steps: the fastest way to cover distance

Chassés: dynamic footwork


These differences make chassés more effective than running steps when you want to launch yourself into a jump at the end. At the end of achassé movement, you have both feet wide apart and on the ground, and you are well balanced. This helps you to make a powerful two-footedtake-off.

Running steps, however, generally force you to use a one-footed take-off if you want to move immediately into a jump. One-footed take-offs areless powerful.





Lunge technique

Lunge technique is a boring topic, so most players ignore it.

Successful athletes, however, pay attention to the boring things as well as the fun things. If your lunge is slightly wrong, then your knees willsuffer.

A good lunge will also help you reach farther and recover more quickly.






Lunge technique

1. Introduction 6:29 2. Technique details 7:26





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Lunging provides several benefits:

• A good lunge absorbs lots of force, without hurting your joints.

• A lunge provides a balanced position from which to hit your shot.

• Lunges maximise your reach, so that you can take the shuttlecock earlier.

• After the shot, you can use your lunging leg to push back in the direction you came from.

Lunges involve making one final large step, so that you finish your movement with your foot well away from your body, in a low posture withthe lunging knee bent.

In most situations, you should lunge with your right foot leading. This helps you to stay on balance, by keeping your arms balanced above yourlegs. It also gives you the maximum reach.

When lunging to your backhand side, however, it is quicker to lunge with your left foot leading. Nevertheless you will often need to lunge withyour right foot, in order to reach backhand shots that are farther away.

As much as possible, keep your upper body upright throughout the lunge. If you fail to control your upper body movement, you will bend at thewaist too much and will have difficulty recovering for the next shot. Avoid trying to reach the shuttlecock by bending at the waist; make adeeper, lower lunge instead.

If your lunge technique is slightly wrong, you are at risk of damaging your knees or ankles. There are several important points to follow:

The foot must point in the direction of the lunge

Whatever direction you are lunging in, your leading foot must point that way.

The purpose of a lunge

Lunge basics

Protecting your knees and ankles









For example: if you are lunging towards the right tramlines, then your leading foot must point towards the right tramlines when it lands.

It’s common for players to make a sideways lunge with both feet pointing forwards. This is a dangerous habit and must be corrected atonce.

Years ago, I severely sprained my right ankle because of this footwork error; at the time, I was unaware of the correct method. I wish I had beentaught the correct method; instead, I learned about this by injuring myself!—!permanently.

The foot and knee must stay in alignment

When you lunge, a large force travels up your leg. This force is supposed to be absorbed by your muscles; but if you get the technique wrong, itwill go into your joints instead (that’s bad. Really, really bad).

The knee must be lined up with the foot. Ideally, the knee should stay lined up with your second toe (the one next to your big toe).

If the foot is turned in or out, then the knee is placed in an unstable position and is susceptible to damage. This typically leads to patello-femoralpain syndrome (runners’ knee in the US).

To maintain ankle stability, however, some players choose to turn the foot out very slightly. This is an acceptable compromise, but should bekept to an absolute minimum in order to safeguard your knees.

The knee must not travel beyond the foot

As you complete a lunge, your forwards movement will cause the knee to move towards the foot.

This movement must not continue beyond the point where the knee is directly over the foot. The angle under the knee should be more than 90degrees throughout the lunge.

Naturally you may ask, “What if I need to lunge farther?” The solution is simple: get lower down. The longer your lunge, the lower it must be.This allows you to keep the knee behind the foot, while still gaining maximum reach.

That’s why these types of lunges are called deep lunges.

The heel must strike first

Another common error is to contact the floor with your toe first, or all of your foot together. You must make contact first with your heel, andthen roll onto the rest of the foot.

Using this heel-to-toe contact absorbs a surprising amount of force. If you land flat-footed instead, guess where that extra force is going? That’sright: into your joints!

You can imagine that you are stepping on the brake pedal of a car. The heel-first contact acts as a braking mechanism.

In order to make this heel-first contact, you must deliberately throw your lower leg out in the direction of your lunge, so that your toes arepointing somewhat upwards. This requires a conscious effort at first, but should eventually be drilled into you so that it happens automatically.

(Making an effort to throw out your lower leg has another benefit: it helps to ensure that your knee will remain behind your foot.)

The backwards foot

The backwards foot should also be used as a brake (the more force-absorbing components, the better!). Turn the foot outwards so that theinside side is dragged along the floor, and allow it to drag forwards towards your front foot.

As well as providing a brake, dragging in the back foot reduces the width of your base. If you don’t do this on deep lunges, you will finish withyour feet too far apart (an excessively wide base), and it will be difficult to push off again for the next shot.

If you do this properly, your left badminton shoe will develop a distinctive wear pattern on the inside side wall. This will eventually become ahole. This is perfectly normal, and actually indicates that this element of your footwork is correct.





Scissor jumps

The scissor jump is often used as the last movement when hitting overhead forehands.

It’s called a scissor jump because the legs swap positions while in the air. This motion bears a vague resemblence to closing a pair of scissors.

Scissor jumps are also known as scissor kicks.

Start near the back of the court, in a side-on position with your right foot back and your left foot forward.

Now jump straight off the ground, turning your body as you hit the shuttlecock, so that your feet swap places when they land: your right foot isnow in front, with your left foot behind.

Your left foot should land momentarily before your right foot.

In a real game, you will often still be moving backwards as you make a scissor jump.

Foot rhythm

You can learn the rhythm of the scissor jump by practising continuous scissor jumps.

Make a scissor jump. Then step your left foot forwards to recover. Then step your right foot backwards to return to the side-on starting position.Finally, repeat the scissor jump.

The rhythm is like this: left, right!—!left, right. Let me explain that:

1. You jump. Both feet come off the ground and switch places in the air.

2. You land, one foot immediately after the other: left, right.

3. You recover forwards with your left foot, and then step back again with your right foot: left, right.

4. You jump again…

Scissor jumps allow you to play more powerful forehands, because you get your feet off the ground and turn your body and shoulders.

Scissor jumps also help you make a quick recovery forwards, because you can push forwards with your left foot as soon as it lands.

Scissor jumps are not always appropriate

Scissor jump technique

Benefits of a scissor jump


A scissor jump is only effective when you are able to get behind the shuttlecock (or at least level with it).

If the shuttlecock is behind you, then you will need to strike it with your badminton racket behind your body. This is not compatible with ascissor jump; scissor jumps create an impact point level or in front of the body.

A block jump, however, may be a good choice in this sitution.



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Block jumps

The block jump is used to intercept the shuttlecock with a forehand or round-the-head forehand action.

With the scissor jump, you lead your jump with the right foot but then swap your feet positions in mid-air.

With the block jump, your feet don’t swap. You land with the same foot position as you started.

The canonical block jump: a forehand jump-out

In this case, you jump backwards to play a forehand overhead with the shuttlecock behind your body. You start in a side-on position, jump, andremain in the side-on position when you land. The right foot stays behind the left foot during the whole jump.






Comparing block jumps with scissor jumps

Examples of block jumps





Jump-out footwork

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Sideways block jumps

You can also jump out to the side. In this case, your body is square-on (parallel) to the net.

When jumping to the forehand side, your right foot leads; when jumping to the backhand side, your left foot leads. Your feet do not cross over;they remain wide apart throughout the jump.

When you jump out to your right, you can usually land with both feet together (and this is preferable). When you jump out to your left, however,you are playing a round-the-head forehand, and will therefore be less balanced; usually, you’ll be forced to make a one-footed landing with yourleft foot (but ground your right foot as soon as possible).

Block jumps into the backhand rear corner (round-the-head)

Block jumps are less effective in the backhand rearcourt, because a round-the-head movement cannot be combined with a contact point that iswell behind the body.

Nevertheless, you can use a block jump if you’re able to intercept the shuttlecock while it is still level with the body (or only very slightlybehind). This often requires a near-contortionist round-the-head movement!

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For these round-the-head block jumps into the rearcourt, the left foot is behind the right foot during the jump (that’s the opposite way aroundfrom the forehand corner block jump).





Singles footwork patterns

Even if you are a doubles-only badminton player, you need to learn singles footwork. The footwork patterns used for singles movement arealso essential for doubles movement.

Once you have good singles footwork, you can easily adapt it for doubles too.

This section will teach you how to move from a central singles base to each of the four corners:

• Footwork to the front corners

• Footwork to the forehand rear corner

• Footwork to the backhand rear corner

When practising these footwork patterns, you should start in a typical singles base position: in the middle of the court, but one small step closerto the back line than the net.

Practise reaching all four corners with the fewest steps you can.

Many players add unnecessary steps, because they are not confident of their footwork patterns. This wastes time; it’s better to take fewer, longersteps.

From a typical central singles base, you should be able to reach any corner in only two movements. For example: a step and a lunge, or achassé and a jump.



Your starting position

A challenge!


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Footwork to the front corners

The basic footwork pattern is essentially the same for both front corners: split drop, step with your left foot, and lunge with your right foot.

Pattern summary: split, left, right.

(1) Split drop

Start with a split drop. As you land, you should shift your weight towards your right foot, so that your left foot will be free to push off and makethe first step.

(2) Step with your left foot

Take step with your left foot towards the front corner. Try to cover as much distance as you can with this step, rather than just relying on a deeplunge at the end.

(3) Lunge with your right foot

Finish the movement with a lunge into corner. Remember to maintain good lunging technique.

On the backhand side, you will need to turn your body as your right foot crosses over for the lunge.

Chassé steps

In many situations, a chassé will be more effective than a cross-over step. Chassés are faster when you have a short distance to cover, such aswhen you are already in the forecourt (after you played a net shot, for example).

Chassés are often used for travelling to the forehand front corner. A good example would be when you play a high serve, and your opponentplays a fast drop shot to your forehand. You would normally be best using a chassé here.

If you are travelling a longer distance, however, you should use steps instead. For example: suppose you just played a clear from your backhandcorner, and your opponent plays the same fast drop shot to your forehand. In this situation, because you are travelling from the rearcourt (alonger distance), you would use running steps.

Similarly, if your opponent plays a slow drop shot, you will normally need running steps and not chassés (the distance to cover is longer, butyou have more time).

Chassés are not effective for reaching drop shots in the backhand corner, because you need to turn your body for the final lunge. Normally youwould use running steps here. Chassés are often the better option for reaching net shots, however (a shorter distance to cover than drop shots).

The basic pattern (for both sides)

Variations



The forehand “reversed cross-over”

Sometimes, when travelling to the forehand front corner, it’s more effective to cross your left foot behind your right foot. This is often the casewhen your movement is more sideways than normal (as when you have just played a shot on the backhand side of the court).

Crossing the foot behind may feel odd at first, but it’s a useful variation. It can often save you from being forced into awkward over-rotation ofyour body in order to perform a normal cross-over step.

The “Danish leap” into the backhand net corner

This is an obscure footwork pattern, which I’ve heard originated in Denmark. It is best suited to tall players. You won’t get many chances to usethis.

If you are able to anticipate your opponent’s shot to your backhand front corner, then you can sometimes position your feet to point towardsthat corner: the left foot is in front of the right foot. Note that this is the opposite way around from your normal ready position.

From this position, you can reach the backhand front corner by making one huge leap. You push off from your right foot with a powerful leaptowards the corner, turning your body while in the air, and land with a lunge on your right foot.

Even when your ready position is biased towards the forehand side (as when your opponent is in the rearcourt on your forehand side), you canuse this leap to reach the backhand front corner. It’s not easy, but it is possible.

If you succeed in using this footwork pattern, you will take the shuttlecock very early. The problem with this footwork is that you must beconfident that your opponent will hit to the backhand front corner. The “Danish leap” ready position is terrible for reaching the backhand rearcorner or the forehand front corner.






Footwork to the forehand rear corner

There are three basic patterns of footwork to the forehand rear corner: the arc step, the jump-out, and the step-out.

Each is useful in different situations.

Use this footwork pattern when you have time to get behind the shuttlecock.






Arc step footwork

The arc step





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The idea of the arc step is to position yourself directly behind the shuttlecock, in a fully side-on hitting position, so that you can threaten to playa full-power smash. By contrast, the other two footwork patterns place you diagonally into the corner (the fastest way).

Pattern summary: split, arc step, scissor jump.

1) Split drop

From the ready position, make a split drop. As you land, shift your weight slightly onto your left foot (because you are about to push off to yourright).

If you anticipate your opponent’s shot, then you can complete your split drop with your right foot behind your left foot, so that your feet arealready angled into the corner. This makes the next movement easier.

2) Arc step

This involves moving sideways and backwards while turning your body to a side-on, aggressive hitting position. You do not move directly intothe corner (a diagonal movement), but rather you make a slight arc, in order to achieve the side-on position.

You can think of the arc step as a turning chassé, where the chassé movement is initially to your right, but then smoothly changes into abackwards movement as you turn your body part-way through.

Sometimes, however, it’s more of a turning jump than a turning chassé. For example: when you have not anticipated your opponent’s shot,your split drop will finish in the standard position of right foot ahead of the left foot. In this case, you may need a jump to begin the arc step.

3) Scissor jump

Finish with a scissor jump. This jump should take you backwards and somewhat upwards; hit the shuttlecock while you are in the air.

If you have time to spare, however, get fully to the back (use an extra chassé or step if necessary) before jumping straight upwards (rather thanbackwards). This will improve your recovery for the next shot.

Use this footwork pattern for intercepting the shuttlecock when it is travelling behind you.

Jump-out

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For example, you can often use a jump-out to intercept a shallow lift, allowing you to play a winning half-smash.

Pattern summary: split, chassé, block jump.






Jump-out footwork

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1) Split drop

If possible, finish your split drop with your right foot behind your left foot, so that you are already in a side-on position and prepared to moveback and jump.

This is different from the standard (generic) position, where your right foot is slightly ahead of your left foot, in a stance roughly square-on tothe net. If you finish your split drop in this standard position, it will be much more difficult to perform a jump-out.

2) Chassé (or hitch)

Normally you will need to make a short, fast chassé backwards before you jump. Sometimes you will need an even shorter, faster movement:use a hitch instead.

Occasionally you will skip this part entirely, and follow your split drop directly with a jump, in order to make an immediate interception.

3) Block jump

Finish with a block jump, jumping backwards and upwards to intercept the shuttlecock and hitting while in the air. Remember to land on bothfeet together.

Use this footwork pattern when the shuttlecock has already travelled behind you, and you are unable to intercept it with a jump-out.

Pattern summary: split, left, right.






Step-out


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Step-out footwork

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The step-out is similar to the jump-out, in that you are taking the shuttlecock from behind your body.

1) Split drop

One advantage of the step-out is that, unlike the jump-out, it is easy to perform regardless of your foot position after the split drop.

Landing with your right foot behind still makes this movement easier, but it’s nowhere near as dramatic an advantage as for the jump-out.

2) Step with your left foot

Take a step with your left foot towards the corner. Your left foot will normally cross behind your right foot during this step.

3) Step with your right foot

Step with your right foot towards the corner.

When you are taking the shuttlecock very late, this last step can become a lunge. If this happens, remember that you must point your foot in the









direction of the lunge so that the knee and foot remain in alignment.

The deeper the step-out, the more lunge-like it becomes, and therefore the leg (and foot) must point more towards the corner.

When you are taking the shuttlecock earlier, however, you should make every effort to push up off the ground for a higher impact point. This islike a very weak jump-out. In this case, the right leg (and foot) will land pointing sideways and perhaps slightly forwards.





Footwork to the backhand rear corner

In the backhand rear corner, you can play either backhands or round-the-head forehands. These have completely different footwork patterns.

Round-the-head forehands are a much better choice when possible, but you will nevertheless often be forced to play a backhand.

The backhand footwork is simple. It’s much the same as a forehand step-out.

Pattern summary: split, chassé, turn.

1) Split drop

The standard landing position (right foot slightly ahead of left foot) will serve you well here, and there’s no advantage to be gained by selecting adifferent foot position.

2) Chassé towards the corner

Your left foot will lead the chassé.

When you have more distance to cover, you may need an extra chassé or to replace the chassé with running steps.

3) Turn and step with your right foot

Pivot on your left foot and turn your body, stepping across with your right foot, so that your back turns towards the net.

This final step will often become a lunge. Where possible, step to the side rather than backwards. Often, however, you will need to turn yourback fully to the net and lunge into the corner.

This footwork pattern, although challenging to learn, is essential for your attacking play.

Pattern summary: split, swivel, scissor jump.

Backhand footwork

Round-the-head forehand footwork








Round-the-head footwork

1. Introduction 6:35 2. Technique details 13:20

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1) Split drop

As with the backhand footwork, the standard foot position is the best one.

2) Swivel step (moving pivot)



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This is the key element of round-the-head footwork.

Push off with your right foot, and use this force to pivot around your left foot, angling your body towards the corner.

It’s essential that this is a moving pivot: while you are turning, you must also move back towards the corner. The more distance you can coverwhile turning, the better.

The left foot only remains on the ground for the very start of the pivot!—!just enough time to begin the turn. It then comes off the ground, and“hovers” briefly (this is where you cover distance) before landing again.

Try to make your left foot cover as much ground as possible while “hovering”.

You can also think of this swivel step as a turning hop.

3) Scissor jump

Finish with a scissor jump, jumping backwards into the corner.

This combination of movements feel unnatural at first, because you are swivelling one way before using the scissor jump to rotate your body inthe opposite direction. You’ll need good core stability to make the most of this twisting footwork pattern!






Badminton grips guide

This guide will teach you the best ways to hold a badminton racket, and how to choose the right grip for each situation.

Each badminton grip is illustrated with photographs from multiple angles. Other photographs show common mistakes.






Grips introduction

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If you don’t hold the racket correctly, you will never produce good badminton strokes. Grips are the basis for all racket skills.

Using a good grip is the first step to mastering badminton. Here are some benefits of using a good grip:

Benefits of a good grip

• More powerful smashes

• More accurate net shots and serves

• Stronger smash defence, and ready for both sides

• Deceptive strokes

Using incorrect badminton grips will cripple your skill development. Here are some common problems caused by incorrect grips:

Problems caused by incorrect grips

• Clears are too short; smashes are weak

• Limited choice for the direction of your strokes

• Difficulty coping when opponents hit towards your body

• Obvious strokes that your opponents can predict

More than one grip

Many players use the same grip for every badminton stroke. This will limit their ability.

To play skilfully, you must learn the right badminton grip for each situation. For example, you need a different grip for a backhand serve thanfor a forehand smash.



Why are grips important?








Badminton grip principles

Before you learn individual badminton grips, you should be aware of some principles about holding a badminton racket.

If you understand the principles, then all the details will make sense. If you don’t understand the principles, then the detailed instructionscan seem arbitrary and alien.






Grip principles

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A relaxed grip

Badminton grips should be relaxed so that the muscles of the forearm can work effectively.

Many players believe that a tight grip gives them more power. That is wrong: in order to generate power, the grip must initially be relaxed.

The feeling of a relaxed grip

It is extremely important to learn how a correctly relaxed badminton grip feels.

As a test, hold out your badminton racket to a friend and ask him to take it from you. The racket should come out your hand smoothly andeffortlessly; if he encounters resistance, then you are holding the racket too tightly.

Many players feel that it’s “impossible” to play with such a relaxed grip. This is because their skills have developed over years of holding abadminton racket too tightly. New techniques always feel unnatural.

When you learn a new badminton grip, you must also learn how to use it. Grips and technique are inseparable.

Flexible badminton grips

A relaxed badminton grip is also more flexible: you can quickly change the angle of your badminton racket by turning the handle between yourfingers. This is useful because:

• You can change quickly between different badminton grips.

• You have finer control of the direction that you hit the shuttlecock.

• For some strokes, you can even turn the racket in the fingers as you hit the shuttlecock (for example, a spinning net shot).

Relaxed badminton grips

Badminton grip tightening







A tightening of the hand should occur on impact with the shuttlecock.

This tightening will be much greater for power strokes (such as a smash) than for soft strokes (such as a net shot). For soft strokes, the slighttightening keeps the racket head stable.

You can only make effective use of grip tightening if your badminton grip is initially relaxed.

Often the grip at the end of a stroke (after finger tightening) differs from the grip at the start of the stroke.

Key tip

In this guide, I am teaching you how to hold the racket before you hit the shuttlecock. That’s why all the grips photographs will show arelaxed grip.

You must remember, however, that your grip will become tighter at the moment of impact with the shuttlecock, and the finger positionsmay change.

A relaxed grip before impact

A tight grip on impact

Photographs can be misleading

Photographs of professional badminton players often give misleading impressions of their grips.

The photographs are usually taken as the players hit the shuttlecock, or just afterwards; by this time, they have completed finger tightening.This has two consequences:

• They are holding the badminton racket very tightly.

• Their finger positions may have changed.

A good badminton grip allows you to control the angle of the racket face, so that you can hit the shuttlecock in the direction you want.

For straight shots, the racket face will finish parallel to the net on impact (in other words, it faces forwards on impact).

But the angle of the racket at the start of the stroke is often different from the angle at impact. This is mainly because, in order to generatepower, badminton strokes require a turning motion of the racket.

Side-on racket angle before impact

Racket faces forwards at impact

Direction of the racket face

The bottom of the hand should be level with the end of the racket handle; the palm should not extend beyond the end of the handle.

For some strokes, this hand position may change.

Correct hand position

Error: hand too low

Hand position


Gaps between the fingers

Small gaps between the fingers make your badminton grip more sensitive, and increase the effectiveness of grip tightening. Clumping allyour fingers together makes them less effective.

The gap between the index finger and middle finger is especially important (often this is a larger gap).

Using the thumb for backhands

For all backhand strokes, the badminton racket handle must be supported by an extended (straight) thumb. The thumb should remain extendedthroughout the hitting action: if you let it curl around the handle, then you will get a “floppy backhand”.

Key tip

The thumb won’t always be directly behind the racket handle (a thumb grip). Often it will be on a diagonal bevel, or even towards the side.

Whatever its exact position, the thumb should always be straight for backhands, to provide a stable hold on the badminton racket.

Forehands are different. With forehands, you have plenty of support from the other fingers, and often the thumb will be curled around theracket handle at the end of finger tightening.

Finger positions




Badminton racket bevels

This guide will use the racket handle bevels to describe the angle of the badminton racket in your hand, and the position of your fingers.

The badminton racket handle has eight bevels: the two wide bevels, the two narrow bevels, and the four diagonal bevels.

A wide bevel

A narrow bevel


Colouring the diagonal bevels

For the grip photographs in this guide, I have painted all the diagonal bevels blue so that they show up against the yellow colour of the rackethandle.

A diagonal bevel

The diagonal bevels are painted blue

Numbering the bevelsNumbering the bevels

At the end of a badminton racket handle, there is a cap, which is usually marked with the manufacturer’s logo. Imagine that this cap is anoctagonal clockface. In this guide, I number the bevels anticlockwise, starting from one of narrow bevels.

Since the racket handle is symmetrical, I only number the first four bevels. The other four are just repetitions.

So bevel 1 is a narrow bevel, bevel 2 is a diagonal bevel, bevel 3 is a wide bevel, and bevel 4 is another diagonal bevel. Then the numbering startsagain with another bevel 1.





Fundamental badminton grips

These fundamental grips are the basis for every grip in badminton.

Beginner grips:

Basic grip

This should be your default way of holding a badminton racket. It is good for many different situations, including forehand overheads.

This grip is often called the “forehand grip” or “shake hands grip”. Lee Jae Bok calls it the “neutral grip”.

Panhandle grip

Use this grip for forehands when the shuttlecock is well in front of you and above net height.

This grip is sometimes called a “frying pan grip”. Lee Jae Bok calls it the “forehand net kill grip”.

Thumb grip

This grip is good for backhands when the shuttlecock is in front of you.

This grip is often called the “backhand grip”. Lee Jae Bok calls it the “backhand net kill grip”.

Intermediate and advanced grips:

Basic grip

This should be your default way of holding a badminton racket. It is good for many different situations, including forehand overheads.

This grip is often called the “forehand grip” or “shake hands grip”. Lee Jae Bok calls it the “neutral grip”.

Panhandle grip

Use this grip for forehands when the shuttlecock is well in front of you and above net height.

This grip is sometimes called a “frying pan grip”. Lee Jae Bok calls it the “forehand net kill grip”.

Thumb grip








This grip is good for backhands when the shuttlecock is in front of you.

This grip is often called the “backhand grip”. Lee Jae Bok calls it the “backhand net kill grip”.

Bevel grip

This alternative to the basic grip is good for many backhands, and especially for overhead backhands.

Other names for this grip include “universal grip”, “multipurpose grip”, and “corner grip”.

Forehand and backhand grips?

You may have expected to see “forehand grip” and “backhand grip” in that list.

The teaching has changed. Teaching one “forehand” grip and one “backhand” grip is highly misleading. For more information, read aboutwhat happened to the old badminton grips.

You may notice that some Badminton England resources, such as badminton.tv, still use the old names of “forehand grip” and “backhand grip”.This is simply because Badminton England have not yet completed their transition to the new teaching.




http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/background/old-grips.php

http://www.badminton.tv/?ref=MH1158318524



The basic badminton grip

This is the grip you should learn first and use most often. It should be your default badminton grip.

The basic grip is effective for a wide variety of situations, including when the shuttlecock is above your head or to the side of your body.






The basic grip

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Using the basic grip for forehands

Using the basic grip for backhands

Use the basic grip on both sides of the body, forehand and backhand. For forehands you hit with the front of the hand leading, whereas forbackhands you hit with the back of the hand leading. Forehands feel like hitting with your palm, and backhands feel like hitting with yourknuckles.

A common mistake in coaching is to teach one “forehand” grip (the basic grip) and one “backhand” grip (the thumb grip). This is incorrect. Forbackhands at the side of your body, use the basic grip.

You may think of forehands as hitting with the front face of the racket, and backhands as hitting with the back face.

When you use the basic grip for backhands, make sure the thumb remains extended (straight) throughout the hitting action. This providessupport. If you let the thumb curl instead, your hold on the racket will not be stable enough: you will have a “floppy backhand”.

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grips/basic-grip.php#









The V-shape, marked in red

Hold the badminton racket as though you are lightly shaking hands with the handle, or as though you are lightly holding a blade, such as aknife, a sword, or an axe.

Look at the gap between your thumb and first finger; it should form a shape like the letter V. The bottom point of this V-shape should not beexactly “on top” of the badminton racket handle: it should be placed towards the diagonal bevel on the left, bevel 2.

Your hold on the badminton racket should be relaxed (not tight).

Basic grip photographs

Learning the basic grip

Key tip

Marking your badminton racket handle is an excellent way to help yourself learn this grip.

A fist-like grip

A fist-like badminton grip prevents you from using your fingers effectively. Notice there is no V-shape; instead, the webbing between yourthumb and first finger makes a rounded U-shape.

To correct the error, relax your grip and spread your fingers gently.

Key tip

If you finish your shot with a fist-like grip, that's okay. It’s only an error if you start with a fist-like grip.

Error

Common errors

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/background/marking-the-racket-handle.php

Correct

V-shape directly on top

This is commonly taught, but it’s incorrect. Placing the V-shape directly over the narrow bevel, bevel 1, leaves you with a slight panhandle,which will cause subtle problems in your badminton strokes: for example, when playing a straight forehand clear from your forehand corner,you will tend to hit the shuttlecock out at the side.

To correct the error, move the V towards the diagonal bevel, bevel 2, instead.

Error


Correct

Pointing the index finger

Extending the index finger, so that it points straight up the badminton racket, will make your hand tense. This will severely limit your strokeskills, and may also lead to a strain injury.

To correct the error, allow the finger to rest in a more relaxed position. It’s still good to have a gap between the index and middle fingers; justdon’t point the index finger straight up.

Error

Correct





Badminton panhandle grip

Use this grip to play forehand strokes when the shuttlecock is well in front of your body and higher than the net. For example, you can usethis grip to play a forehand net kill.

This grip is also used for playing late backhands.

Do not use this grip to play overhead forehands: use the basic grip instead.

Forehand net kill

Place your badminton racket on the floor. Now pick it up without turning the handle at all: just place your hand over the handle, lift the racketoff the ground, and wrap your fingers around the handle.


This grip is called “panhandle” because it is similar to holding a frying pan.

Panhandle grip photographs

When to use the panhandle grip

Learning the panhandle grip


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grip-adjustments/late-backhand-grip-adjustment.php


Not spreading the fingers

Players often clump all their fingers together at the bottom of the badminton racket handle. This means they will have less control of the rackethead.

Common errors

To correct the error, relax your grip and spread your fingers gently.

Error

Correct



Badminton thumb grip

Use this grip to play backhand strokes when the shuttlecock is in front of your body. For example, you can use this grip to play a backhandnet kill.

This grip is also used for playing late forehands.

When the shuttlecock is at the side of your body rather than in front, the basic grip will be better than the thumb grip.

Backhand net kill

Place your thumb behind the badminton racket handle, so that it points along the wide bevel, bevel 3, at a slight diagonal angle. Only the pad ofyour thumb should be touching the handle (there should be a gap).


Thumb grip photographs

When to use the thumb grip

Learning the thumb grip


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grip-adjustments/late-forehand-grip-adjustment.php


A distinctive wrist movement

A correct thumb grip causes you to use the wrist in a distinctive way: you should feel that you are pushing the badminton racket from behind,using your thumb.

The anatomical name for this wrist movement is radio-ulnar deviation. Its range of movement is small: less than 90 degrees. So when you usethe thumb grip, your wrist movement is restricted.

Backswing: radial deviation

Forwards swing: ulnar deviation

Because the thumb grip restricts wrist movement, it should not be used for powerful strokes such as backhand clears. Using a full thumb gripprevents you from playing powerful strokes, because your forearm rotation is inhibited: your wrist becomes “locked” part way through forearmrotation.

Flattened thumb

Pressing the thumb flat against the racket handle introduces tension into your badminton grip and prevents you getting power from theinteraction of thumb and fingers.

To correct the error, relax your grip and allow most of the thumb to come off the handle suface. Only the upper part of the thumb should touchthe handle; there should be a gap at the base.

Error

Common errors

Correct





Badminton bevel grip

This badminton grip is good for many backhand strokes, especially for overhead backhands such as backhand clears.

The thumb placement can help you gain extra leverage for backhand power.

Basic or bevel?Backhand clear, using the bevel grip

The bevel grip is only a slight adjustment from the basic grip, so the choice between them is subtle. Often either of these badminton grips willwork well.

For forehands, the basic grip is usually better. The bevel grip is less effective for power forehands, because it restricts forehand griptightening.

The bevel grip offers finer fingertip control, however, so it can be useful for soft strokes such as net shots, or strokes where you want to slicearound the shuttlecock, such as sliced drop shots.

For backhands, both grips can be effective; if in doubt, use the bevel grip. Whichever grip you choose, remember that the thumb must remainstraight throughout the shot (otherwise you get a “floppy backhand”).

When to use the bevel grip

Learning the bevel grip



Start with the basic grip. Without changing the angle of the badminton racket in your hand, place the pad of your thumb onto the diagonalbevel, bevel 2.

Bevel grip photographs


Comparing the basic and bevel gripsThe basic grip

The bevel grip



Changing between badminton grips

You must be able to change quickly and accurately between different badminton grips, especially in a fast-paced doubles rally.






Changing grip

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You can practise changing grip at any time: all you need is a badminton racket. You can also practise changing grip by hitting the shuttlecockagainst a wall, alternating between forehand and backhand shots.

After you play a stroke, it’s often helpful to return to the basic grip: the basic grip helps you change quickly to other badminton grips.

Another option is the bevel grip. In my view, the bevel grip is slightly quicker for making grip changes, although not quite as versatile for hittingthe shuttlecock. If you are forced to hit with the bevel grip before you have time to change, then that could be a disadvantage compared to thebasic grip.

Key tip

Remember, the bevel grip is very similar to the basic grip. Either of these grips is good for changing to other badminton grips.

If you hold the racket using the panhandle grip or the thumb grip, then it is much harder to change quickly to a different badminton grip.

For the most effective grip changes, hold the badminton racket lightly in your fingers. You can then change the angle of the racket by rolling thehandle between your thumb and first finger.

Details of badminton grip changes

When you change between badminton grips, you need to start the rolling and then let go the racket handle momentarily. This allows you toreposition your fingers around the new angle of the badminton racket.

You can coordinate this with the movements of your arm and body, so that the badminton racket snaps into place without excessivemanipulation by the fingers (which is slow). For example, when you play a backhand net kill, change to the thumb grip as you bring yourbadminton racket up and across.

This is also helpful when you need to change between short and long grips (see grip length). For example, you can release the racket handle asyou bring your arm back for a smash, letting the badminton racket slip from a short grip to a long grip. The same grip change can be achieved by“walking” your fingers down the handle, but that method is slower.

When you change from the basic grip to the panhandle or thumb grips, you have a choice of which direction to turn the badminton racket.Normally, you should turn it anticlockwise for panhandle and clockwise for the thumb grip (clock directions as seen looking from the racketbutt towards the head), because these directions are more coordinated with your wrist movement, and they also help you to use “in between”badminton grips (such as a partial panhandle).


















Adjusting your badminton grip

To become a skilful player, you need to be able to adapt to different situations. For instance, sometimes the shuttlecock will be behind you;but if you can adjust your badminton grip, you will still be able to play a good shot.

Grip lengthAdjust how high up the handle you hold the badminton racket: long and short grips.

Late forehand overheadAdjust your grip to play an overhead forehand stroke when the shuttlecock has passed behind you.

Late backhand overheadAdjust your grip to play an overhead backhand stroke when the shuttlecock has passed behind you.

SmashAdjust your grip to play a smash when the shuttlecock is somewhat in front of your body. (for advanced players)





http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grip-adjustments/late-forehand-grip-adjustment.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grip-adjustments/late-backhand-grip-adjustment.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grip-adjustments/smash-grip-adjustment.php



Badminton serving guide

This guide will teach you how to serve effectively in badminton.

I will describe the different types of serve, and explain the techniques for performing each of them. I’ll also offer tactical advice, so that youcan select the serve that most troubles your opponent.

The badminton serve is not a devastating weapon; the serving side and the receiving side have roughly equal chances to win the rally. You areunlikely to score many aces in badminton, except against weak opponents.

Because of this, you might think that the serve is unimportant. That would be a terrible mistake, especially in doubles.

The serve is crucial in doubles

Doubles tactics are mainly about attacking with powerful smashes, often finishing the rally with a net kill. The side that gains the first attack hasa huge advantage, and should try to maintain the attack by forcing their opponents to lift the shuttlecock.

In women’s doubles the attacking play is less ferocious (men can hit the shuttlecock harder), but it’s still important to fight for the first attack.

The first three shots of the rally typically decide who gets the first attack. With a good serve, you have a much better chance of gaining the firstattack, and therefore a much better chance of winning the rally. In particular, the quality of your low serve strongly influences how many ralliesyou will win.

The serve in singles is less important — but don’t be sloppy!

Singles tactics are different from doubles tactics. Rather than all-out violent attack, singles tactics involve moving your opponent around thecourt, especially from the front to the back.

It’s difficult to gain a significant advantage from the service, because your opponent can always lift or clear the shuttle to the back. In doublesthis would be a dramatic advantage for you, but in singles it’s a fairly neutral situation.

Although an excellent serve won’t win you many rallies, a poor serve will give your opponent cheap points. Your high serves need to be landingconsistently in the back tramlines, and you must avoid making service errors (serving into the net or hitting out). In singles, aim for a highlyconsistent serve instead of a perfect serve.



How much does the service matter?




The four types of badminton serve

There are four types of badminton serve: low serve, high serve, flick serve, and drive serve.

The angle of these serves can also be varied: straight, wide, or at the receiver.






The four types of badminton serve

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Low serve

The low serve is played gently over the net to land at the front of your opponent’s service court, near the short service line. It’s important thatthis serve passes low over the net (hence the name “low serve”).

The low serve is used in both singles and doubles. In doubles, the low serve is used more frequently than any other serve.

High serve

The high serve is played powerfully upwards, so that the shuttlecock travels very high and falls almost vertically downwards at the back of thereceiver’s service court. High serves are used frequently in singles, but never in doubles (at a high standard of play).

The high serve can only be played with a forehand action. Unlike the other three serves, you just won’t get enough power from a backhand toplay a good high serve.

Flick serve

The flick serve is also played upwards, but much more shallowly than the high serve. The idea is to deprive the opponent of time, forcing him tohit the shuttlecock when it’s behind his body.

Flick serves are used extensively in doubles, and occasionally in singles.

Drive serve

The drive serve is played flat and fast towards the back of the receiver’s service court, passing low over the net. The idea is to provoke animmediate reaction, hoping that the receiver will mishit the shuttlecock. Drive serves are a gamble: if your opponent is too slow, then you willwin the point immediately; but if he reacts quickly enough, then you are likely to lose.

Drive serves are almost never used by professional players, because their opponents are quick enough to counter-attack the serve consistently.At low levels of play, drive serves are used extensively by competitive players, because many opponents are unable to handle them.

In particular, drive serves are favoured by strong junior players (around the age of 13), who enjoy getting cheap points. Drive serves are mainlyused in doubles, because the receiver stands farther forwards than in singles.

Types of serve

Direction of serve






Each of these serves can be played with different angles: straight, wide, or at the receiver.

Serving straight

A straight serve is directed down the centre line. This is especially effective for low serves.

Serving wide

A wide serve is directed towards the outer side lines. Wide serving is used most often in doubles, where the court is wider and the server can aimfor somewhere in the tramlines.

Some wide serves, especially backhands, are technically difficult and require extra practice.

Serving at the receiver

This is mainly useful for low serves, where the receiver may be unsure whether to play a forehand or backhand reply.





Where to stand when you serve

When serving, you should stand towards the front of the court and as close to the centre line as possible.

Don’t stand on the lines, however: that is a fault!

Stand close to the front service line. Exactly how close? That depends on your height, and your personal preference. You can either stand rightat the front, or slightly farther back.

Key tip

Players who serve forehand tend to stand farther back than players who serve backhand.

The distances I suggest here are for backhand serves. You may wish to add another 50 centimetres if you serve forehand.

Many beginners serve from too far back. You should stand at most 50 centimetres back from the short service line (unless you are a child or avery short adult).

It’s all about the straight low serve: if you stand farther back, then you can make a flatter low serve; but if you stand farther forwards, then thereceiver has less time to react.

Standing right at the front

If you stand directly behind the short service line, as close as possible, then the receiver has less time to react to your serve (because it crossesthe net sooner).

But because you are so close to the net, the shuttlecock is likely to be rising as it passes the net, so that its highest point is on the receiver’s side.This makes it easier to attack.

That’s not your only problem. Your serve may be travelling farther into the court than you would like, so that it would land perhaps 20centimetres beyond the service line.

I recommend recording your serve on video, so that you can see the shuttlecock trajectory for yourself. You may be surprised at the path ittakes.

Standing a step back

Alternatively, you can stand one small step back from the service line. This helps you make a flatter serve: the shuttlecock may even betravelling downwards when it passes the net.

Level doubles


But because you are standing farther from the net, the receiver has more time to react.

For most adults, I recommend a maximum of 50 centimetres gap between the service line and your farthest forward foot. Don’t stand anyfarther back; this just gives the receiver extra time and obstructs your partner’s position (where can he stand if you’re in the middle of thecourt?).

Children and very short adults, however, may benefit from standing even farther back.

Which is better?

There’s no right answer here. You need to experiment and make your own decision.

Tall players can stand farther forwards than short players, because their extra height makes it easier to play a flat service.

By slicing the low serve, you can adjust its trajectory in your favour!—!which means you can stand farther forwards.

Zheng Bo serving

In mixed doubles, the man should serve from farther back than normal, with the woman standing in front of him. This peculiar-seemingposition is intended to help the man become the rearcourt attacker (because his smashes are stronger than the woman’s).

Exactly how far back? Even among world-class players, the distance varies considerably: about 1–2 metres. The picture on the right showsZheng Bo serving in the 2007 World Championship final.

The woman should serve at the front, just as though she were playing women’s doubles.

Singles players stand farther back than doubles players, because they must cover the whole court. If you stand right at the front, then youropponent can win the rally with a simple lift.

Exactly how far back? I recommend about 1–2 metres back from the short service line, depending on what kind of service you are using.

The position for backhand serves tends to be farther forwards than for forehand serves.


Mixed doubles

Singles



Basic serve technique

This section will teach you the basic technique for each type of serve.

The pages on low serves cover elements shared by flick serves and drive serves. So if you want to learn a backhand flick serve, you should readabout the backhand low serve first.

I recommend you start by practising the straight serves. Some wide serves are much more difficult.

• Backhand low serve

• Backhand flick serve

• Backhand drive serve

• Forehand low serve

• Forehand flick and drive serves

• Forehand high serve



Backhand serves

Forehand serves


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serving-guide/basic-technique/backhand-flick-serve-technique.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serving-guide/basic-technique/backhand-low-serve-technique.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serving-guide/basic-technique/backhand-low-serve-technique.php


http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serving-guide/basic-technique/backhand-drive-serve-technique.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serving-guide/basic-technique/forehand-low-serve-technique.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serving-guide/basic-technique/forehand-flick-and-drive-serve-technique.php

http://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/serving-guide/basic-technique/forehand-high-serve-technique.php



Backhand low serve technique

The backhand low serve is easy to learn. You just need to use the right badminton grip and push the shuttle gently over the net.

This serve is one of the first things I teach beginners.






Backhand low serve

1. Introduction 2:34 2. Technique details 11:19 3. Coaching clinic 3:01 4. How to practise 14:34

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Use a thumb grip with the wrist bent back (radially deviated). For better control and to help you play deceptive flick serves, use a short grip.

Hold the racket out in front of you, pointing at a downwards angle. Make sure you leave plenty of space between your badminton racket andyour body.

To help you get this right, try following this simple process:

1. Imagine the racket strings are a mirror. Hold up the mirror at arm’s length and admire your face; place your thumb on the wide part ofthe handle, and bend the wrist so that you can see straight into the mirror. This is somewhat like making a “thumbs up” gesture.

2. Now turn the mirror downwards!—!like going from “thumbs up” to “thumbs down”. Don’t move your fingers: just turn your arm. Theracket should still be facing roughly forwards (not up to the ceiling).

3. Holding the shuttlecock in your other hand, place it onto the racket strings.

Stand upright, with your chest parallel to the net (both shoulders should be the same distance forwards).

In doubles, it doesn’t matter which foot you put forwards. Choose whatever feels most comfortable: right foot forwards, left foot forwards, orboth feet side-by-side.

For singles, I recommend putting your right foot forwards, because this helps you to cover the court most effectively. If you put your left footforwards instead, then it will be particularly difficult to cover your backhand rear corner.

This also applies if you are the man in mixed doubles: put your right foot forwards.

Hold the shuttlecock by one feather tip, between your index finger and thumb. Use these fingers to angle the shuttlecock so that it pointstowards your badminton racket.

Straighten your other fingers, so that you will not worry about hitting them.

I prefer to place the shuttlecock right onto the badminton racket, so that the cork is touching the strings (this is not a fault).

Grip and racket position

Posture and foot position

Holding the shuttlecock











The “hitting” action should be a gentle push: move the racket backwards and then gently forwards. Let go the shuttlecock at the last moment sothat you “push from the hand”; do not “drop and push”.

After you contact the shuttlecock, the pushing action should continue gently forwards and upwards. It’s important that you do not allow yourbadminton racket to rebound backwards: that would be a hit, not a push. Try to keep your racket movement smooth and gentle, with nosudden change of speed.

The backswing should be compact, coming mainly from the wrist and elbow.



Hitting action



Backhand flick serve technique

The backhand flick serve is difficult for many beginners, because they do not yet have the skill to generate power from a small racket swing.

Nevertheless, the basic technique is straightforward. If you understand the technique, it should not take more than a few short practices toachieve effective backhand flick serves.






Backhand flick serve

1. Introduction 3:28 2. Technique details 11:45 3. Coaching clinic 7:55 4. How to practise 11:52

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The whole point of a flick serve is surprise. If your opponent anticipates the serve, then he will gain an excellent opportunity to attack.

So you must make your flick serve preparation appear as similar as possible to your low serve preparation. Ideally, your opponent should thinkyou are playing a low serve until the moment you hit it.

Backswing variations

You can keep the racket face pointing straight forwards all the time, or you can turn it out to your left by pronating your forearm (turning thewrist inwards as though looking at your wristwatch).

If you pronate the forearm on the backswing, then supinate it (turn it outwards) on the forewards swing. In other words, your forwards swing isthe reverse of your backswing.

Pronating the forearm makes it easier to get power. If you do this, however, make sure to do the same thing for your low serves!—!otherwise, itbecomes a clue that you’re about to play a flick serve.

Start with your normal, gentle low serve backswing. Then, as you bring your badminton racket forwards, you need to suddenly increase thespeed.

It’s essential to start with a relaxed grip, and then tighten the grip sharply as you hit the shuttlecock (pressing with the thumb on the back of thehandle). You should let go the shuttlecock fractionally sooner than when you play a low serve (after all, you don’t want to hit your fingers!).

Forwards swing variations

You can finish your forwards swing either by stopping the racket (a rebound movement), or by allowing it to follow through upwards withoutinterruption.

Paradoxically, this serve is easier if you’re not trying too hard. Don’t worry about the results; just try to get the feel of the sudden flicking action.

Don’t make it obvious!

Sudden racket head acceleration

How to practise the flick serve









If you try to make a forceful shot, then your arm muscles will tense up too much, and you will actually lose power. Keep the swing relaxed andgentle until the last moment.

It’s much easier to play the flick serve down the centre line, rather than wide to the corners: the wide serve travels farther, so you need morepower.





Backhand drive serve technique

When playing a backhand drive serve, there are two important points to remember:

• Don’t break the service laws!

• Don’t use much power.






Backhand drive serve

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Drive serves are the cause of many arguments in badminton clubs. This is because most drive serves are illegal, and most receivers are weak atresponding to drive serves.

Bad behaviour by servers

Since the laws have changed, the most common fault is serving with the shuttlecock above the waist. The whole shuttlecock must be below thewaist at the moment of impact (the waist is defined as an imaginary line level with the lowest part of the server’s ribs).

Please take care not to break this law. It’s simply cheating, whether your opponent knows about it or not.

Bad behaviour by receivers

Conversely, many receivers get angry when an opponent uses a drive serve against them. Although many drive serves break the service laws,some do not. It’s technically easy to play a good backhand drive serve, from the very front of the court, without breaking a service law.

Receivers must learn to cope with drive serves. It’s part of the game, whether you like it or not.

Having said that, you should dispute any serve that is clearly illegal. Politely explain which law the serve broke. If you cannot reach anagreement, then play a let.

The drive serve has only a short distance to travel (less than the flick serve). If you try to hit it hard, then it will simply go out at the back (if leftby the receiver).

You may feel compelled to hit it hard, because the receiver has quick reactions. Well, it’s up to you; but might I suggest you try a different serveinstead?

Hitting technique

Control is more important here than power. I recommend using a sharp, short swing with a rebound action: stop the racket head after impact(don’t allow it to follow through). Grip tightening alone will provide you with plenty of power to reach the back of the service box.

Using this short, sharp swing will also help you avoid breaking the service laws.

Don’t break the service laws!

Don’t use much power









Forehand low serve technique

The forehand low serve is more complicated than the backhand, because it involves some body movement and dropping the shuttlecock.

Stand with your body turned somewhat sideways-on to the net, with your left foot in front and pointing forwards. Your right foot should befarther back and (comfortably) turned out to the side.

Your weight should be mostly on your back foot.

Hold your badminton racket with a relaxed basic grip. I recommend a short grip for better control.

Hold the shuttlecock with all your fingers gently cradled around it. For a forehand serve you must drop the shuttlecock into the path of theracket; this is different from a backhand serve, where you “hit from the hand”.

Before you hit the shuttlecock, you should begin a smooth transfer of weight from your back foot towards your front foot. The hitting actiontakes place during this body movement.

During this body movement, your chest turns to face the net. You may lift your back foot partly off the floor and swivel on it, but the service lawsrequire you to keep some part of both feet in contact with the floor until you hit the shuttlecock. You must not lift a foot entirely off the ground,and you must not drag a foot along the floor.

As you turn your body, bring your badminton racket forwards with your elbow held in close to your side. Your wrist should be cocked back fully(hyperextended), and your forearm should turn outwards (supinate) so that your palm is facing upwards somewhat.

Drop the shuttlecock into the path of your racket, in front of your body. For accuracy, delay the drop so that the shuttlecock only falls a shortdistance.

Keep your wrist bent back and gently push the shuttlecock over the net. Follow through smoothly (don’t stop or rebound after hitting) and allowyour wrist and arm to return to neutral.

The racket movement should be mainly forwards, not upwards. This helps you make a flatter serve.



Stance, grip, and holding the shuttlecock

Weight transfer and body turn

Hitting action






Forehand flick and drive serve technique

The forehand flick serve is one of the easiest shots in badminton.

Beginners, however, usually use a large swing to play this shot. This makes it obvious what they are going to do; for better results, try to makeyour flick serve appear identical to your low serve.

The drive serve is also easy, but you must be careful to avoid breaking the service laws.

A flick of the wrist and arm

As with the backhand flick serve, it’s important not to give your opponent any clues about your intentions. The forehand flick serve should beidentical to a low serve until just before you hit the shuttlecock.

Keep the swing short, gentle, and compact!—!until the last moment, when you flick the wrist and arm (flex the wrist and pronate the arm) andtighten your grip on the badminton racket.

Common errors

It’s often easy to read a player who is about to flick serve, because he changes the early part of the hitting action. Common clues include:

• A larger or faster swing

• Early shuttlecock drop

• A swing that comes from underneath the shuttlecock, hitting upwards rather than forwards

• Excessive body movements

All these actions are unnecessary. All you need is a simple flick of the wrist and arm, right at the last moment: this will change the trajectory ofyour shot (make it go upwards) and give you plenty of power.

The forehand drive serve uses much the same technique, except you hit the shuttlecock flatter over the net, rather than upwards.

The service laws require the racket to be pointing downwards at the moment of impact. This means your racket shaft must be angled below thehorizontal. It’s common for players to break this law when playing a forehand drive serve; make sure you don’t do this!

You must also take care to hit the shuttlecock from below your waist.


Forehand flick serve

Forehand drive serve



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Forehand high serve technique

The low, flick, and drive serves form a “family” of serves: with correct technique, it will be difficult for your opponent to predict which of themyou are going to play.

This is not true for the high serve. When you play a high serve, your preparation is different from the other serves.






High serve

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The high serve has a much larger swing than the other serves. In the early part of the swing, your racket travels well out behind you. It thenswings through in a wide arc, passing below the level of your knees, and coming upwards to strike the shuttlecock from below with a low contactpoint.

In contrast, all the other serves use a compact swing with a flatter motion, striking the shuttlecock more from behind than from below. Thelowest point of the racket head is about the level of your hips.

The high serve also uses much more pronounced arm rotation: the arm is fully turned out (supinated) on the backswing, and fully turned in(pronated) on the forward swing. The arm follows through, often finishing with the racket over the other shoulder.

Timing the drop

Because the contact point of the serve is lower, the shuttlecock must be dropped for a longer distance. It can be difficult to learn the timing ofthis. Beginners frequently miss the shuttlecock because they drop it and swipe desperately with their racket at the same time.

Give the shuttlecock time to fall. Drop, wait, hit. Drop the shuttlecock into the racket’s path and in front of you.

It’s important to understand that the high serve puts no time pressure on your opponent. He has plenty of time to move backwards intoposition.

The advantage of the high serve over the flick serve is its trajectory. A good high serve travels upwards almost to the back of the court; thenthe shuttlecock turns and falls almost vertically down into the back tramlines. This strange behaviour is due to the shuttlecock’s high drag (theair slows it down), and is unique in racket sports.

The higher you hit it, the more vertically it falls down.

It is difficult for the receiver to deal with a vertically falling shuttlecock, because he is at risk of hitting the feathers and losing control of his shot.After a flick serve this doesn’t happen, because the cork is pointing forwards as it falls.

Aim for the ceiling, not the back line

Many players hit the high serve out, because they aim for the back line. When they do this, they naturally play the serve too flat.

Hitting technique

Make it as high as possible







In your practices, focus on hitting the serve as high as you can, while maintaining control of your shot. Don’t worry about where it lands. Onceyou are hitting it high enough, you can adjust the serve so that it lands in the back tramlines.





Serving tactics

This section deals mainly with your choice of serve. Many players are technically capable of playing good serves, but lose rallies because theychoose the wrong serve.

• Doubles serving tactics

• Singles serving tactics




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Doubles serving tactics

Most of the time, you should play a low serve.

Play flick serves occasionally, to discourage your opponents from anticipating your low serve.

In doubles, the server has a simple objective: gain the first attack.

To gain the first attack, you need to choose serves that pressure your opponents to lift (or clear) the shuttlecock, or play another weak shot!—!such as a loose net shot, which you kill.

To evaluate the success of your serving, ask yourself whether your side is getting the first attack when you serve. Don’t expect to win a rallyoutright on the serve; if you get them to lift, then you have succeeded in your role as server.

“What if my partner messes up the attack?”

Here’s a common, frustrating situation in average-standard club badminton:

1. You play a low serve.

2. The receiver lifts the shuttlecock (fairly high).

3. Your partner plays a weak clear.

4. The opponents smash and you lose the rally.

It’s important to realise here that you did your job. You created the opportunity for your partner to attack!—!and that’s the most you canexpect from serving.

If this keeps happening to you, then don’t change your serving tactics: your serve is a big success! You might want to change your partner,however.

Professional doubles players use the low serve more than any other serve. This is because the low serve is more difficult to attack than otherserves: it’s the only serve that starts to fall below net height immediately after crossing the net.

If you play a flick serve, then your opponent can smash it or play a drop shot. If you play a good low serve, however, his attacking options aremuch more limited.

Play the serve straight

Most of the time, you should play the serve straight to the service T. Playing the low serve straight has two advantages:

The purpose of serving

The low serve is the best serve


• It takes the least time to cross the net.

• It limits your opponent’s angles of reply the most.

The straight low serve has the shortest distance to travel, and therefore takes the least time to cross the net (okay, so the wide serve travelsfaster, but this is outweighed by the much longer flying distance). This means that your opponent has less time to react when you play thelow serve straight.

Serving straight also limits your opponent’s angles of attack. For example, any net shots or pushes must pass through your hitting area; thisgives you a good chance to intercept them.

Playing the serve directly at the receiver is also a good option (aim for his front foot). He has slightly better angles of reply here, but it’s difficultfor him to decide whether to play a forehand or a backhand. Consequently, his grip change may be slower and he may take the shuttlecock afraction late.

Don’t serve wide, except as a surprise

Many players prefer the wide low serve, because they feel they are attacking the empty space.

This is more illusion than reality: you are actually giving your opponent good angles of attack! Playing a wide serve opens up your court tostraight replies into the tramlines. The straight net shot and push are especially difficult for you to deal with.

The wide serve is useful as an occasional variation, however. By playing it every now and then, you plant doubt in your opponent’s mind andgive him one more serve variation to worry about. Then you can go back to the straight low serve, knowing that he will be slightly slower toreact.

Although the flick serve is not objectively as good as the low serve, it’s useful to play flick serves occasionally in order to prevent youropponent anticipating your low serve.

If you always serve low, then a smart opponent will start to gamble on your continuing this pattern. This will allow him to react quicker whenyou serve, and attack it decisively.

If you use occasional flick serves, however, your opponent will need to be ready for both types of serve: both physically ready (how he stands)and mentally ready (how he reads your serve).

Key tip

The purpose of flick serves is to limit your opponent’s attack of your low serves.

If you use flick serves as your usual serve, then they become pointless!

Both straight and wide flick serves are effective

Arguably, the wide flick serve is better than the straight flick serve, because:

• It forces the receiver to move farther.

• If he attacks, his shots will be coming from a corner rather than down the centre (this is easier to defend against).

Use the flick serve as a variation

This seems to be confirmed by professional matches, where (I think) flick serves are more commonly played wide than straight.

The wide serve is more difficult, however, so only play it if you can consistently make the full distance and height!

There’s a reason that this serve is almost never seen at the professional level!

The drive serve is a high-risk tactic: if your opponent fails to react quickly enough, then you win the rally; but otherwise, you lose.

At low levels of play, many receivers have difficulty returning drive serves, and they can be used to win cheap points. Against more skilful andexperienced receivers, however, you will simply lose. Even weak players will usually adapt to the drive serve after the intial shock.

By all means experiment: play a drive serve and see what happens. But be ready to protect your eyes!



Beware using the drive serve



Singles serving tactics

Singles serving tactics are completely different from doubles serving tactics. Whereas in doubles the low serve is objectively best, in singlesit’s hard to pick one serve to use as your default.

Use high serves and low serves most of the time. Flick serves should be reserved for when you spot a weakness, or when you see that youropponent is rushing your low serve. Drive serves should normally be avoided.

As the server, you can choose whether to start the rally with forecourt or rearcourt play. Where is your opponent weaker? Where are youstronger?

If your net play is better than your opponent’s, then try a low serve. Conversely, if your opponent is good at the net but weak in the rearcourt,then use a high serve.

Test your opponent’s responses. Compare the outcome of low serves vs. high serves.

Explore your opponent’s response to high serves. Few players are able to play a powerful smash off a high serve, and many have difficultymaking consistent contact with a vertically falling shuttlecock. You may find that your opponent frequently mishits the shuttlecock when youplay a high serve; if so, keep using it!

The high serve is probably the best choice for most players, because your opponent is likely to be weak in the extreme rearcourt, and you haveplenty of time after serving to get ready for the next shot.

A high serve may be an unwise choice against a player with a violent smash, or with accurate, deceptive drop shots. At the international level,high serves are the most common serve in women’s singles, but are used only infrequently in men’s singles. Nevertheless, high serves areoccasionally used even in world-class men’s singles.

High serves should always be played towards the middle, not towards a corner.

This is the most common serve in high-level men’s singles, because it avoids the threat of a powerful smash.

The low serve may be played either forehand or backhand; both are used at the highest level of play, although the backhand version is morecommon. If you choose the backhand version, however, make sure you can also play a good backhand flick serve!

Play a low serve if you want to guide the rally towards starting with net play. Do not play this serve unless you can react quickly after serving!You must be able immediately to cover both the front and the back of the court.

Where is your opponent weaker?

Using the high serve

Using the low serve


The low serve should be played straight to the service T, or directly at the receiver. Avoid playing this serve wide, because you offer youropponent better angles of return and will have difficulty covering the straight replies.

Playing a low serve from a high serve action

The low serve is sometimes played deceptively, by beginning with a high serve action. Attempting this deception often leads to errors on the lowserve; even international players tend to become disturbingly inconsistent when attempting this deception.

The problem is simple: good high serve technique differs greatly from good low serve technique! The low serve requires a short, precise swingwith a flat pushing action; the high serve requires a long, unrestrained swing where the racket comes from underneath the shuttle.

These hitting actions are too different for an effective compromise. As a result, attempting this deception will weaken at least one of your serves:either the low serve will become inconsistent, or your high serves will become too flat (because you tried to make the high serve preparationlook more like a low serve).

Furthermore, this deception is not especially useful. When you prepare to play a high serve, your opponent need not rush to move backwards;he has plenty of time, and can therefore wait until he is sure of your serve. This deception might catch out a few lazy players, but in the long runit’s not going to fool anyone.

In my view, this deception is harmful. All it achieves is to make your serves less accurate.

Players often opt for this deception because they are worried about their opponent anticipating the low serve. A better solution, however, is touse a flick serve.

The flick serve is mainly useful as a variation on your low serve. The purpose of this variation is to prevent your opponent from gaining an earlyadvantage by anticipating your low serve.

Unlike the high serve deception described above, this service variation does not affect the accuracy of your low serve. Moreover, because flickserves place your opponent under movement pressure, this deception actually has a purpose other than vanity.

At high levels of play, the flick serve is usually aimed wide to the corner, and not towards the middle. This is because playing the flick serve widecreates greater movement pressure.

The flick serve must be played with enough height to prevent your opponent intercepting it in the midcourt; and it must land in the backtramlines. If you fail to get enough height or length, then your opponent can play a violent smash.

Many players will have difficulty achieving this when serving backhand; you will need to develop good technique to generate enough rackethead speed. In the meantime, consider using a forehand serve instead.



Using the flick serve

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