training with nylon or feather shuttlecock?

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by Momotarotaro, May 22, 2015.

  1. Momotarotaro

    Momotarotaro Regular Member

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    Hi,

    I'd like to start training hitting drills shots with a partner and I need advice regarding if it's alright to use nylon shuttlecocks?

    I'm asking that 'cause it's starting to get very expensive training with feathers. For games, I usually play with feathers with advanced players and nylons with beginner friends.

    Thanks for your advice!
     
  2. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    If nylons, get the Mavis 2000's... they're the closest in feel to feathers.

    And when training with feathers, you can always ask or look around for used shuttles.
     
  3. Momotarotaro

    Momotarotaro Regular Member

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    What do you think of the Mavis 350 Blue Cap?

    A friend who's a coach at a college uses them for his students, then I tried the Mavis 2000 and the 2000 felt too fast compared to the 350. So now I'm even more confused on which I should use.
     
  4. PinkDawg

    PinkDawg Regular Member

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    350 is common to use. they're pretty close tbh it won't make much of a difference. I prefer 2000.
     
  5. mikescully

    mikescully Regular Member

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    Plastics will develop different hitting habit which wont be helpful if you want to use feathers in the future. If you play competitive better train with feathers. No good players in my area use plastics only very beginner social club. After all the Chinese character for this sport is 羽毛球 which means its a feather( ball) sport. Try finding cheaper feather if cost become the issue. Not to mention the feel, hitting sound, flight course of plastics are no where near close to feathers, also more skills and techniques can be applied to feathers to further enjoyment and progress of the game.
     
  6. Charlie-SWUK

    Charlie-SWUK Regular Member

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    To me, Mavis 2000 just feel like fast plastics. I'm not overly keen on them.

    I think the Ashaway Bird 2 shuttles are the best plastics I've used. Not so easy to get ahold of though.

    However, I'd recommend training with feathers. If you need feather shuttles that last a game, and can then be used for training, my go-to at the moment are Li Ning A300s, they're around £18 a tube and durable enough to be reused for training/drills.
     
  7. mikescully

    mikescully Regular Member

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    normally good coaches won't even consider using nylons as there's plenty of way to save money by using cheaper feathers, we could also collect all used feathers from games and tournaments (we use the highest grade of Yonex shuttles ie. Tournament and New Official in our area for tournament and even the used one are stilll very good and solid to use) and re-use them for practice, there is also decent feathers that are as cheap as around 1000 yen (~$10) per tube if you buy in bulk, my club organizer also do this so he would just order in bulk so we could save up quite a lot rather than just buying per tube (we use Victor Master 1 and 2 for games), and for even cheaper feather option there's this feather shuttle where there's no label on tube or shuttle cap, this kind of birdie has small defects during manufacturing and being sold at really cheap price for training purpose, and really has no significant difference in feel during hitting, still much better than even the best plastics out there.
     
  8. raymond

    raymond Regular Member

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    Depends on your skill level, how serious you want to treat your competitions, and what drills you do.

    For doubles, speed drills, smashes/defense, you may use older shuttles (not those completely worn out). For serves (esp. flick serves), you may want to choose the model of shuttles typically used in your tournament (if there's a designated brand/model).

    For singles, shots that require more precision with the feel and speed of the shuttles (e.g. attacking clears, pushes), you may need to use new/near-new shuttles of designated brand. This helps with your consistency. Used shuttles (or nylon shuttles) that have different speed would not be ideal.

    Yes, badminton could become expensive if/when you become serious with it. One way to reduce the cost is to buy bulk and share with friends that have the same need. You can get some discount that way.
     
  9. mikescully

    mikescully Regular Member

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    yes totally agree with this one, take an example if you're aiming playing high level local tournament, you could always find a sponsorship/funding from company you work for just like a few top clubs in Grade 1 tournament in our area, they managed to get funding so they won't have to dig too deep in their pockets, they usually practice using the official shuttle for tournaments in our area which is Yonex Tournament and these shuttles are so costly (our team definitely couldn't afford using Yonex Tournament for practice so we went with cheaper options because we're paying on our own) but again they're really good and mostly advanced players that already trained since they were little kids and they've been winning the tournaments for the company they represents. So corporate/company funding is another option you can seek if your team is really good.
     
  10. mikescully

    mikescully Regular Member

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  11. captaincook

    captaincook Regular Member

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    The elder man in white.... he is good, too good!... good touches.
     
  12. jak nam

    jak nam Regular Member

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    That is park sung woo, badminton asian champ 1995, so guess he is not bad. btw, being 44 is not elderly.
     
  13. mikescully

    mikescully Regular Member

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    yeap he helped coach Nozomi Okuhara when she's a junior player
     
  14. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    I would personally suggest you train with expensive feather shuttles. I am not joking. An expensive e.g. AS40 or AS50 will last so much longer than a cheap shuttle. I would probably use 2 or 3 shuttles in an hour of practice (NOT smash practice!). Compare this with using 8-10 cheap shuttles or 5 or 6 mid range shuttles - I just think it works out cheaper to buy expensive and durable shuttles, than buying cheap feathers.

    In terms of skills, you really should train with feathers. Plastics are not the same. If you did use plastics, I suggest Mavis 2000 or 300 (do they still make 300?). I have used Mavis 350 before, and it was the worst plastic I have ever used - far too slow for the conditions in the UK - simply results in injuries.
     
  15. captaincook

    captaincook Regular Member

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    That is some badminton league/club tournament. Park Sung Woo was one of the top Korean single player. It is a luxury to have players of this caliber in the league. No wonder those net exchanges.....

    He is definitely not elderly....just a bit older than the opponents in the vids.
     
  16. captaincook

    captaincook Regular Member

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    That explains how a 16 yo won the national.... She has a world class coach since young age. And now she is a regular at superseries (not just GP events).
     
  17. |_Footwork_|

    |_Footwork_| Regular Member

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    This is the best advice so far!
    We collected data (shuttles used and according costs) in our regular training and it came out that AS50 were actually the cheapest shuttles we used. No joke! So now we train with AS50.

    (this might be different for beginners/intermediated that "kill" a lot of shuttles by simple misshits...)
     
  18. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    I still think its cheaper - "dead" AS50 flies better than a "dead" anything else. Obviously if you prefer not to play with "dead" shuttles then you need to stop trying to hit the shuttle so hard and start getting some lessons so you stop "killing" them...
     
  19. Charlie-SWUK

    Charlie-SWUK Regular Member

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    It definitely is cheaper to use quality shuttles; AS50s will usually last 2-3 games, same with Li Ning A300s. When you translate that into training, your shuttles aren't going to die too fast unless they're just for smash practice.

    It's important to note that you shouldn't buy these shuttles at RRP in shops. They're FAR too expensive - AS50s as listed as something like £40 per tube RRP. Li Ning A300s are listed as like £30 per tube new. Order them online or in bulk to get a good deal on the prices.
     
  20. Gollum

    Gollum Regular Member

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    I agree that using high quality shuttles is actually cheaper. But I'm not sure Yonex AS50s are worth it. Prices from Central Sports:

    • Yonex AS50: £23
    • RSL #1 Tourney: £18.50
    • Forza VIP: £15.79

    Don't get me wrong -- AS50 is a great shuttle. But so is Forza VIP, and I'm buying it because it's much cheaper. RSLs are great too, but they've got more expensive lately.

    Having said that, AS50 are now less ridiculously overpriced than they were a year ago. I'll try some again when I next order.
     

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