That's why footwork fascinates me. It seems hard to get someone to teach this well. Yet it is so important.
The footwork you're talking about essentially allows you to "steal" one step - the one performed by your left leg while you haven't finished your body rotation. But as Cheung pointed out, this's more of a Singles footwork? With a partner at the front, it'd be more likely you stand farther back from the more-or-less mid-court ready position. If the return to back corner is high, you'd have plenty of time to move. If it's lower, it seems the mid-court interception step (jumping to the side) dlp alluded to may be more useful in MD/MX? With your usual base (in doubles), the area you need to cover would be more wide than deep...
More often in doubles with flatter lift the rear player will jump out with perhaps a single jump to the rear corner/side only rotating their upper body slightly so they hit/land fairly square, this is very common in indonesians. A similar movement can be developed on the round head shot for those tricky flat lifts, but this requires extremely strong legs and ankles. Many players use a small preparing bounce and then a big jump. At the top level these jumps are used to intercept lifts even to the corners.
That sort of shot is OK is your opponent plays a clear/lift which is 1) flattish, low 2) you can reach with one step If it goes over, higher than the hitting point(some players do this deliberately to opponents), we would still have to turn our body. Not to say that Raymond is correct, but even for normal mixed doubles, if the opponent hits a clear to the b/hand near the tramlines and you are astride the centreline, nay person would be hard pressed to jump to that position in one step, bend over enough to do the round the head, and land still on balance. But it's a very good technique to play a clipsmash and change to pace and angle of the shuttle - hopefully forcing opponent to make a losing shot. Kim DM is good at this.
That sort of shot is OK is your opponent plays a clear/lift which is 1) flattish, low 2) you can reach with one step If it goes over, higher than the hitting point(some players do this deliberately to opponents), we would still have to turn our body. Not to say that Raymond is correct, but even for normal mixed doubles, if the opponent hits a clear to the b/hand near the tramlines and you are astride the centreline, any person would be hard pressed to jump to that position in one step, bend over enough to do the round the head, and land still on balance. But it's a very good technique to play a clipsmash and change to pace and angle of the shuttle - hopefully forcing opponent to make a losing shot. Kim DM is good at this.
Yes Chenug, As I suggested these moves, especially the round the head, require great strength and training, I'm generally talking from an international / ideal perspective. Try getting hold of a Park Joo Bong coaching video, he covers all points in single move and single recovery!
ah.. i have been trying to do that. i think i am getting the hang of it but probably still have a lot of details that are less than perfect. it was strange as i find it much harder to do in slow motion, i guess the dynamics of the "flying" part of the flying step can't really be reproduced statically. watched some video of Chen Hong and Xia doing it, amazing how much strength and acceleration they can pack on their legs, a sudden rotate and step and they jump from base to clearing 3 feet of air at the back court. thanks Cheung for the excellent coaching again.
My answer to the original question. Recently, I watched lot of videos of pros. I kind of a surprised to note that their foot work is not that different from mine!!! I am not kidding atleast that is my observation. I am at best B+ level player and offcourse they are pros. However, there are two basic difference between me and them beside speed and age!!! 1: Pros's footwork look better because they often have extra nano second to get to the shuttle because of their high quality placement (Their opponents have to spend some time to return their shots) 2: Pros's reaction time is shorter than most of non-pros that enables them to have .. .some more extra nano second.
Footwork and stuff... Ah Ha! Another wonderful contribution from Kwun and company. This, boys and girls, is a critical thread for those of us who wanted to bring up our level of play to another notch. I have often wondered how I could recover from a netshot at the front to taking a shot at the back (especially diagonally from forehand front to backhand), not to mention attaining the requisite positioning behind the birdie in every shot preparation. A related question: how does one execute movement from a backhand front to a backhand front? Does one just go straight back w/o going back to "base" ? Kwun, is it possible for you to add relevent pictures for the spatially-challenged among us to illustrate this lesson? It's so easy to get lost in words...
all thanks should go to Cheung. my game have benefited tremendously from this footwork also. so simple, yet so overlooked. what i find really useful is that it forces me to rotate my body so my racket arm is to the back, this forces me to rotate my racket arm forward when hitting the birdie, and that made a lot of difference in both the smoothness, power, and also deception. so Cheung, can you tell us how to do the footwork to the forehand backcourt?? cappy75, i posted in another thread the picts of Xia doing a simlar footwork, what he is doing is quite similar to what Cheung describe except his has more power and covers a longer distance.
Hey Kwun, I did check out that thread... however, it's not as clear as I thought it would be. Maybe because the pictures are fuzzy or what, I just couldn't make too much out of the feet besides the general positioning of the player.
1) one point I had to press on somebody; you must bring up the hands to your ready position (the bow and arrow position) on the first movement. It makes it easier to rotate the upper body. 2) if you want to know the other footwork, you better ask the question more carefully!! A related question: how does one execute movement from a backhand front to a backhand front? Does one just go straight back w/o going back to "base" ? so Cheung, can you tell us how to do the footwork to the forehand backcourt?? from where? backhand forecourt area or from forehand forecourt area?
i want to know from either the base or backhand front court to forehand backcourt. agree on the ready position. the more spread out arms seems to maintain stability for some reason.
footwork My problem is oftentimes my backward footwork. Situations when my opponent clears, backing up really gives me the creeps. I'm trying my best to learn to anticipate more my opponents movements so I can have a little time to position my self and post a good defensive position. you might have other suggestions on how i can improve my problem area.
Singles: Move your base slightly more to the backcourt instead of dead center on the court. That way, you are just a step or two from covering the fast clears. As long as you are able to retreat back to your base after every stroke, you should be fine. Be in the ready position and bounce on your toes every time the shuttle leaves the opponent's racquet. Anticipation comes with experience, no way around it. Doubles: Slightly more complicate as you gotta take your partner's position into account. Search the forum for more information about doubles formation and transitions.
video is there any video clip or video to see the difference footwork? it will be more effective i think with looking the video
