Hello all, Played new opponents in MD yesterday. One of them had a stronger smash than what I'm used to at our academy. (Strong enough to beat my racquet swing when I'm ready for defence). I tried my best to keep it flat or only to my side (I'm considered a really good defender in my circle) but we lost 4 consecutive games, even though we were leading the score in the later but he turned up the heat and . My question is if there's a chance for me to adjust to something/someone like this when we face them for the first time ?! (I was thinking about the LCW and Wei Nan Denmark Open match where LCW was left stranded on the court in the midst of crazy smashes by Wei Nan.) How can I be better prepared for people with 'monstrous' smash ? How quickly can you adapt to such strong elements during a match? It can be other things like tall players, both lefties, strong in front & mid etc. In my experience, we face consecutive losses in the face of such complexities. My partner being more defensive types also looks towards me to come up with some strategy. Thanks.
then look back at him! The other thing is you video it and speak to somebody that would have an answer, and then you know for next time. A lot of it isn't necessarily that much about adapting to a different style. For example.. I would play against a guy that was catching me out with something.. I didn't really understand fully what was going on in the game, (if I had then i'd have been able to deal with it and it wouldn't have happened). I showed video to somebody that knows. A coach, that can drill it. And then that was solved. Next time I played him that method of his didn't work anymore. Then he developed another method, it got me. Then I used the same procedure, and that didn't work for him anymore. The later evolution of myself, was not vulnerable to the problems of the previous evolution. The experience of getting those problems solved, did it. I personally in badminton don't worry about what if a new problem comes up that I haven't seen before.. I just accept that it'll beat me and all I want is that I got it on video for later analysis. There could be a whole host of reasons. - You gotta get behind it - You gotta cut it out (not get behind it, there isn't time). - You gotta have recovered to this position, / you can't be over here. - You shouldn't be hitting it over there you're putting yourself under pressure. It was a bad shot. (In one case I wanted to do the bad shot in a drill to see if I could deal with their response and stay in the rally). - Your partner is rubbish. (various options from there e.g. you could drill a scenario for partner doing a wrong thing). Once the thing that went wrong is established. then it's drilling stuff. And you might not even need to drill it much. Dealing with the biggest smasher in a club is actually the easiest problem to solve if you have somebody that can smash at you. Sometimes somebody can adapt, because they've adapted to it before. (and drilled it before). Sometimes an opponent says something that tells me what I should be doing(either as a boast, or friendly jibe, or as advice or whatever their interest is). Like they say where they are catching me out. But even then normally i've drilled it before so just being aware of it I can deal with it. but if it has been too long since it was drilled, then I can't even if I were to know where they are catching me out. For reading a game in real time.. I reckon if you had lots of video of games, and sat and analysed them with somebody, like a coach.. then you could improve your ability to read the game. There are a lot of people with the skill and you can learn a lot what to look for, from analysing it with them. . It's not an ability that i've really developed.. But I think that'd be a way to do it.
Why Minions on their era very unstopable but now they lose their shine? Coz many had already read their games & know how to exploit their game style. Their magic had been exposed. Other hand why the daddies, 2 old timer both had their own injury but still own the games agains younger, stronger, & faster player? They are so good at reading the games & play the pace. But ofcourse to do so called realtime adaptation require alot of experience. So, aside from luck, if both side is equally strong, what decide the games is whos better at reading the games & adapt quickly. So to get better you need 2 thing. 1. Train to get better 2. Always reveiw your games so you know what you do bad & how you read the opponent.
Yeah that's fair point. That's what I was thinking about the next day. If i should have positioned myself a little more to the back, but the thought simply didn't occur to me during the matches. We lost a game at 19 and twice after a deuce battle reaching game point first. Even after knowing what's going on it's hard to apply the new strategy without making errors. He got winded with his powerplay and may be if we played a few more matches then we would have settled the scores. That player isn't a regular at our place so I cannot get used to his power smash by playing him often. I will try to better my smash defence. Do you think positioning half a step closer to the net(during everyday practice matches) than my regular distance would help my defence/reflex ? Minions & daddies sometimes position & play so nonchalant like during defence, it's amazing. P.s: I purposely play more with my headlight, flexible racquet and save my balanced racquet for bet matches to catch them with that extra punch.
That's an interesting idea.. I haven't played in a while but when I did, and a lot and analysed my games, I only really focussed on my mistakes. Sometimes I had one or two opponents that would ask if I was using video to see their weaknesses, and I wasn't and said I wasn't. If I was then they'd have been not so ok with letting me film the game. How would you deal with that?
Not sure what to do, as mostly no one care if someone makes a video either just for content or for games review. Unless for some limited person whos dislike getting taken in a video just for privacy reason. Other thing you can do, i had close friend where we would review each other games or together watching other playing & reviewing them realtime.
It's good to have drilled from different positions. So you can freely and reasonably and smoothly, adjust in a game without any increase in errors. In the case of a strong smash, I haven't even thought of that so much as being able to adjust position to further back.. I'd think of that as just the normal place to stand against a capable opponent. There might be some adjustment to make if somebody has a weak smash, of standing further forwards, though I never really looked into that that much. I was always more focussed on where are they catching me out. Rather than exploiting where they are already a bit weak and I already have an advantage. If you were to see a coach and they smashed at you, they'd probably have a decent smash and they'd teach you to stand in the right place and it'd work against the strong smasher you face. And you wouldn't even be considering oh how do I adjust to this strong smasher. You'd be able to defend it well and the strong smasher that everybody fears, will stop smashing at you! I remember one club has a very strong smasher that was also a very good player, and I had a coaching session and could deal with his smashes easily(which he wasn't used to from me or anybody). One time I lifted it to him and I saw while I stood there waiting for the smash, that he'd clocked that I was ready for it, and he knew that his smashes weren't working against me, so he did a punch clear! A case where I think adapting would come into play, is if in doubles your partner serves low, and the opponent returns it flat. Then where does that opponent stand. 'cos you'd have to adjust where you hit based on that
It’s common in Asia to video your own matches. Self improvement. People are not so uptight about their own weaknesses in Asia - the attitude is if you have a weakness, you need to train so it’s much less of a weakness or you train to improve! I guess the people who are sensitive about being videoed and thinking their own game is being examined for weaknesses are the ones who are those who want to win matches but not putting time in for drills and practice.
I actually like it when my opponent records the match. I don't often see myself play, and I'm too lazy to record myself. So if the opponent want to record, then please do, as long as he sends me the video file. @dnewguy Maybe it's worth doing it the other way around. Playing with your balanced racket by default, and only switching to the headlight one if you're getting caught out. If your forearm is used to the balanced racket, you'd be surprised how fast you suddenly are when you switch to headlight.
As has been stated train for it. One person at the net hitting down one returning will train your reactions and highlight weaknesses. In a group,, 3 attacking 2 defending so you can position to minimise gaps and work on return placement. Shouldn't be swinging at a big smash, use the momentum. Racket and body position and relaxation are a big part of it. Return placement is also part of it. You have to be able to not only return but be aware of the front players position and how they react, and use the momentum correctly when guiding the shuttle. This takes a lot of conscious training. Lots of people of club level when defending stand in the middle of their half court horizontally when you should both move across to the side of the attacker. Watch how pros move. Overall though it's just as important to minimise a monstrous smash by getting and not giving away the lift as much as possible which also comes with training. You have to train to not give the lift unless you're forced to. Too many club players lift too often during club nights and get unstuck in matches. Quite often you get pairs with a rear court smasher and a front court player, you want to note this and get the front player to the back as much as possible if you're forced to lift. We have this in matches often where whoever gets the lift more by even a tiny margin is going to win the game. Frequently the entire game comes down to primarily the first 3 shots. A monstrous smash is a monstrous smash and will create pressure and winners and errors or weak lifts however good your defense is. Far better to be doing that to your opponents.
