Hi all, I want to read my coaches shots when I play him. He has every trick and deceptive shot, both his overhead forehand and backhand are deceptive. Even when the shuttle is well passed him, he still has some shot i cant read. He does those drives that go in all different directions, with little wrist movement. He has a very strong and accurate backhand. I have a fast smash, but his BH smash is faster and my FH smash. He is a bit chubby so he runs out of energy quite quickly, so the game he plays is very deceptive so people don't return the shots (therefore he doesn't have about). He has strong defence as well. I played him and I didn't smash much, i played a lot of attacking clears FH and BH, with lots of slices to try and make him move. Every time (considering I normally smash a quite a bit), he said "this isn't your normal type of game?", i didnt bother wasting my energy smashing because they always come back. Cheers
Congratulations. It looks as if you have been training quite a bit and have a good idea of the basic strokes. Your coach sounds like a very advanced player and it will take time to solve the issue. Given your description of the coach, it seems there is another underlying question of how to beat him. A very simple answer would be to play him more and therefore try to predict where he hits the shuttle from certain positions. But how do you predict? Moreover, ask yourself how does he choose which shot to play? There are many factors which dictate the choice of shot. It can be overwhelming but with time and experience, you incorporate these into your game better. Some off court work, studying these concepts and watching how the top players apply it into their games will help you tremendously. 1. Patience - although the singles game has sped up, patience is a key ingredient for a singles player. As you have said, you tend to smash a lot but what happens when you come up against a player who is like a wall? You need to find another method of winning points. 2. The smash - be aware the smash is not just a shot to win a point. A smash in singles is one shot in your repertoire to create an opportunity or create an opening. Introduce steep half smashes with a quick hand movement and little body rotation. Use these in the first few points of a game and note the opponents replies. If you do steep half smashes, watch the patterns of returns. Does the opponent have a stronger side? Is one side more predictable in the return that he makes? If it is, then make a mental note of it. You might want to save playing this shot to a crucial time such as a tie break or match point. 3. Neutral shots - there are shots you can play which effectively limit the opponent. The most obvious of these is the high clear or high lift to the back of the court. Playing a high quality high clear can be very damaging to an opponents psychology. The opponent now knows you are prepared to rally out the point and it's going to be a physical grind. 4. Closing down the court - players make their shot choices on the angle and speed of the shuttle coming towards them, the height they can hit the shuttle and the position of the opponent. You have some degree of control over each of these and especially the position you take up. If you hit a drop from the back of the court, you only need to take one step back to base. Doing this closes down the court for the opponent's replies to three open areas. You can then focus you direction to cover those three open areas. If you had rushed back to the centre of the court, you let the opponent play equally to any of the four corners. That would make it very hard for you to predict replies. 5. Predicting replies - from a certain position on court, take note that people tend to choose two or three favoured corners to play to the opponent. Let's say you hit a netshot that the opponent has to take below the net. He will tend to choose a straight lift, straight net reply or cross court net shot. A different opponent may choose straight net, straight lift or cross court lift. Look for these choices in your opponent. Even if the opponent has deception, they will tend to choose three corners. If the opponent seems to choose the corners equally, then you are up against a very good opponent. Some opponents play the rally game. They will hit shuttles to move you around the court. Is there any method to it? Yes. They are forcing you to change direction. Although the diagonal is the longest distance, running from one corner to the other is not difficult once you have adjusted your stride length. In fact, it is much more tiring to change direction. So you see rally players probing the opponent, making them turn direction, run back to the same corner until a weak return is elicited. Against this type of game, the principles of point 4. are very important. There are some excellent articles to help you. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/bc/1998/12/24/causing-damage/ Most people read it superficially. Try to sit down and understand it clearly. Then, predicting your opponents by understanding their choice selection will become easier.
