How to create a deep, sharp, & fast drop shot?

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by arfandy, Jul 29, 2014.

  1. arfandy

    arfandy Regular Member

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    I've seen advanced players able to easily fast drop shot by slicing the shuttle, and it was very deep near to the net....without jumping to reach the shuttle. I've been trying to immitate what i saw, but no success at all. Where did i go wrong? I trained with countless of high lifting shuttles, slicing the shuttle at fast pace, but the shuttles were either landing far from serving line, too slow, went out, or hit the net. I've tried jumping to slice the shuttle earlier to create deep angle but still no success because the shuttle would land outside the serving line or outside the court . The best i could do to make a deep dropshot is jump&hit the shuttle like i was gonna smash it but the result is slow travel of shuttle (about 30-40kmh) hence opponent easily read the trejactory line before shuttle passes the net. Pls advices. Thank you.
     
  2. vixter

    vixter Regular Member

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    I think it's confusing when you use the word "deep" when talking about a dropshot, because a deep shot sounds to me like a shot that goes deep in the court (to the back court).
     
  3. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    op means steep, not deep. We can't really advise since we don't know what you're doing wrong - make a video or get someone to watch you.
     
  4. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    Slicing may be messing you up. So don't.

    Try steep half smashes first. Then as you practice more, get it steeper and closer to the net, and adjust your power so that it lands before the front service line.

    But this shot is really only effective if you have an effective powerful smash.
     
  5. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    It's easier to disguise a heavy slice drop as a smash so I would argue it's likely to be more effective than a 'vanilla' drop regardless of one's smash prowess.
     
  6. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    I guess my problem with slicing is that I can't get good consistent and accurate sharp drops. So for deception, I prefer simpler variations of the smash.
     
    #6 visor, Aug 1, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2014
  7. PinkDawg

    PinkDawg Regular Member

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    If your form is right, consider arching the shuttle up a little more than you are. The slice will make the shuttle fast and arching the shuttle up gives it more potential to land closer to the net. ;)
     
  8. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    Unless you are playing singles ;) in which case its one of the best shots a player can use!
     
  9. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    The key to a good fast SLICED drop shot is:
    1. to hit with plenty of racket speed
    2. Make sure you are still hitting forwards through the shuttle (with slice), rather than coming around the outside (same arm action as a clear, but different racket angle and wrist movement).
    3. Reach up high!
    4. Come over the top of the shuttle to get it steep
    5. Imagine the net is at least 2 foot higher than it is - to make sure you get it over the net with very heavy slice
    6. Use your body to suggest a straight shot (e.g. clear) rather than a slice.

    Good luck

    p.s. for a non slice drop, you just need to reach up and tap down using a relaxed hit with the fingers, and wrist/forearm. Simples!
     
  10. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    Tks Matt. Very useful pointers. Will try them next time I'm on court.
     
  11. decoy

    decoy Regular Member

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    I would also add that if you are going to be playing slices cross court you should aim to hit the shuttle at the middle of the net. I find this helped me a lot to get my aim better, because by the time it crosses the net it will be in the corner but if I aimed to hit the corner it always went out (in singles).
     
  12. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    For a slice drop, I play it slightly differently.

    Make sure the preparation phase has the body facing sideways - very important.

    I have a slight backhand grip.

    On striking the shuttle, the racquet head movement is 45 degrees out of the court (not straight forward). That would decrease the chance of hitting out the side.
     
  13. Gollum

    Gollum Regular Member

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    Developing your slice drop techniques can take a long time. Don't expect to be done in a day!

    Bear in mind that you can't have it all. You want all these things:

    • Deception / disguise
    • Fast travel over the net
    • Landing near the net (in front of the service line)
    • Consistency / accuracy

    ...but they are in conflict. If you want the shuttle to travel faster over the net, it's going to land farther away from the net. If you increase the deception, you will reduce the consistency, and also make the shuttle land farther away from the net.

    It's a trade-off. You can improve all these things with training, but there will always be a trade-off.

    Slices are about disguise. You need a fast enough arm action to make the disguise convincing; but this makes it difficult to get your shot landing near the net.

    If you're learning slices, it's important to have a realistic target area. Aim for about two feet (60 cm) beyond the service line. This might seem a long way, but it's a typical landing spot for slices. If you get really, really good, you could eventually reduce that to one foot (30 cm).

    It is possible to get the shuttle tighter -- even in front of the service line -- by using more slice. But it has to be perfect. Even professional players do not generally aim for this, because it's too inconsistent.

    Of course, you can also get tighter drops by slowing down the arm action; but this ruins the disguise. It's a delicate balance. If you want the shuttle to land in front of the service line, it's more practical to play an unsliced drop shot instead.

    Lots of players think they have "perfect" sliced drop shots that consistently land in front of the service line. This is because their arm action is much slower, making their disguise less convincing. Of course this is a valid option, but you have to recognise the trade-off.

    I'm completely skipping over the techniques here, because there's just too much stuff to talk about and I'd end up writing an article. ;)
     
    #13 Gollum, Aug 4, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2014
    onomnomyaki likes this.
  14. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    How do you hit a reverse slice using the slight backhand grip? Or are you referring to a regular slice only?

    However, it sounds like you've found what works for you, and thats all that matters - I don't change grips for my slices because I find I don't need to (I just aim my strings at my target - impossible to miss!)

    It should be noted that my bullet point number 6 is misleading, as it doesn't take into account a straight slice (or reverse slice), where a may or may not use my body to suggest a cross court shot before playing it straight (just depends on my mood!).
     
  15. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Regular slice only with the slight backhand grip. Not the reverse slice shot.
     
  16. Gollum

    Gollum Regular Member

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    By changing the grip to help with slices, you can reduce the change needed in your arm action. As a result, your slices can become more deceptive as there is less difference between the "shape" of your hitting actions.

    The slice can also become less "fussy" than if you're trying to use more wrist and fingers to do everything at the last moment. The affects both the consistency and how convincing the disguise is.

    With a slice, the grip change would be towards a backhand, as Cheung said. With a reverse slice, it would be towards panhandle.

    A coaching cue that I find quite useful for slices is: "Let the grip do the work." The other cue is to reach high, especially on the straight slice. This is a good starting point before you start adding some wrist.

    Although reverse slices can also benefit from a grip change, I don't find that coaching cue works as well for them. This is because the hitting action needs to be modified more for reverse slices than for slices.
     
  17. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    That's a very good point.

    With a slice shot, part of the effectiveness comes from the speed of the racquet head towards the shuttle. The faster the racquet head, the more the impression of speed received by the opponent.

    I was taught to hit the shuttle as fast as possible with the slice action. Obviously, some will go out. To compensate for that, my coach asked me to be in the ready position with my body facing the side. i.e. the shoulder and hips in a line parallel to the sideline (in the old days, we call this a 'closed' stance). Ye ZhaoYing (chinese single player has this preparation). By turning to the side more, but keeping the arm action the same speed, same strike etc, the shuttle is less likely to drift out.

    The key point is to use your very first sliced shot as a marker on adjusting. If your shuttle drifts out, the shuttle might be a bit fast or there might be a bit of drift; thus you have to adjust your body preparation position - there is no need to compensate with the arm, wrist or fingers for the reasons stated by Gollum.

    To disguise the shot more, during the preparation, make sure the hand holding the racquet is pulled back behind the head. Practice in front of a mirror turning your body as if you would do a clear or smash or drop. If you can see your hand, so can your opponent and correspondingly, the opponent will pick up the visual clue on your grip. If it is slightly panhandle, he will be able to see it is very unlikely for you to play a very high quality slice.

    (I teach my kids to pull their racquet hand further back - it's harder to initially hit the shuttle, but good habit for the future).
     
  18. Gollum

    Gollum Regular Member

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    Exactly. :)


    I do think it's okay to tweak the shot with arm, wrist, or fingers. Just not too much, or the slice becomes fussy and loses disguise. It's about finding a good balance.

    Using more wrist and fingers can work well if you're already really confident with your slice, and you want to get the shuttle falling shorter. I think it's something to play with once the slice is already working well. But one must be careful not to let the arm speed drop too much in the pursuit of tighter drops.


    I don't think you need to hide your grip from the opponent -- not directly, anyway. Really, from that far away and with so many other things to watch, your opponent is not going to spot a tiny detail in your grip.

    However, your opponent could spot changes in the shape of your preparation. Let's say you normally prepare with the racket head facing straight, not out to one side. If you change your grip, then the racket will be facing out to the side instead. This is big enough for an observant opponent to see. If he's really smart, he could tell which type of slice is coming.

    In other words: although your opponent cannot spot your grip change itself, he can see the larger consequences of your grip change. The shape of your preparation is different.

    You can fix this by changing your arm preparation to compensate, so that the racket is angled in the same direction. As long as the big picture is the same, your opponent will not realise you have changed grips. This is best done while you draw back your racket in preparation, as that movement disguises the switch.
     
    #18 Gollum, Aug 5, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2014
  19. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Beg to differ in philosophy. The preparation and body position should be minimised across diiferent overhead shots. I advocate changing the positioning of body slightly according to changing conditions - in a match or competition, the 'feel' of the hall and shuttles may differ from your regular practice hall.

    I also believe pulling the hand behind the head/neck in the preparation can only help.

    BTW I don't think it was mentioned before, the sliced shot would work more in singles than in doubles - doubles tends to see it used more judiciously.
     
    #19 Cheung, Aug 5, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2014
  20. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    I do find the approach you guys have very interesting - in my view, changing the grip before the stroke will tell an opponent which shot you are about to play (can possibly be overcome by hiding your hand as Cheung said?). Altering the arm position so as to disguise which grip is being held sounds a little overkill. However, changing grip during the stroke is certainly something a lot of players will often do (particularly easy on some shots e.g. reverse slice, deceptive returns of serve etc).


    To my mind, why not keep it simple and hit all the shots with the same grip? After 1000s of repetitions, its easy to hit most shots with your chosen grips.


    The reason I say this - new students often struggle to aim with their strings whilst learning overhead shots. Teaching them to slice the shuttle would be something that I had to wait to do - I would need to make sure that changing to different grips wouldn't ruin their technique for their basic shots (clears/drops/smashes). However, if they keep the same grip, I can teach them all the shots at once. I mean, slicing with the basic grip is easy - just don't pronate. Reverse slicing is also easy - over pronate before contact.


    I guess, in my head, I find the concept of teaching 1 overhead grip, 1 overhead preparation etc, is easier than teaching 3 grips and/or 3 types of preparation.


    Would be interested to hear your thoughts - e.g. do you find that teaching different grips can mess up other shots/confuse grips etc. And really, given the simplicity of hitting with the basic grip, why bother changing it? (although I can understand that, if someone is really struggling with a certain grip, changing it may make an improvement)
     

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