Played in a local tournament a few weeks ago, unfortunately I had to withdraw due to shin splints so I am taking it easy until the new year. I got a *semi* decent video of me playing. I am the guy in WHITE. Any input as to how I could improve my game, tactics or technique wise will be taken into account and greatly appreciated. Also any tips on how to avoid shin splints will be appreciated since ive been getting them alot recently. [video=youtube;sx3tsM__P7s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx3tsM__P7s[/video] Details: Leftie Male Strong Medium Height Intermediate ability
I think you're a little upright in your upper body and a liitle bit too stiff (upper body and core...). Therefore, you somewhat miss smoothness on the court. I think being a bit more relaxed and incorporate more rotation of the upper body, would help you improve. And sometimes you take too many small steps on court (inefficient), which might be overcome by turning you're body a little more and do more pronounced sidesteps. Excercises: shadow footwork with focus on "smooth" footwork and rotation of the upper body when moving backwards and on the overhead strokes. If you have a training-partner: the same with multifeeding (not for speed, but for "smoothness" and efficiency...).
I had to replay 0:57 a few times.....funny how someone else's sound came together with his smashing sound.... I get a lot of shin splints too. Almost every muscle injury caused from sports can be prevented from some nice stretching before you start. I'm sure there are some good instructions on how to do shin splint preventing stretches if you search on youtube. I used to get a lot of muscle aches after playing badminton but when I started to stretch before I play, they don't come as often as before. But if you do get shin splints very often and doesn't seem to go away....you might want to go see a doctor.
A quick response based on watching a minute or two of your video: Your main weakness is your movement. As others have said - you are VERY upright - you need to get down much much lower whilst moving and especially when waiting for the next shot. Your movements are very "heavy" - try to be lighter on your feet by squatting lower and moving on the balls of your feet. You do appear to have reasonable strength in your shots, however, you are not making much of an effort to get behind the shuttle at the back of the court - I expect to see more explosive movement and hence a higher strike point. You could relax your hitting style quite a lot - using a quicker, more relaxed, and more explosive overhead hitting action would make you more threatening. Good luck! I am sure others will give more advice.
apart from whats already been said, you dont seem to capitalise on opportunities, then again neither did your opponent. smash those high serves! also learn to short serve yourself.
Thanks for the feedback guys, yeah alot of people are saying I depend too much on my arm strength to get the shuttle across rather than getting behind to be able to take advantage of body and arm rotation to get even more explosiveness. I have been working on my footwork and it has gotten better in the past few months. And regarding tension, yes I do string a bit high for my skill level since I just got my own stringing machine I have been recently experimenting with strings but tension usually hovers around 26-28lbs.
no bragging intended, i play better than you and only string 25-26. if you cant swing hard enough to utilize a high string tension it will make base line to base line shots harder than they need to be. especially weaker shots like back hand base to base clear. drop your tension and you should see improvement in power and ultimately placement, as you are not forcing/over exerting your shots and can concentrate on placement. high tension reduces margin of error in shots, but is not needed at a lower skill level. this may also be why you seem to use a lot of arm strength to get the shot you want. stand behind the base line and try hit a shuttle to the base line on the other side. if you cant do this easily (without deliberately swinging your upmost hardest) your tension is too high.
Thanks for the input Bagged, I recently started getting coaching and he was saying that power wasnt the problem, it was my poor footwork since I was always hitting the shuttle behind me, even when attacking. This was what supposedly developed my power to be able to produce shots like those from behind my back. I will take into account the tension and lower and post here regarding how it goes
