Practising alone on court.

Hi,

If you are practicing alone I would recommend doing footwork patterns for 30-60 mins at a time.
As you are training alone there isn't much you can really do except footwork and shadow badminton (where you pretend you're playing against someone).

Some drills you can do are practicing footwork to the 6 points in a badminton court, you could use your shuttles and put them onto the points and move them around.

But in all honesty I think if you wan to improve I would suggest getting lessons as that is where you will see your biggest improvement. You can practice all you want but if you're practicing incorrectly it'll be a waste (this is from experience -.-).

 

Serves for sure is one you can practice on court by yourself. Do a few thousand of those and you'll have it nearly perfect.

 

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As others have advised - lifting to yourself to practice overhead shots is not possible - but shadowing them (pretending to hit them) can be very beneficial. In particular, you could shadow them with a heavy racket - this can help build muscle memory. If you do decide to shadow the movements with a heavy racket, make sure you do them slowly and correctly (not full speed). This will help you get the technique correct.

As another person said, practising footwork is the best thing you can do alone on court, and is something that all levels of player (even the fairly advanced ones) should do more of.

Serving is something few people are perfect at, and the only way to get perfect is to practice alone for many many hours.

 

You can do this [video=youtube;up5M-mirAcI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5M-mirAcI&list=PL487B40F6393CAD01[/video]

Try to aim doing it non stop 30 min without rest. But for the first times 5 min should be enough. Don't overdo it, think at your heart. And while doing it imagine rally's like in a real game and react like in real game with shadow stokes.
This will make you faster on court and give you a better "feel" for the size of court, so that you instantly know if a shuttle is going out or not--> saves energy. And think about being in balance and doing the split step before you change direction (for the next corner).
To improve you benefits of this practice even more, look at a video of a pro player like Lin Dan, LCW, Long Chen (at best someone who has a similar size than you) in super slow motion before doing this practice. And look at every detail they do to run in a specific corner (which feed is where at the ground by doing stroke X at corner Y) even the arm movements racket arm and non racket arm). And you will see that they are always in the air (maybe only 0.5 cm) and in balance when their opponent is doing the stroke.

 

it's not pathetic to want to improve your game, this shows your passion and eagerness to learn and do your homework. beside practicing on court with shadow, footwork and serve like everyone else has recommended, you could also consider doing a lot of off court practice like running and cycling (for stamina and endurance), chinese steps, rope skipping (for speed), weight training, finger, wrist, forearm strengthening (for strength), hitting the shuttle against the wall,etc. doing these training as homework will really give the boost for your physical fitness and performance on court while you develop your psychological and mental aspect of your game playing against stronger and better opponents. for stroke and racket skill it's better to get a partner to be a shuttle feeder to drill areas that you want to work on ^^

 

This drill is definitely the best one out there in my opinion I love this one. For anyone interested, the professional in the video, Peter Rasmussen, was one of the best movers the game has ever seen. Watch a video of him in the 1997 World Championship MS final against sun jun - Rasmussen is incredibly quick for the whole 2+ hours of the match, and has a phenomenal smash! A great player in his own right - look no further if you want an excellent example

 

one suggestion i have...

i find it very useful to make services in the pause of shadowfootwork

when i train without partner i do footwork-services-footwork-services-footwork-services

so you practice services while you are recovering for next footwork unit

 

I rented a court for a few times strictly to practice my footwork and serves. I find that if I didn't practice my footwork consistently, it just tends to slip away. Just a thought.

 

You can practice drives, net shots and defense shots at home while playing against the wall.
Just put a line (virtual net) (line of wool, tape etc..) at wall 155cm from ground and at 165 cm from ground. just try to play every shot in this window of 10cm above the net.

For net shot you go near the wall and try to hit the shuttle from slightly below the "net" (forehand, backhand, slice...),
for drives you go near the wall and try to play volley with the wall (hit harder in front of body at "net" height, you can do forehand and backhand drives alternately)
and for defense you go a little further away from "net" and hit hard in this 10 cm window (forehand and backhand defense)


For the other shots you need a training partner. And If a shot is not working how it should, go watch the video of a pro player (slow motion (vlc player can do it)) try to get every detail, do your stroke action a few times without shuttle. The go on court practice, if still is something wrong watch again , correct it etc.. When you finally think the stroke action is right practice it with lots of repetitions ( but don't repeat a wrong stroke action)

 

It does if you hit it hard enough.

 

Like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6sEQhwduw&sns=em

But then you don't need to rent a court to do this...

 

with my experience,practicing alone for physical fitness maybe will only boost 30% of my game, doing racket skill with drills and teamwork formations, strategies can add another 30%, another 30%is from mental and emotional aspect gain by playing against advanced players, handling pressure playing local league or tournaments, etc, everything is contributing to each other. seeking advice or tutorial from coaches or trainers can definitely be beneficial for your progress. in my area we usually ask information from racket shop owners, there are some prefecture or national ex-players in our are who later own racket shop, become official stringers and certified coaches, they also help train young players at clubs and give coaching camp/clinic. just a reminder there are so many recreational players who arent able to get to advanced level after so so many years playing because lacking fundamental, poor forms, and their level usually end up going nowhere. lessons in technique and stroke drills can help you to get to the higher level of the game (^o^)