Footwork questions

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by captivated, Aug 27, 2015.

  1. captivated

    captivated Regular Member

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    Hi BCers/Coaches,

    I would like to ask some questions regarding singles footwork.
    Previously I used to play doubles but now a little transition to singles and would like to ask for some inputs to improve.

    So here are my problems:
    1) Footwork for around the head
    - typically for doubles my footwork for this would be:
    Turn my body, a small hop (with left leg), then landing with right leg and scissors kick

    - but when I did the same thing for singles I couldn't reach for the shuttles that were aimed to the baseline, its like I am lacking of a step. No problem when the shuttle is close to the doubles service line

    - so for this shall I add another step to get to the back?
    perhaps Turn, small hop, chasse, then landing with right leg and scissors kick

    2) Footwork to the front
    - for this normally I would chasse forward, but I realised that it was not fast enough compared to steps, but for steps I cant get enough distance, here is my footwork:
    For chasse: right foot forward, a chasse with left foot chasing and lunge with my right foot
    For steps: left foot forward, then lunge with right food.

    - how do I get to the front fast and with sufficient distance to cover, in most occasions, even if I made it, it would be hard for me to recover because I had to lunge with a huge step.

    So I came across some videos that were talking about 3 steps, but most of the time I only ended up with 2 steps. Perhaps I am struggling to cover the 3rd step in singles.
    Even if I do able to get the shuttle, I would lose balance and may end up losing the rally.

    So I do hope some inputs from all of you.

    Thanks in advance
     
    #1 captivated, Aug 27, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2015
  2. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    You ask two good questions. I love footwork, and will do my best to answer:

    1. Around the head you have the correct footwork: Split step, turn + move at the same time (hop on left foot is optional), then land and scissor. In order to get a bigger distance, just push off more powerfully and cover more distance whilst you turn. Instead of turning and moving only a foot, instead push more powerfully and try to cover at least a metre. If you like to take a little hop on the left foot (some people do and some people don't) then make sure make it into a big hop - you will slide your foot at least half a metre along the floor.

    Note: sometimes you will have to take the shuttle "behind" you (if it goes past too fast which is fairly frequent in singles) - the footwork is the same, but stay on the floor and learn to take the shuttle late.

    2. The best footwork is two steps. Imagine you are right handed, the best footwork for both forehand and backhand is: split, left step, right lunge. The chasse movement is normally much too slow, but is sometimes useful if you are already at the net (rare in singles). The reason you are struggling is you are not making your step footwork big enough. Some tips:

    - make sure when you split step you have right foot forwards.
    - when you lunge, if the shuttle is far away, you should be pushing off very powerfully and covering a very long distance before you land the lunge. Try to jump forwards and upwards as you lunge so that when you land, you come vertically down - it will help you to stop.
    - stay low and keep your balance equally between front and back legs - this will help you keep your balance as you get to the shuttle and when you return to the middle.

    I believe your REAL problem, is maintaining balance (keep weight between front and back feet to fix) and then recovering afterwards (because of bad balance problems). Remember when you lunge a long way: you need to slide the back foot closer to the front foot before you try to recover i.e. you land the lunge + hit shuttle, slide back foot closer to the front foot to regain balance, and then recover. The best recovery steps are the opposite of getting there: large right step backwards then a large left step backwards.

    Summary:
    I believe your footwork "pattern" is correct but you struggle because you are not explosive enough (do not cover enough distance) with your steps, and you do not properly control your posture in the front of the court.

    Good luck!
     
  3. captivated

    captivated Regular Member

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    Thanks for the feedback

    So for the turn and moving.. shud i move with a chasse? turn and chasse (simultaneously) then landing and scissors kick

    How about a shot which is very tight to the net.. any way to extend my reach?

    thanks once again
     
  4. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    No you do not need to chasse. You need to do a jumping turn so that whilst your body turns, you travel towards the back corner. Note: this only works if you split step with your right foot slightly forwards. So, as I said before you turn whilst moving, land and then scissor kick. Getting to round the head is only 1 big step (with right foot - although you turn during that step) and then you scissor kick.

    A shot that is very tight to the net is not something you need to worry about. The ONLY way that a shot can go very tight to the net is:
    1. you hit a shot tight to the net, and they respond
    2. they hit a slow looping shot that lands near the net

    If its 1. then you should be standing closer to the net before they hit the shot anyway (so you don't actually have to move that far) OR you can choose not to play any too close to the net.

    If its 2, then you have loads of time because their shot is slow and loopy - take as many steps as you want to, you have loads of time and can move however you want.

    In short, lots of people worry about the shots close to the net: they never happen. The only way they can happen is if you hit bad shots.

    Good luck

    p.s. just copy this guys footwork. He was the fastest guy around when he won his world title 8 years ago:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5M-mirAcI
     
  5. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    If you are tall enough, you can copy the tall player's footwork as pointed out by Matt. Me being 6 inches shorter can't copy Peter Ramussen's footwork pattern on court.

    If you are shorter, a different player to watch would be Gong Zhichao. She has a very good footwork pattern. Men to look at are Xia Xuanze, Sun Jun, Hendrawan.
     
  6. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    How tall is tall? I'm 5'10

    LCW also uses that pattern. He is not that tall
     
  7. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Lee Chong Wei is no mere mortal.;)
     
  8. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    I disagree with a couple of Matt's points and am very confused by OP's issues with footwork to the front: Firstly, chasse is faster over a shorter distance because it gets your lunge leg going sooner so you are ready earlier. Left step, right lunge covers more distance and takes longer to prepare.

    The second point that I disagree with Matt on is recovery. For large lunges, recovery is not just the reverse of the lunge.

    See here for example where where Gade takes a short step to aid recovery. You will notice something similar in a lot of rear court shots as well - LCW does this on the very next shot! These small steps are prevalent at the top level in the modern game.
    https://youtu.be/YFD66tOkric?t=806

    And Rasmussen's world title win was 18(!) years ago, not 8. LD won in 2007
     
    #8 amleto, Aug 28, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2015
  9. captivated

    captivated Regular Member

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    Hi

    I was referring to longer distance after recovering and a very tight net shot by the opponent in which chasse may not make it on time.. whereas steps are in sufficient to reach..
     
  10. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    You need to be a bit clearer on the situation. Do you mean you have played a netshot and the opponent plays a tight netshot back?
     
  11. captivated

    captivated Regular Member

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    Perhaps i played a cross-court net and the opponent played a net shot .. the distance to cover is pretty wide, in which most of the time if i am able to get there I would end up with a big lunge and I would lose my balance by then
     
  12. Charlie-SWUK

    Charlie-SWUK Regular Member

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    When you lunge, drag your back foot along the toe cap (NOT on the grip) towards the racket foot. When it's at around 1-1.5x shoulder width, turn it back onto the grip. You should be on either the balls of both feet, or the ball of your non-racket foot and flat of your racket foot. This is how you prime yourself for your next movement.
     
  13. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    Good observations but I realise some of my points are not clear. Firstly, when you say the chasse is faster, I presume you mean that it is faster assuming that the feet are already aligned. For example, if I want to chasse to my backhand corner (as OP suggested he did): if I am already pointed in the correct direction, then it is very fast (only two steps). However, if I am in a neutral position in the middle of the court, right foot slightly forwards, then in order to chasse you need to take three steps (right, left, right lunge) which takes significantly more time than taking two steps (left step, right lunge). That is what I was trying but failing to say. In my view, a chasse normally needs three steps - the right foot needs to align itself in the correct direction, before you can chasse with the left, then lunge. But steps never needs the first step (and if you are already aligned, then steps = chasse anyway as far as I can tell).

    I do not understand your point about recovering from lunges.

    Here is what I explained explicitly: on a lunge you have to slide the back foot closer to the front foot in order to regain your balance (which is exactly what I saw peter do in that video clip...). If I am correct, this is what you describe as the short step. I then explained how to move back to the middle of the court: large right step, then left step, then split. What does peter do? Exactly as I described.

    Have I missed the point? So far, watching the video with peter, I have seen exactly what I described when he does a deep lunge following chong weis cross court net shot.

    Are you talking about the second deep lunge peter makes, where he steps all the way through after the lunge? Then I agree, that is a slightly different movement. It is only applicable on the backhand side, and was mainly done because peter played a cross court shot. I believe this step is a natural part of the lunge on the backhand side (an extension of the foot slide, where you actually let the foot come all the way through in order to quickly regain balance). It is not an active step of recovery to the middle (given it doesn't take you back to the middle), but a means of quickly regaining balance. You would then use large steps to return to the centre. Do you disagree?

    And you are right about Rasmussen: I missed off the 1! Doesn't mean he wasn't an incredible mover though. Just as quick as anybody who plays now.
     
  14. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Without seeing you play, I suspect it is your suboptimal court position after playing the netshot that contributes to the difficulty.
     
  15. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    No, it is also faster when they are not aligned for short distance.

    I'm going to keep the demonstration to f/h since that is OPs situation. Maybe this is being confused by the term 'chasse'. What I mean is exactly peter R's footwork in your vid. It's split step, then left foot -> right AND right foot lung at the same time. It's just not possible for left foot over right, then right foot lung to be quicker than this.

    I guess we disagree semantically here - I don't think feet need to be aligned in 'the correct' direction, just that they need to be aligned in a useful direction. Hence neutral split step position with right foot slightly forward is definitely useful for a lot of forehand net shots (again, see peter R's vid ;)).

    Yes, I believe you have. The point I'm making is about the movement of the lunge/front foot, not the rear foot. Please check the Gade/lcw vid again :)

    No, I'm not.
     
    #15 amleto, Aug 29, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2015
  16. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    We have to ask, since so many on these boards use incorrect vernacular. When you (@captivated) say cross-court net, do you really mean a cross-court net, or do you actually mean a cross-court drop? The distance to cover from a xc-net really isn't that large, especially considering your recovery should be towards the shuttle in the first place.
     
  17. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    Well pointed out Amleto.
     
  18. captivated

    captivated Regular Member

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    sorry.. i was actually referring to the cc net drop.. most of the time i would b late or struggling to get the reply.. thats when i started chassing.. when i was told that steps were not the right footwork.. but for steps i could at least be faster but lacking of some distance and i would end up a very big lunge
     
  19. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    "net drop" is mixing terms again. Do you mean net shot (played from the net) or drop shot (played from the back).

    It still doesn't make sense that steps lack distance since steps cover more ground than chasse!
     
  20. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    here is a video of very pressured footwork drill
    [video=youtube;3jjJOaB9QGU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jjJOaB9QGU[/video]

    and here is one of cross court shot with follow up (at net and at back court)
    [video=youtube;i-eMUrxcXWY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-eMUrxcXWY[/video]

    and a more complicated on the backhand side
    [video=youtube;gvvbz-o-wyI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvvbz-o-wyI[/video]
     

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