Too slow when returning service

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by santa.klaus, Nov 15, 2015.

  1. santa.klaus

    santa.klaus Regular Member

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    Hi all,

    I'm a (low-)intermediate player. I play badminton 3 times a week for 2-3 hours each. Sometimes we get some technique training from a former national coach.

    My most troubling problem when I have to return the service is, that I'm too slow to get behind a flick serve in order to smash it. I often end up clearing it (maybe 90-95 % of the flick serves.)

    I stand roughly half a meter behind the front service line, but still I'm too slow to get the flick serve return down.

    I'm right handed, left foot is in front of me when receiving. My weight is a bit on the front, left foot. The stance is not too narrow.

    When waiting for the shuttle I look at the racket, to get to know soon, where the shuttle will be served to.

    How can I get faster behind the flick serve?

    Best regards
    Klaus
     
  2. elkew

    elkew Regular Member

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    leaning neutrally instead of forward is a good idea; also widening your stance helps
     
  3. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    a) train yourself to sink slightly lower in your just before the shuttle is struck. i.e. the whole movement process starts just before the shuttle is struck.

    b) train side step backwards to be fast - you need a strong left leg for the first step

    c) train to raise up your racquet immediately the shuttle goes up in air and at the same time as your first side step backwards. (many low-intermediate players drop the racquet before raising it - make sure you don't - it wastes time)

    d) check your shoulder position as you move back. Shoulders facing the net and moving back make you slow (if you don't believe, try facing the net with your shoulders and sidestepping backwards :) ). Turning the shoulders so they face the right side more should help.

    e) fast drop and clipped smash are good options to keep the shuttle going down.
     
  4. alien9113

    alien9113 Regular Member

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    You don't always have to do a full power smash. If you are in a good position to drop or even half smash, use them. If you always want a full power smash, then your shots become predictable. It's best to vary them.

    As for improving your footwork to the back court for flick serves, you will have to do some legs strengthening exercises to strengthen your feet as well as to improve your court movement.

    This is one exercise my coach taught me and it improved my ability to get to flick serves fast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftHz3119QB0

    Do it about twice to three times per week and you will notice significant improvements.

    Instead of doing it slow like in the video, do it as fast as possible and on the balls of your feet. Initially, you will find that it's very tiring. As your legs are strengthened, doing two to three rounds shouldn't be an issue and you should just maintain that.

    When your legs are strengthened, you can try to follow the instructions in this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOS4AbKhuPQ

    Something else to prepare yourself for flick serves: learn from the pros. Get yourself ready. If you are not ready, put up your hand and say so. At your level, it's best to watch the shuttle rather than the racket, so you don't get fooled by tricky opponents or opponents who have better skills than you. Their movements are too small to tell if they will flick or serve low to you, so watch the shuttle. Also, when receiving, cover your backhand side so you can do an overhead, rather than backhand if your opponent flicks to your backhand side.
     
  5. phili

    phili Regular Member

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    When I'm being flicked I think "get racket to shuttle" rather than "get behind the shuttle". This helped me quite a bit.
     
  6. MSeeley

    MSeeley Regular Member

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    The one big bit of advice I can give is to make sure you stay on the floor and be ready to hit the shuttle. You probably won't be able to hit the shuttle that steeply, but that doesn't stop you hitting with power and accuracy. You do not need to get behind the shuttle. You need to get to a position where you can hit the shuttle - which is actually not very difficult if you think about it - just one step backwards and then wait for the shuttle to arrive.

    Good luck!
     
  7. sebZeroToHeroes

    sebZeroToHeroes Regular Member

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    Incidentally, I would advise you to step back a little if you can't attack a high serve yet. The whole point of being aggressive on low serves is to attack right off the bat. If your opponent can gain the attack simply by doing a flick serve to the back, they can achieve an even better result than the low serve (they don't have to worry about a net shot) with taking less risk (they don't have to make sure their service is inch perfect above the net).
     
  8. captaincook

    captaincook Regular Member

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    How high do you hold your racket when getting ready to receive a double serve? Your movement will be faster if the racket is not held above your head. If it is high, lower it to your head level, or even your chin level. Good luck.
     
  9. Coach Jiva

    Coach Jiva Regular Member

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    The initial strength to get that "push" backwards must come from your core, specifically the lower abdomen. If you simply arch backwards from mid back upwards with your shoulder it will be naturally slow.
     
  10. opikbidin

    opikbidin Regular Member

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    There is no need to smash, a drop can be done
    There is no need to fully rotate your body and do the scissor kick, doing the "defensive shot" is also good.
    And then there is the grip.

    I just move backwards by hopping or walk sideways and then hit the shuttle while facing sideways, not doing body rotation or scissor kick. because it will be too late
     
  11. raymond

    raymond Regular Member

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    Yes. The reply could be simply to neutralize the serve, but keeping the shuttle downward (or hit very defensive shots). However, variations would be important/helpful, or your opponents would be able to anticipate your reply and cause you a lot of troubles. Plan it when you're getting ready to receive.
     
  12. amleto

    amleto Regular Member

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    Don't know how abdomen helps that much if you need to go/bend backwards...
     
  13. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    He probably meant core muscle strength needed to maintain stability.
     
  14. 77suns

    77suns Regular Member

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    1. Grip slightly nearer to the cone of racket for more control
    2. Stand with right foot further back in a straighter lines if you are standing too square
    3. Move back with instinct of shutter speeding to flip behind you, don't not try to monitor the flight too much.
    4. At the same time relax fully legs to let them fall and push shutter both leg back into a position lower than u are waiting to receive serve in one move.
    5. Also at the same time, Using left hand to balance well and return the shot down.
     
  15. opikbidin

    opikbidin Regular Member

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    I meant a more defensive variation, this one:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suTMFMNvazU&list=PL2078E0C68066EA67&index=7

    the block jump. not the scissor kick variation of the smash

    This is one particular problem I often see. Many try to do the scissor kick while in a forced situation, resulting in a flat smash or can just clear. I tell them to do a block jump instead so they can still hit in downwards and return faster to the base position.
     
  16. R20190

    R20190 Regular Member

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    There's no easy fix solution from just reading your post. You need a decent coach to assess your weaknesses individually and advise accordingly. May be your coach needs to work with you in isolation?

    You are doing a lot of the right things already.

    Some extra pointers.

    1. Train leg strength - there are some exercises you can do to train your quads and develop more explosive initial push. It also helps if your upper body is not too bulky. I know a few good players who also do body building and the extra upper body mass actually slows them down despite having good leg strength.

    2. Lower centre of mass - you did not mention whether you were bending your knees. You need to lower your centre of mass so that you can accelerate quicker. One mistake that a lot of players do is to over do this - crouching too low. This actually slows you down. You only need to lower your centre of mass a little. Lean forward slightly.

    3. Footwork - this is an area of debate but I actually use a similar technique to LJB. I did not know this until I saw a video of myself receiving a flick serve. For higher/deeper flicks, I would have a very quick initial short shuffle step before the big jump. This is like having a 1st gear. It doesn’t gain you much distance, perhaps a foot or so but allows you to start accelerating very quickly whilst maintaining balance. Depending on the height/angle/positioning of the flick you may have time for two more steps but sometimes you will only have time for one large leap.

    4. Taking the shuttle later – A lot of smash-aholics like to smash every shuttle that’s higher than the net and tend to do this at all cost – even when they are off balance. You don’t need to hit a smash on the flick every time – but it is good to do this early on in the game/match so your opponents know that you can. But a lot of the time, if you take the shuttle slightly later – say half a foot lower than you normally would, you may find that you can still keep the attack going by dropping or half smashing without losing balance and as you are already moving backwards, it may gain you a few more inches behind the shuttle. When you’re off balance or out of position, the quality of the shot needs to be even better.
     
  17. Xryence

    Xryence Regular Member

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    best advice imo, tho i dont fully agree to point no.4 when u have enough leg strength, footwork and stroke you will tend to and be able to jump more often receiving such shots, dont be surprised that u can take a full speedy flick shot even though u are standing near the service line and it wont hurt to make your opponent think twice about flicking again after getting a taste of your lethal blow
     
  18. R20190

    R20190 Regular Member

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    You are correct that with all the necessary attributes, you should be able to get behind the shuttle consistently. However there will be occasions when you may react slower or may be deceived. This happens to everyone including top professionals.

    It is for this reason I mentioned point 4 above. I have seen some players who are slightly late on receiving flicks and cannot get behind the shuttle sufficiently but still opting to play a smash as high as possible. Not only will it be difficult to control, you will not get much power and more importantly you will lose the advantage against good players because you may become off-balanced, out of position and your opponents will have an easy job counterattacking as they see you struggling.

    In these circumstances, it is probably better to play a drop or clear. However when you are only slightly out of position to play a smash, you can lower your contact point slighly (all the while you will be moving backwards) and still play a safe half smash without losing balance or the attack.
     

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