Looking for feedback on my Singles Footwork

Yo!

1) This movement is unnatural. You already know where you're moving to next, rather than preparing and covering. Realistically you would hit a shot, know where you really need to cover, split as the shot is played and move accordingly. I think you've done this because you wanted speed, but it looks to me like you sacrificed control.

2) Your forecourt body posture is bad. You drop your shoulder and chest down very low, and that makes it difficult to recover. You're also holding your non-racket hand quite close to the body throughout this when you could be using it to counterbalance yourself.

I'm not so confident in the position of your racket foot on the backhand net, it looks like you're turning it too far; it looks fine to me on the forehand, but on the backhand it looks like you're turning it past where the shuttle is going, and causing some extra strain on your legs.

In my opinion, a lot of this comes from poor quality in your lunges. You seem to almost be throwing yourself forward rather than using a controlled movement. Your non-racket leg comes off the floor a lot of the time throughout, and that's an indicator of your balance.

3) Loooots of jumping. Not always an option. Not always used well either, there seems to be a lot of jumping backwards and I'm not a big fan of this, if you're going to jump it should be moving you forward for a better transfer of force.

4) There are several missing patterns in this footwork for it to be a complete demonstration. We cannot see the net position, so we're left guessing a bit, but some of your forecourt footwork doesn't look like it would cover close to the net.

One missing pattern is your forehand forecourt to forehand rearcourt. Another are for defense (low and to the midcourt on both your forehand and backhand side). Another missing is an offensive forehand net shot (coming from above the tape).

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Overall I think the pattern is there, but you need some alternatives in the rear court for more defensive shots that will occur where you cannot jump. I also think you need to focus on improving your lunges so that they are a controlled movement, with your foot pointing correctly, and maintaining balance throughout.

 

Looks good! I would say you are missing a bit of variation in rear forehand side from that clip - only ever saw a single-step china/block jump. I know scissor kick is not popular for rallying, but it also depends who you're coaching as to how useful it could be. Also for backhand block shot stepping out with the left foot is a possibility.

I am an advocate the small recovery step that you see at the top level, although some people here aren't convinced when I bring it up. Just look at Lin Dan's small first recovery steps from front court shots here 11s, 21s, 31s,...

[video=youtube;dbgZIMm45hE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbgZIMm45hE[/video]

A final thing I will mention is that for a footwork drill I think you lean over too much for net shots, or in other words you lose a bit of core stability. Sometimes it looks associated with when you bring your non-racket foot towards your planted front foot.

 

I agree with Charlie above as well. I spotted the missing patterns but thought it was just the brevity of the clip.

One transition that I found atypical is the front->rear transition from 7s -> 10s. Yes, sometimes you can 'run' backwards, but I think not like this, and not in this drill.

 

I don't disagree with the shot choice, just the footwork

 

If no net shots were demonstrated here, then I'm quite concerned about what you're doing in the forecourt with your footwork.

 

Hello,

As someone who does lots of footwork practice myself, I am going to review your footwork practice as if it were my own, and list the things I would be wanting to do differently. Obviously I don't know the purpose of your drill, or the imagination of the situation you are practising e.g. which shots followed by which reply. Regardless, here is my feedback.

Lots of positives. Overall the patterns are good. Lots of bounce and not obviously any unnecessary steps taken. Fast and explosive and putting lots of effort in to it - keep this up for half an hour and you have had a great practice session!

My assessment is that this footwork practice is more applicable to doubles - its pace and nature are exactly what would be used in a good doubles rally - where you are explosive and able to take everything early. A singles rhythm would be much more variable, with some slower movement and some faster movements.

For me, I would like to see you slightly more upright on your very first two lunges - there is a lot of upper body movement which will make you slightly slower to recover. I would prefer to see a more upright body posture, which is achieved by lunging further forwards with the front foot and keeping your body weight more evenly balanced in the middle of your feet. I would liken it to feeling like you are "sitting back" when you lunge. Obviously not everything can be perfect in every game, but I like to try and ensure that I practice good habits where possible.

When you play a shot from your rearcourt forehand corner, your initial recovery step back towards the middle is a little step with your left foot. This little step takes you nowhere and does nothing - its slowing your pattern down. I would want to see you step immediately forwards with your right leg and lose the extra step. This is also the case when you jump out to the sides of the court.

Similarly, when you have played a shot in your rearcourt backhand corner (around the head), you perform the scissor kick fine, but then your first recovery step is with your right leg - this again takes you nowhere and is a waste of time. Move your left leg first and only.

The next thing is really minor, and take it or leave it depending on how you feel. When you land your round the head scissor kick, your back foot lands and is facing almost completely pointing towards the net. When you next push off that foot, you may (depending on the direction you push) be putting your Achilles under strain - I have seen quite a few snapped Achilles from this foot positioning. I would want to see it turned out to the side (to your left) slightly more. My concern is that if you land and push directly towards the net, you would be at risk of injury.

I think the two things I would like to point to are about the "realism" of the drill.

The first thing is to do with your split step. There are two things to pick up on: not doing it for some movements, and doing it directionally for others. For some movements you do not perform a split step e.g. forehand net to backhand round the head. You currently just run. I believe this does not reflect a game play situation and as such is not actually practising game specific movements. In a game I would always play my shot, return to "base", split step (with my right foot slightly forwards), and then push explosively round the head. I have never played a game against a good opponent where I could just run for shots - I have to wait to ensure I am not deceived.

The next thing is the directional split steps. These sometimes happen in games, but I would rarely train them into my footwork patterns. For example, if I played a shot from round the head, I would always recover with my right foot forwards, even though the next shot is a forehand. You return to the middle with your feet already pointing at the forehand corner, making the movement considerably easier, and contrary to what I believe you would do in a game. Once again - I try to keep the drills as "best practice" for game situations.

The second point about "realism" is rhythm. Obviously in a game, you normally return to base slowly, then split step and move explosively towards the corner. Your movement here is one paced.

The obvious thing about my two "realism" points, is that I don't know what you were trying to achieve in YOUR drill (thats why I said I am assessing it as if it were my own). You may do other footwork drills where you do as I describe making sure you do every split step with proper recovery etc etc. But I don't know the context of your drill so thats why I mentioned them. If I went and did multifeed, I may end up missing a few split steps here and there etc etc. However, when I am shadowing, I always try to get it perfect.

I hope some of what I have said may prove useful to you. Good luck!

 

One thing I noticed that is your tendency to run towards the centre of the court after you hit a forehand shot from the back court targeting your backhand side. That's a very risky movement in my experience. If your opponent lifts or clears back, you might not be able to stop yourself in time and move backwards towards the shuttle.

At the very beginning of the video when it showed you doing lunges, your core is basically not upright. It looks like you are a bit unbalanced and will fall over, which slows down your recovery.

Your lunges look like it may bring injuries to your racket foot, especially on your backhand side. It's turning quite a bit inwards. It doesn't matter if it's a net shot or tap. The facing of your racket foot on the backhand side can put a lot of strain on your knee. Badminton is a sport with lots of twisting and turning. A bad lunge can kill your knee. This is also noticeable after you land on your feet from the back court. They also have a tendency to turn inwards.

This could be an indicator that you may have flat feet. If you are not aware of it, it's better to get a doctor to assess. I have flat feet as well and this inward turning of my feet is very obvious. At the beginning you may not notice problems at all. But as the intensity increases and when you play at higher levels, you will notice problems and it will affect your movement overall. You may also twist your knee by accident if your opponent push you front and back in a very fast game. I have seen that happen and they are off badminton for a very long time, if not permanently.

You may need some slight adjustments for your lunges on your backhand side if problems surface. Very likely you will need to do quite a fair bit of strengthening exercises for your feet, particularly on the outer part of your feet so that you won't strain/sprain/twist them while adjusting your lunges.