Other Factors in Playing Badminton

Other factors
When defending against a smash, players have three basic options: lift, block, or drive. In singles,
a block to the net is the most common reply. In doubles, a lift is the safest option but it usually allows
the opponents to continue smashing; blocks and drives are counter-attacking strokes but may be
intercepted by the smasher's partner. Many players use a backhand hitting action for returning
smashes on both the forehand and backhand sides because backhands are more effective than
forehands at covering smashes directed to the body. Hard shots directed towards the body are
difficult to defend.
The service is restricted by the Laws and presents its own array of stroke choices. Unlike in tennis,
the server's racquet must be pointing in a downward direction to deliver the serve so normally the
shuttle must be hit upwards to pass over the net. The server can choose a low serve into the
forecourt (like a push), or a lift to the back of the service court, or a flat drive serve. Lifted serves
may be either high serves, where the shuttlecock is lifted so high that it falls almost vertically at the
back of the court, or flick serves, where the shuttlecock is lifted to a lesser height but falls sooner.
Deception
Once players have mastered these basic strokes, they can hit the shuttlecock from and to any part
of the court, powerfully and softly as required. Beyond the basics, however, badminton offers rich
potential for advanced stroke skills that provide a competitive advantage. Because badminton
players have to cover a short distance as quickly as possible, the purpose of many advanced
strokes is to deceive the opponent, so that either they are tricked into believing that a different stroke
is being played, or they are forced to delay their movement until they actually sees the shuttle's
direction. "Deception" in badminton is often used in both of these senses. When a player is
genuinely deceived, they will often lose the point immediately because they cannot change their
direction quickly enough to reach the shuttlecock. Experienced players will be aware of the trick and
cautious not to move too early, but the attempted deception is still useful because it forces the
opponent to delay their movement slightly. Against weaker players whose intended strokes are
obvious, an experienced player may move before the shuttlecock has been hit, anticipating the
stroke to gain an advantage.
Slicing and using a shortened hitting action are the two main technical devices that facilitate
deception. Slicing involves hitting the shuttlecock with an angled racquet face, causing it to travel in
a different direction than suggested by the body or arm movement. Slicing also causes the
shuttlecock to travel more slowly than the arm movement suggests. For example, a good
crosscourt sliced drop shot will use a hitting action that suggests a straight clear or a smash,
deceiving the opponent about both the power and direction of the shuttlecock. A more sophisticated
slicing action involves brushing the strings around the shuttlecock during the hit, in order to make the
shuttlecock spin. This can be used to improve the shuttle's trajectory, by making it dip more rapidly
as it passes the net; for example, a sliced low serve can travel slightly faster than a normal low
serve, yet land on the same spot. Spinning the shuttlecock is also used to create spinning net
shots (also called tumbling net shots), in which the shuttlecock turns over itself several times
(tumbles) before stabilizing; sometimes the shuttlecock remains inverted instead of tumbling. The
main advantage of a spinning net shot is that the opponent will be unwilling to address the
shuttlecock until it has stopped tumbling, since hitting the feathers will result in an unpredictable
stroke. Spinning net shots are especially important for high-level singles players.
The lightness of modern racquets allows players to use a very short hitting action for many strokes,
thereby maintaining the option to hit a powerful or a soft stroke until the last possible moment. For
example, a singles player may hold their racquet ready for a net shot, but then flick the shuttlecock
to the back instead with a shallow lift when they notice the opponent has moved before the actual
shot was played. A shallow lift takes less time to reach the ground and as mentioned above a rally is
over when the shuttlecock touches the ground. This makes the opponent's task of covering the
whole court much more difficult than if the lift was hit higher and with a bigger, obvious swing. A
short hitting action is not only useful for deception: it also allows the player to hit powerful strokes
when they have no time for a big arm swing. A big arm swing is also usually not advised in
badminton because bigger swings make it more difficult to recover for the next shot in fast
exchanges. The use of grip tightening is crucial to these techniques, and is often described as finger
power. Elite players develop finger power to the extent that they can hit some power strokes, such
as net kills, with less than a 10 centimetres (4 inches) racquet swing.
It is also possible to reverse this style of deception, by suggesting a powerful stroke before slowing
down the hitting action to play a soft stroke. In general, this latter style of deception is more common
in the rear court (for example, drop shots disguised as smashes), whereas the former style is more
common in the forecourt and midcourt (for example, lifts disguised as net shots).
Deception is not limited to slicing and short hitting actions. Players may also use double motion,
where they make an initial racquet movement in one direction before withdrawing the racquet to hit
in another direction. Players will often do this to send opponents in the wrong direction. The racquet
movement is typically used to suggest a straight angle but then play the stroke crosscourt, or vice
versa. Triple motion is also possible, but this is very rare in actual play. An alternative to double
motion is to use a racquet head fake, where the initial motion is continued but the racquet is turned
during the hit. This produces a smaller change in direction but does not require as much time.

Other Factors in Playing Badminton

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Other Factors in Playing Badminton

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Other Factors in Playing Badminton

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Other factors

You might also like