BEYOND THE BASICS Excelling at BADMINTON A Practical Reference Manual for Players and Coaches JAKE DOWNEY Director of Coaching Badminton Association of EnglandBritish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Downey, Jake Excelling at Badminton ~ (Beyond the Basics Series) 1 Title Il Series 796.34 ISBN 0.340-87664-2 ‘Copyright © Jake Downey 1893 Photographs © Louis Ross First published in Great Britain 1993 ‘Allrights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without eter prior permission in writing from the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the United Kingdom such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP SHE. ‘The right of Jake Downey to be identified as the author ofthis work has ‘been asserted by him in accordance with the ‘Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,Jake Downey, Director of Coaching for the Badminton Association of England, explains how you can master the art of playing badminton through effective practice and better awareness of the game. He includes easy-to-follow chapters on all aspects of the game which will deepen your understanding of badminton and show you how to play to win at singles, level and mixed doubles. EXCELLING AT BADMINTON will serve as a practical self-help guide while you practise and compete successfully in your journey to becoming a better player. It is a book all keen players should possess. EXCELLING AT BADMINTON shows vou how to: Plan and play to achieve your goals Identify your weaknesses and learn how to correct them » Find out how to practise effectively and develop your skills Improve your tactics and positional play Learn how to improve your attack and defence Analyse your own and your opponents’ performances » Improve your fitness in easy stages » Develop a winning attitudeContents Plan Your Journey Introduction KNOW THE GAME Principle of attack — logical structure of the game — situations in the game — basic tactical moves ~ rallies and action phrases parts of an action phrase ~ ‘body movements — stroke moves used — complete action phrases and rallies KNOW YOUR CRAFT ‘Technical skill practices — tactical skill practices — individual specific skill practices ~ informal competition — formal competition — studies — fitness training and diet - ‘mental training — summary WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE? Competition goals - tournament goals - team goals ~ performance goals — intrinsic and extrinsic goals - are your goals realistic? PLAN TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS Procedure in planning an action programme ‘MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR PRACTICE ‘What is practice — types of practice ~ technical and tactical practices ~ practice and routines - learn how to practise — stages in practices — how much should you practise ~ so you don't feel like practising — practice partners — from the practice Court to the match court — bridging the gap ~ conditioned games — informal competition - formal competition — a positive approach to practice ‘YOUR COMPLETE REFERENCE LIST OF TECHNICAL SKILLS LEARN HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR RACKET SKILL ‘The grips — hitting techniques - control your racket head ~ control of the racket face — practices to improve your racket skill ul 13 20 24 ar 28 39 42,Contents 10 ul 13 4 LEARN HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR BODY SKILL Body skill components — posture and balance - starting and stopping - travelling — transitions —lunge and recovery — jumping and landing ~ specific practices for body skill KNOW YOUR STROKES, CORRECT YOUR FAULTS AND PRACTISE TO IMPROVE Body skill faults and corrections ~ your strokes, common faults, causes, corrections and practices - description of the stroke-move analysis headings ~ overhead rrearcourt stroke-moves — low rearcourt strokes-moves — midcourt stroke-moves - serves - forecourt stroke-moves, ANALYSING AND CORRECTING YOUR TECHNICAL FAULTS Identify the problem ~ diagnosis - correction ~ practices (CREATE YOUR OWN PRACTICE PROGRAMME Practise your stroke and action phrases — from single to combination stroke practices - make use of the practice procedure - practice aims and standards - set practice targets and measure your success in practice — develop your technical practice — fitness ~ mental atitucde — devise your own practice routines — stroke practice form — technical practice programme form LEARN HOW TO PRACTISE YOUR TECHNICAL SKILLS UNDER PRESSURE ‘What are the purposes of practices - zone practices — action phrase practices ~ continuous rally practice ~ multifeed practice GET YOURSELF FIT FOR BADMINTON ‘What you need to know — am In good health — what is fitness — what do I need to do to get fit - how fit do I need to be - how do I maintain my fitness ~ how do I get ft training - preparation - warm up and cool down — flexibility ~ slow stretching exercises — developing your endurance - develop your strength, power and speed ~ find out how fit you are ~ diet - rest ~ plan your own training programme INJURIES AND HOW YOU CAN TRY TO PREVENT THEM Physical injuries — forms of injury ~ overuse injuries — traumatic injuries ~ overload injuries — treating an injury 50 60 109 m1 us 126 4618 18 7 18 19 20 Contents DEVELOP A WINNING ATTITUDE AND EXPLOIT YOUR OPPONENT'S ATTITUDE. 149 ‘What is a mental attitude ~ attitudes you need for competition — how do I develop Such attitudes ~ how do I exploit my opponents" attitudes — what do you do with players who try to exploit your attitude — confidence, character and the will o win IMPROVE YOUR DEFENCE 153 Passive and active defence ~ how to learn it~ how to practise it LEARN TO DECEIVE YOUR OPPONENT 156 Body language - how do I learn and improve my deception — some ways in which you can be deceptive LEARN TO ANALYSE AND ASSESS YOUR PERFORMANCE IN COMPETITION 153 How should I record information — questionnaire ~ how shall I use this information — performance analysis report form PREPARE AND COMPETE TO WIN AT SINGLES. 163 ‘The qualities of a good player ~ technical skill - tactical skill~ percentage play ~ strategies ~ fitness ~ attitude — preparation and competition PREPARE AND COMPETE TO WIN AT LEVEL AND MIXED DOUBLES 173 Your role inthe team - your functions —hit- and set-up players - playing as a team — how to become a better performer — getting into the right positions ~ playing as a team in attack and defence - general advice on attacking play Recommended Reading 191BEYOND THE BASICS —_Excelling at BADMINTON PLAN YOUR JOURNEY TO BECOME &A BETTER PLAYER | START HERE CHECK YOUR PROGRESS (CHAPTERS) Doyau ful understand Know the game Koow your erat Biaying basmitor? Have you decid on Panto achieve your goals and how Your goals Soachieve them? “a) Do you know what Make the most And how to practise most ot yout practice beet? (6) Your compte Do youkrom tow to italsrae Low om Leam on meer Stas rocket "eye 7) (8) ‘nase and Devise your own ‘correc your pracioes and vena ats || pradies penrmme (10) (1) SpDoDDDDDDDDGDoyovin tow Seisor yor aoe oy Do you krow how to imorve your J Do you know how te delend ettectively? Get yours tt Yor Badminton Injuries ae how yu can prevent them (13) (14) Develop a win atiode and expt Your opponents ‘ites (15) Learn how to deceive your opponent 1 Lear to analyse and assess your performance Prepare and compete ewin at sings (19) Prepare and compete twin a doubles (20) CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE ARRIVEDEs Ene) ra BADMINTON , intention in writing this book has been toprovide apractical reference manual for youto refer to on any aspects of the ‘game of badminton so that it will act as a sel-help guide whenever you are in need of some form of ftition. Ihave assumed that you are an experi- enced player and know quite alot about the game already. This bookhas thereforebeendesignedto allow youto refer only to those areas of the game that you want to learn more about Asacoach Ibelieve that all players can benefit from a deeper study of the game they play. Bad- tminton is a fascinating game, full of interest and challenges for any player but to appreciate the ‘game fly and play it well you must understand it ‘Obviously, if you are reading this book you are Curious to learn more about badminton and per- ‘haps would like to become a better player. hope | that will manage to satisty your curiosity and help | yoto improve your game. Itisa common feature of most sports that play- fers andi coaches often recommend a returnto the Dbasios in order to improve their play. The simple factis that to go beyond the basics you must first them. This s what all good players workso itodo in order tobecome even better players the game. ‘You will be familiar with the usual basics in : Nodoubtwhenyou firststartedtoplay igame youtleamed how tohit the shuttle; how to the racket (the grips); achieve the Teady showtoperformthestrokes and rally;how and stop quickly and travel to the various jofthe court: and how to play singles, doubles xed games. Al the basic things required to Jlenjoy the game. jcando allthese things then you are ready Ptosmne) Introduction a Prete to go beyond the basics and worktobecome even. ‘more skilful at doing them. You should then be- come a better player. ‘You will now if you are becominga better and more skilfulplayer by how you perform in compe- tition. You will need to play other players to test yourself and to measure your progress. in testing ‘yourself you should give 100 per cent effort to try towin. Only then will youcbtain an accurate meas- ure of your progress. Itdoesn't follow, however, that you must win to become a better player. You can lose and still consider that you have made some progress. You may for example be making fewer errors than before; the ralies may be longer; you may win more easily against regular opponents; you may gain more points than usual and even a game against a better player. Yournight begin to use the backhand clear under pressure rather than try to play your usual forehand round the head shot ‘When these things happen you will find it most rewarding because you know that the hard work is paying off and the effort to become a better player has been worthwhile. Surprisingly you will be in good company in your ambitions. Most top-class players continually ‘workto become better players. they didnotthey would risk lowering their standards and being overtaken by others. ‘Yoummust decide justhow much better youwant tobecome or are capable ofbecoming. Whatever you do decide this book should help you to im- prove and to achieve your particular goals as a player. ‘The book is very easy to use. First read the Route Map on page 8 and start at the areas of the game you wish to improve.BEYOND THEBASICS —Excelling at BADMINTON ‘When using this book, please remember these points: 1 Thave assumed that you are a right-handed player. Ifyou are left handed then reversethe descriptions where appropriate. 2 ‘The noun ‘man’ and the pronoun ‘he’ are used for general discussion, Allthe comments about ‘he’ and ‘man’ apply equally to women unless specific reference is made to male or female players, e.g, as in mixed doubles. 3. The symbols shown right have been used in thediagrams to designate the players and the shutlecock. Example of players travelling ‘whilst adjusting their positions in ‘the court hhe bor]