Most professional players began team training at a young age so their posture is standard, application of power correct, they have good fitness levels, and they are calm on court. Many recreational players are busy at work on weekdays, only play once or twice a week and don’t have the time to do the complete training that professional players do.
However, as long as we set correct training items with regards the 3 aspects of skills, ability and experience, playing ability should improve markedly.
• Skills
An excellent badminton player will certainly repeatedly carry out the nine skills and basic footwork training because these are the indispensable basics of the game. Being able to play the nine shots is just the start, the next step is raising shuttlecock striking quality; for example a deep clear should be sufficiently high and long and a drop shot should be close to the net; and the action for playing chops, smashes and drives should be the same to make it hard for your opponent to tell which shot you will play.
The key to good shuttlecock striking quality is familiarity with basic footwork because a shot hit when you are in position early will always be much better than one played in haste.
When we have internalized these basic skills so that they become reflex actions we will have more opportunity to use various delicate changes in action to play shots that are disguised and put our opponent under pressure.
• Ability
Badminton is a sport that needs coordination, power, fitness and muscles power (such as the wrist, arm, waist, thighs and calves). Ability can be improved by special training.
• Experience
Some players play well when they play with people they are familiar with but when they play stranger or take part in a competition they can’t achieve their normal playing level. This is a classic example of insufficient experience.
When two players of equal skill and ability face each other the one with the greater desire to win, self-confidence, willpower, emotion control ability and other kind of mental strength will usually win.
Consequently, you need to accumulate experience of playing in formal and recreational competitions as this is one type of training that is indispensable for improving badminton ability.,
Rich match experience increases a player’s ability to withstand pressure
We suggest everyone uses the 3 aspect concept introduced above to identify their strengths and areas that need to be strengthened.
For example, a player who has the skills but always panics in a match and makes mistakes should make an effort to increase their experience; if a player has good basic fitness and muscle power and stamina but hasn’t mastered the basic skills so they have limited shot variety, they should do training to improve their grasp of these nine basic skills.
In the next VICTOR Badminton Coaching article Training guide for badminton beginners (Part 2) we will provide concrete training programs (including training methods and suggested training volume) for your reference. Please look forward to it!