Getting Down to Basics
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn…”
— Benjamin Franklin
The Overhead Shots
The most basic shots in badminton is the overhead shots. It requires the use of the correct grip, arm swing and body motion in order to hit the shuttle cleanly and with enough power to drive the shuttle to where you want it to go.
There are three main overhead shots; Clear, Smash and Drop and all of them use the same grip and initial setup. This is to prevent your opponent from determining what type of shot you are attempting to play. The shots differ mainly by the point-of-contact, the power and the racquet follow through.
Pronation and Supination
The hardest thing for beginners to understand is the use of the forearm pronation (and supination). Using this allows you to generate more power in your Smash and Clear shots.
One way to think about pronation/supination is that your forearm acts like a fulcrum about which the racquet head pivots. This means a small rotation of your forearm causes a large rotation of the racquet head. This means the head of the racquet will move faster and hence will impart more power to the shuttle when struck.
Another example is a marching band line; when the marching line is turning the inner person (aka forearm) has to make small steps while the person on the outside (aka racquet head) has to make large steps in order to keep up and maintain the line.
Point of Contact
Once you have to correct motion, you can execute the different shots by varying the point of contact and the power.
Clear – Hit the shuttle slightly ahead of your body and above you
Smash – Hit the shuttle ahead of you at approximately 2 o’clock position if looking from the side. (you don’t need to try to pull the shuttle down with your racquet)
Drop – Use the same motion as a clear but reduce the swing speed just before you hit the shuttle (similar to a Clear with less power)
Combining It All Together
As easy as it seems (or not) you will need to practicing this motion constantly in order to refining your swing. This motion and these techniques makes up the bulk of shots in badminton. There will always be slight tweaks and changes you may want to make or adjust in order to get the best possible swing/power.
Don’t feel down if you don’t get it immediately; think of it as a journey to teach your body the proper motion. You will not go from not knowing how to punch to be a professional fighter, you will have throw thousands of punches before you will achieve that knowledge and muscle memory.
Personally, before understanding the correct concepts (pronation, proper setup, body weight transfer, etc..), my swing has slowly changed multiple times through watching tons of videos to find the “common” key points of each video. Even now, I am still trying to see how I can improve my swing.
Imagine having a coach to guide you … (nowadays there are so many YouTube videos, the problem now is which are the correct ones.)
Great video again, breaking down all the steps.
Another great detailed video
I actually had a break through with my technique after watching this girl (amazing). Note its in Japanese but body language speaks words.