Get your racket up, this is one of the most common things a coach will say
we've even said it before in our youtube videos but actually this is often the wrong advice
and we're going to share two reasons why and thank you to squarespace for sponsoring this video
so our first reason why having your racket up is the wrong advice is that if I was to ask someone
to bring their arm up what would they do? Well most people will bring their arm straight up next to their ear
Greg, put your arm up! And this is what people do on court especially at the net but this
is a huge mistake for two reasons having your arm straight up often means you'll be really tense and
stiff and you won't be able to generate any power even if the shuttle comes straight to your racket
this is because your shoulder is locked into place so you can't generate any fluid
movement and you have to hit the shuttle with a straight arm and the second reason is that if
your opponent hits it below net height then you have to move your arm a long way down and again
you'll most likely hit the shot with a straight arm which will reduce your control
now we've only talked about net interceptions so far but having your arm up too high and
too straight will also limit you in other areas of the court such as the mid court and the rear court
so that's what you shouldn't do and we'll tell you what you should do later in the video as we
still have our second reason as to why getting your racket up is the wrong advice but before
this we're going to briefly talk to you about squarespace who are kindly sponsoring this video
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without these sponsors I would have to go back to my part-time delivery job so
thank you so much for all of your support now let's get back to the video!
Okay so the second reason why having your racket up could be the wrong advice
is that if you watch some professional players they often don't have their racket up in rallies
and if they don't why should you? Well whilst it's good to try to replicate what the professionals do
some players like Kevin Sukamuljo or Hendra Setiawan have a combination of incredible reactions
fast racket swing speeds and an amazing ability to read the game
these three skills are why they can have their racket so low and can ignore any coach telling
them to get their racket up and if you have the same skills then you can ignore your coaches too!
Leaving your racket down might also show your opponents that there are gaps in the court to
hit into and might even attempt them to hit there because you don't look ready however you are ready
and you bring your racket up milliseconds after your opponent has hit their shot! Okay so far we've
told you that having your racket up is the wrong advice if you have it up too straight and too
high or if you have great racket skills but why else might you choose to keep your racket down low?
well it helps you to stay relaxed and therefore hopefully play better quality shots as a result
if you have your arm up the whole time your shoulder might become tense it certainly does with me
keeping your racket low also means you're more likely to have a bigger swing
this bigger swing can help you to generate more power but you still need to have very fast
reactions to be able to take the shuttle early! The game of badminton is changing in many ways
and with modern day rackets being much lighter this is now even more possible and this is another
reason why getting your racket up might be wrong advice, it could be outdated. So we've talked about
why having your racket up is the wrong advice but when is it the right advice and how high do we
recommend actually having your racket up? Well it's the right advice if you don't have lightning-fast
reactions or an ability to develop these skills but it's also the right advice depending where you
are on the court and where you're expecting the shuttle to go to for example if you're
expecting a shot to come above the height of the net when you're at the net or mid court
what we would advise to most people is to have your elbow slightly out in a relaxed position
it shouldn't be too tucked in or too high above your head and this is what us and other coaches
should be teaching to stop the mistake of people putting their arms straight up next to their ear
most importantly your arm needs to be in a comfortable position for you to move as fast
as you can whether that's down by your knees or up by your head you just need to experiment with
what's best for you but in the rear court you don't want your racket ready too high otherwise
you won't quite get your preparation right in your overhead shots the rear court is all about
staying relaxed and opening your chest out and if you have your arm up from the beginning then you
won't be able to open out as much and you'll lose power accuracy and control as a result! It's also
important to mention that how high you have your racket up will depend on your height if you're
a smaller player then you'll need your racket up a lot more than if you're a taller player
so yeah the most important thing is your elbow positioning hence the title
getting your racket up is often the wrong advice and if you're struggling to get into
the right position to play your shot you might want to try to improve your reading of the game
doing this might mean you can have your racket on the floor but as you know where the shuttle is
going before your opponent has even hit their shot you can still get there in time! And if you want to
know how to do this then we'd recommend watching this video next and let us know in the comments
below if you think we and other coaches should still be teaching people to get their racket up
we're looking forward to hearing what you think and we'll see you on another video very soon, bye :-)