Have you ever come off court from a match thinking you would have won if you
or your partner were faster and sharper at the net? Well today we're going to show you four
exercises which are going to help you with this! Improving your net play will help you
intercept more shots improve your shot quality and just generally win more points, however
there's a little bit more to it than that which we'll explain in this video so let's get to it
The first exercise is random net multifeed, this focuses on explosive movement both laterally and
forwards and backwards! You should do the exercise to the full width of the court like you would in
a match. In this exercise you should focus on your shot choice and placement and not just your speed
for example if you're stretched so wide that you can't hit an aggressive shot effectively then you
should play a soft shot to continue building the rally you should definitely practice this exercise
playing both aggressive and softer shots using a variety of angles to keep your opponent guessing!
But bear in mind that you don't always have to play the craziest angles as this can often
lead to mistakes, sometimes the half turns just to the centre of the court are enough to make
your opponent change the direction and then take the shuttle late! So we have three key technical
points for your net play. Firstly you're going to have your hand slightly higher up the racket which
creates a shorter lever so you can get more control and play more accurate shots! Secondly we're going
to have our elbow up so a lot of people often say that you need your racket up whereas you can have
your racket up here, your elbow up allows you more space so you can take the shuttle early
and don't get too tucked in! Finally you should have a short swing and hitting action
using your fingers to create the power and control this is so that you can play a more accurate shot
and you're also ready for the next shot if it comes back! The next exercise is kill and cut out
and this focuses on your racket speed your foot placement and movement speed. Putting
this exercise into a match scenario would be when you're in an aggressive position at the net
and you kill the shuttle but your opponent manages to return it and just drives it back at you as
soon as you've killed the first shot you instantly want to bring your racket back up but make sure
it's in front of you, there's a big difference between taking the shuttle in front of you and
behind you or even level with your head. This is because it instantly gives your opponent a split
second more time to recover and get ready for the next shot! The most important thing with this shot
is the footwork as this is often where people go wrong. So you want to step into the kill with your
racket leg and then step back to give you time and space and also put pressure through this leg so
that you're ready to pounce on any soft shot that might come. So right handed it will look like this...
So for the backhand side you want to step in with your racket leg leading again
and then step back not as far as on the forehand side and again in a reasonably
wide base. As you hit the shot you want your body weight going forward and again your elbow up
This third exercise is really useful for decision making for example if you've played a tight net
shot and think your opponent is going to play a net shot back you should take a chance on this
and get above the tape to brush it off however depending on your shot quality or your opponent's
shot habits they might poke it through your shoulders. This is where the decision making
comes in, should you take a chance on the tight net shot or wait for the poke. If they play a
poke through you also have to make the decision if that's yours to take or your partners! We find
that this decision making comes with practice so keep trying even if you struggle with it initially
The final exercise is T's this is where both players are standing on this T shape here. It has
to be done semi-cooperatively increasing the speed as you go until you can go as fast as you can!
Training to be fast and sharp in the net is something we often do in training especially
in the build up to tournaments. It really helps to boost your confidence going into
the tournament knowing you've got some finely tuned net skills. So if you want to watch any
more doubles multi-feed exercises then watch this video coming on around here
and don't forget to smash the subscribe button for more videos in the future, see you next week!