Hello and welcome back to Badminton Insight! If you're new here we're Greg and Jenny,
two professional badminton players releasing a new video every Sunday on all things badminton
Now the backhand drive is one of those shots that if you hit it right it feels
so good so in today's video we're going to teach you this shot including how to perfect
your timing, increase your power and we'll also give you some great exercises of how you can
practice it at the end of the video, so let's get to it!
So let's start by looking at the footwork and more specifically this final step as this is actually really important for the backhand drive
So firstly the timing of this final step is critical, you ideally want to land slightly
after you strike the shuttle so you're in control and you're able to use this extra
force from your step to add more power into the drive. Secondly you ideally always want to step
forwards into the drive and this is for a similar reason, to increase the force going into the shot
if you step sideways or even backwards into the drive then you can't use your body weight
and momentum as much. And of course there'll be times when this footwork just isn't possible
maybe you're not in a good enough starting position or the shuttle's coming at you too quick
but we're talking about the perfect drive here and we'll get on to where you should play this shot in
just a second! Okay so now you've understood the movement and timing let's move on to what to do
with your body and racket so for the backhand drive you need to be in a loose backhand grip
with the thumb on this wider part of the grip here and this is really important as you use
the thumb to generate power in the shot just look how little power I can get without using my thumb
as opposed to
A key point in your preparation is to have your racket quite high up in your starting position
a lot of people we see start with a racket there which means they need to waste the time
bringing it up to there to even start the movement so if you're there then you can go
just from there to there taking it a lot earlier and playing a lot more effective shots!
So as the shuttle is approaching you you want to bring your arm back a little bit like this
but not too much as we'll go on to mention and then you use the muscles in the back of your
shoulder then forearm and wrist come through and you punch the shuttle. At the point of contact you
want to squeeze your fingers and thumb to create extra power in the shot but you want to stay nice
and relaxed up until this point because if you're really stiff and tense it will limit your power
It's like boxing, at the point of contact you don't want to have a completely straight arm because
you'll have lost a lot of power but you also don't want to be completely tucked in like this
the optimal point is to have a slight bend in your arm like this...
Now we're back from the hospital it's important to mention that a big backswing doesn't necessarily
equal a more powerful drive. It's all about the timing of your movement and contact point
in fact a big backswing is often more detrimental to your shot as there's a higher chance of you miss-
timing the drive as you're less in control of your racket and you'll also likely have a big follow
through so you're less ready for the next shot! Well that's the shot but where should you actually
hit this backhand drive to? Well in doubles, similar to smashes good places to hit the shot are straight
down the tramlines, to the middle to create indecision or set your partner up for the rotation
or cross court which can feel amazing if you time it right but this is a bit of a risky shot if you
don't! Now the benefits of hitting a backhand drive with slightly less power but hitting it
to exactly where you want to massively outweigh the benefits of hitting 100% drive with no control
over where the shot's going. For example as you can see here I'm hitting a drive with 80% power
but ensuring it's going flat over the net and also I can put Jenny into awkward positions
however as you can see in this example I'm hitting with a hundred percent power but as I have less
control my shot has gone slightly upwards and onto Jenny's racket and I'm put straight onto
the back foot and under pressure! Obviously hitting with 100% power and control is ideal
but this can often be hard to do and there'll also be some situations where you don't want
to hit 100% power drive such as when you're taking the shuttle below the height of the net
this is a common mistake we see people make because the shuttle travels upwards and not flat
and makes it really easy for their opponents! Okay so now you know how to hit the drive and where to
hit the drive but how should you actually practice it? Well we have four simple practices for you
The first exercise is hitting multiple shuttles like this alternating sets with a heavy racket
and normal racket. The reason we use a heavy racket is to increase our forearm, wrist and
finger power which is very important in this shot! We'd recommend doing one set of 16 shuttles with
a heavy racket and then one set with your normal racket and then switching over with your partner
This is a great practice to focus on the movement, timing and raw power of the shot
The second practice is simply driving back and forth with your partner, again you can alternate
your sets between a heavy and normal racket and we'd recommend doing this for around 90 seconds
for each set. And if you don't have a partner but still want to practice your drives then our third
practice is wall hitting aim slightly higher up the wall to get into this drive position
and focus more on your power than the movement at first and then try to make it a little more
realistic by introducing a bit of movement. The final exercise to make it more match
realistic is doing a two shot combination, for example you can do a smash then backhand drive
or a forehand drive to a backhand drive and hitting back to the feeder helps you understand
the time that you would have in a match and make the necessary adjustments in your movement!
And of course you can always be practicing your backhand drive in open routines like rear mid
which we've done on previous videos, or even in a match - it's just a lot harder to refine
the skills and technique this way! So that's it, let us know in the comments below what you
maybe didn't know about the backhand drive before this video or what you're most looking forward to
putting into practice and don't forget to share the video with that friend who you think needs
to improve their backhand drive! Yeah and as always if you've enjoyed the video please give it a like,
SMASH the subscribe button if you haven't already and we'll see you on another video,
maybe one of the ones we're about to show now! :-)