In this video we're going to explain what separates an advanced player from a beginner or
intermediate player and more importantly how you can improve your game and get to that next level!
Yeah so the first of five key areas we have for you is your shot quality and selection. The reason
we've combined these two together is that you might think you've played a good quality shot but
if your opponent is in position and waiting for it then it won't be a good shot to select, or in
contrast you might play a worst quality shot into space which could actually be a good selection but
generally the better the player the more accurate their shots are and the more they play shots that
put you into difficult positions! So how can we do this to them? Greg, what suggestions do we have?
Well we have four suggestions and the first one is where we often see a huge difference between both
beginner to intermediate players and intermediate players to advanced players it's so simple but
it's the length of your lifts and clears to the back of the court. Advanced players are so good at
lifting to the back of the court giving themselves more time and their opponents less opportunity to
go all in on their attack let's show you a quick example... if I get Greg to smash a load of shuttles
at me off a bench from this position on the court then I can maybe get around 50% back but if he does
exactly the same from in the back tramlines I can get over 90% back this is because the shuttle
slows down more and I have more time to react! Our second suggestion is to avoid always hitting back
to your opponents whether you're playing singles or doubles try to maneuver your opponents so
that they're out of position, they'll then be more likely to be off balance and play a worse quality
shot making it a lot easier for you! Third you need to focus on the first three shots of the rally
and we can't stress this enough, especially in doubles! This is one area that prevents many people
moving up to that next level either making cheap mistakes or making it too easy for their opponents
you also need to focus on the selection of your shots and this is relevant for the whole game
not just the first three shots of the rally you need to be thinking about playing a shot
to get a certain reply and not be reactive! This is something that advanced players do really well but
if you find you struggle with this currently our next key area will help with this! Reading the game
basically involves you knowing where the shuttle's going before your opponent has even hit their shot
and there are two ways you can do this; the first way is to look at your opponent's
body and racket positioning and judge what shot they're able to play from this position
are they able to play a downward shot? If not then you should have your racket ready for an upwards
shot, are they able to play a powerful shot? If not you should move forwards a little bit to be ready
for a softer shot the list goes on! Of course the higher level of player the harder it will be to
read their shots now the next way to read the game is to play shots to certain places and predict the
likely response, for example you might serve to your opponent's body because you know they're
already in a forehand grip and won't be able to change to a backhand grip in time and therefore
they'll only be able to play a cross-court return. Learning these two tricks takes time so try to
start by watching matches first and seeing if you can recognise where players are going to hit
their shots before they've even hit them and also look out for common shots people play from certain
positions, for example some people might play lots of cross-court drops or return the serve to the same
place every time! Okay that was the second way to level up your game what's next Greg? Next is
footwork and this is probably THE most important area! The ability to do the correct footwork
is the biggest difference we see between beginner and intermediate players and then footwork speed
is one of the biggest differences between intermediate and advanced players! Yeah moving
quickly and efficiently to the shuttle will enable you to be in a position to play a better shot
and also recover faster so we have three simple tips for you to quickly improve your footwork and
get you to that next level... we've done a whole video on this on the channel but the first tip
is the split step make sure you have your legs bent and body weight leaning slightly forwards
to perform an explosive split step which will help you move quickly to wherever the shuttle is going
The second tip is to try to reduce the amount of steps you're taking this will help you improve
your movement speed and efficiency meaning you get to the shuttle earlier and exert less energy
and lastly you need to get used to leading with your racket leg in your movement! So for me I'm
left-handed so moving to the front court I will lead with my left leg I'll also lead with my left
leg to anywhere in the mid court and lastly I'll usually lead with my left leg to the rear court
as well as you want to be facing sideways in most of your overhead shots. Doing this will help you be
in a better position to play your shots and also recover faster out of them and because there's so
much lunging in badminton try to get conditioned to this, if you find that you struggle with the
strength of your lunge or your lunge endurance we'd recommend checking out the weights programmes
on our website which are specifically designed for badminton players we'll include a link to
those in the description below. Now it's all well and good reading the game having good footwork
and trying to play with quality but it's no use if you don't have the technical ability to do this!!
Yes technique is a huge area preventing beginners from progressing to become intermediate players
and intermediate players to become advanced players but don't worry it's not too late to
change your technique even if you've been playing for 30 years and have developed
lots of bad habits! I've worked with many people who thought they were stuck with their bad habits
but with some purposeful training they've managed to transform their technique which helped them
win a lot more matches! Exactly right okay so the first key thing stopping players from progressing
to that next level is having the correct grip one of the biggest differences we see between beginner
and intermediate players is the ability to have and choose the right grip at the right time and if
you're sat watching this thinking that's you then we've done a whole video on the four different
grips in badminton so if you haven't seen that we'd highly recommend checking that out after this
the biggest difference we often then see between an intermediate and an advanced player is having
a loose grip!.Having a loose grip will allow you to control the shuttle more, play precise and accurate
shots and enable you to change grips very quickly which is what professional players are so good at!
A tip to stay relaxed in your grip is to keep space between your fingers and also space
between them and your racket, except when you're actually playing a shot. Now the second thing that
players do better as they progress through the levels is time the shuttle and this generally
comes with better technique but like all the other areas we've discussed this takes time and practice
It's not always easy to master and develop the perfect technique - some people including ourselves
will spend thousands of hours practicing this but still not get it quite right or as they want
Yeah try to make sure you enjoy this process of learning and developing your technique
now before we move on to our fifth and final key area for you to take your game to that next level
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and thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. Okay so so far we've discussed
how shot quality and selection, reading the game, footwork and your technical ability can help take
your game to the next level now we've got one more consistency - It's the worst feeling losing
a match knowing that you didn't even make your opponents work for any of their points! The next
time you play record yourself and count back how many simple mistakes you made, generally the lower
the number the better player you'll be! Of course if you try and play too safe to avoid mistakes
then you'll become slow in your movement and play bad quality shots as a result so really
be careful of that! We have two pieces of advice to help you reduce your mistakes and the first
is to bring your margins in so instead of trying to skim the shuttle tightly over the net or hit it
right on the line you should aim a bit higher or a bit more towards the inside of the line
and that way if you do hit it a bit low or a bit to the side it will still go over and in and the
second bit of advice is literally to practice the more you practice all of these areas with
purpose and at a high intensity the better you'll get and even though we've given some helpful
quick tips in this video there's no substitute for practice so hopefully you now understand
what is stopping you get to that next level and how you can improve some of these areas! If you've
made it to the end of this really long video then we'd love for you to let us know by leaving
a racket emoji in the comments below and thank you very much for being an absolute legend! Yeah
hopefully we see some rackets and whilst you're down there please don't forget to give the video
a like, SMASH the subscribe button if you're new to the channel and we'll see you on another video, bye :-)