In a sport like badminton, agility is crucial. Agility is basically being able to move in a controlled way and to change direction, turn stop and start quickly. In an open-skill game, it is important to be able to move quickly in any direction required – and in badminton, you don’t know what your opponent intends to do – and must be ready to move in all directions at all times, and do so in a fast, efficient fashion. Coordination goes hand in hand with agility.
Not only is it important to be in the right place at the right time, you need to coordinate your feet, hand, and eyes, and use your body like a machine – getting all the parts to work together in a way that produces good results (a good shot). Timing is also linked to the aforementioned points. Precious time can easily be wasted on deciding which shot to play as opposed to actually playing it – and this extra time gives your opponent time to recover from their previous shot, and prepare to receive.
If this amount of time is shortened, then your opponent’s chances of hitting the shuttlecock decrease dramatically. Strengths of the participant / yourself in your chosen sport /activity I think I exhibit a fair level of skill in badminton and can practice each shot at an average level at present in a closed or open-skill environment. I am able to serve accurately and can continue a stable game. I am familiar with the stroke cycle – ready, prepare, hit, recover – and have not experienced difficulties in putting this into practice.
I understand the basic rules of badminton – and have a fair understanding of each of the shots – net shots, overhead clear, the smash, underarm shots, the (high / low) serve, and the drop shot – and when they might be appropriate: for example, a net shot would not be useful when you desire the shuttlecock to reach the back of the court. I am beginning to understand techniques such as deception – in which you mock the actions of one shot i. e. the overhead clear and bring your racket down instead, playing the smash.
Deception is a very useful tactic which I think I am able to utilise suitably. Weaknesses of the participant / yourself in your chosen sport /activity Although prior to this section, I mentioned that I am able to put my learnt techniques into practice in an open-skill fashion – I am not very confident in doing so and occasionally lose focus. I tend to spend vital seconds deciding on which shot to utilise or which direction to move, and as a result of this, I give my opponent easy points.
I find my footwork to be underdeveloped – in several situations, I preferred to stretch my arm and give an inaccurate shot as opposed to moving my feet and being able to take control of the shuttlecock and directing it the way I want it to go. This is also the case with my backhand shots. Where I could simple turn my hand and hit the shuttlecock, I instead stretch my arm uncomfortably and hit the shuttlecock – in an uncoordinated, inaccurate fashion. I currently feel unable to move myself into any position where I could in fact play the majority of my learned shots.
I have difficulties with estimation and spatial awareness – and find it hard to predict where the shuttlecock might land. This is my highest priority as a weakness – if I cannot make an estimate of which way the shuttlecock is heading, I cannot move myself into a suitable position where I will successfully hit it. I lack upper body strength, and this makes it difficult to drive shots such as the overhead clear with the power required. Without force, I am giving my opponent the time that they might need to decipher which shot I am playing or intend to play.
Further developing the force of my shots would guarantee an improvement in my game: both the overhead clear and the smash would improve – they would become faster, sharper, more effective shots. Suggested methods of improvement on identified strengths or weaknesses In order to improve my general level of skill and performance in badminton; I will focus on the following points: Footwork Decision making Backhand shots (and using a wider variety of shots in a game) Increasing my upper body strength.
I think practising and consolidating my learnt skills – i. e. the shots – would benefit my game. My backhand shot is the weakest of each of the shots, and I think that practising this in a closed-skill environment would enable me to be more confident and less focused on the initial shot – but would be able to concentrate the positioning of my feet (am I in the ready position? ) and my timing. Doing some exercise would probably help this – and give me a higher cardiac output – which would mean my muscles wouldn’t get tired and I would move more readily.
I intend to set myself a 4-week training plan, in order to improve in the aforementioned areas – specifically my decision making/footwork. I think that by pushing myself one step further each week, I will gradually improve and be more confident of my ability. Identify appropriate training methods and what improvement has been observed In this section I will identify each of the training methods and try to apply their benefits to the benefit of my skill in badminton.