I played a match last Wednesday. For the first time the club used the correct speed shuttles. Guess what happened?

As virtually all the players were used to playing with slow shuttles, a high percentage of rallies ended with the shuttle being hit out of the rear court. Only a couple of players managed to adjust their shots over time but even they, me included, when put under extreme pressure hit that bit too hard and gifted a point to the opposition by lifting too long.

You’ll recall from my original article that most clubs are playing with slow  shuttle speeds and do not play with the correct shuttles that fall within the laws of the game. Because of this, players are gradually losing key skills to control the shuttle properly.

Essentially what we’re left with is a game where smashes are less penetrating and therefore can be returned easier, players are able to get out of trouble easier without being penalised as often for lack of control (i.e. keeping the shuttle in) and we’re losing the feel around the net to move a shuttle at will with deft touch to create an opening.

If you analysed the games and rallies played last Wednesday you would have reached the same conclusion as me. Players had been so used to slow shuttles, they couldn’t make adjustments fast enough to prevent loss of points.

The opposition were initially saying that the shuttles were too fast. On further discussion with them they then agreed that they had been playing with shuttles that were way too slow and therefore they struggled to adjust to the correct speeds.

What was also interesting was that most of the opposition did not test the shuttle properly. They stood on the back doubles service line instead of the back line to strike the shuttle. They need to read my article!

Keep sending me comments. It’s always good to hear from you.

To your success

Paul