Regular coaching in Manchester | Intermediate - General Q&A | Discussion Forum

Are you unable to coach yourself? I've never had coaching apart from Paul's Coaching weekend and that was only 6 months ago (I have been playing for 10 odd years).

Watching videos or researching particular shots, you can coach yourself. As with most stuff, you will only do one aspect at a time anyway, so why not use the Internet. If you are struggling with a particular shot, post in the beginners section, just because it's the beginners section doesn't mean only beginners read it. If you look at my post about clearing to the back of the court, I feel that this is one of the first things to get right if you want to keep the rally going.

You could always ask for advice at the club that is more advanced, most people will be happy to give you a few pointers and most people won't say anything unless asked. Also, this way, it would save you a lot of money as coaches aren't cheap, and that's not including the price of courts.

Paul's coaching course is a great weekend for what ever ability, just make sure that you can play well and keep a game going at your advanced club before you go. It all takes time and EVERY badminton player is always learning or wanting to perfect a certain aspect of their game, it's never ending now matter the standard.

I like the fact that you can already see that the beginner club may be harming your progress, this is the first step forward. If you were unable to see that, you wouldn't be here, you would be quite happy playing with them (which is fair enough, as long as you are enjoying the game).

So basically, I recommend trying to self teach yourself, you would be surprised on what you can learn. Yes I agree it can be tricky and you could easily do something wrong, but like I said, try Paul's coaching course at some point. The other thing to do whilst teaching yourself, is to try and video yourself playing. You may feel embarrassed at first trying to sort this out but it would really help. You can watch yourself play and see your faults yourself, doing things your never realised that you did. Just takes a bit of confidence, maybe get a friend or partner to attend and help you. You only need a few (full) games worth.

Hope this helps

The only advise I can give, is as simple as putting the kettle on: get yourself fit (if you aren't allready). You don't need a court for this, no opponent, no coach, … Only some free space and start running, skipping, … the lot. When you do get to a court by then, your technique will progress by a magnitude. There's a post on this forum that says it all: if you get there in time, you have all the time to prepare to place a good shot. If you're too late, no way you can return the shuttle in a proper way.

Cheers, ED