I saw a guy recently hit the most fantastic jump-clears. He has a fantastic and powerful jump smash, and after a few of them, he turns them into punch clears! I haven't seen him do the drops yet, because his drop shots are all very slow and hence not very effective, but he really does make it look identical to his smash. Very nice shot in my opinion – you are right gingerphil, something about the big jump makes your opponent immediately think “smash”.

You raise an interesting point – is jumping slower? In terms of movement to the shuttle – perhaps it is faster, allowing us to take the shuttle earlier, but recovering is perhaps slower, making the next shot more difficult. So is the jump a help or a hindrance? Against a higher level of opponent who can play at a faster pace than you, I would say the jump is a weakness, but against an opponent of a similar standard, perhaps the jump gives you a slight edge or advantage? Hmmmm…

An interesting point Paul – does any top NOT jump in the rearcourt? I am thinking of Joachim Pearsson, who seems to stay on the floor a lot more often. What about those of you reading this? Do any of you use a step through movement in preference to jumping in the rearcourt?

I would like peoples opinions: can we assume that jumping is equally fast as not jumping? Jumping gives other advantages – different angles, taking the shuttle “earlier”, but is it faster or the same as not jumping? Does it matter – i.e. are the other advantages of jumping so important we shouldn't consider speed of movement?

I await peoples opinions 🙂