Personally it depends on the person attacking,  if they are all power, and generally try to smash it through me, I may actually just be thinking “get it back”,   what I'm able to do with it will depend on where they try to smash.

If I am on the right side of the court and the go down the tram, I will try to lift fairly low and flat along the tram line, hopefully enough to remain out of reach from the guy moving in to pounce at the net,  but also deep enough to possibly catch the guy who just smashed off balance, or still recovering etc. Also, if its low and flat, and really does reach the back, the likelyhood is they'll need to lift instantly giving me/us the advantage.

If I am on the right side and the smash down the middle I'll do one of several things,  the first is to try and intercept it as quickly and early as I can, using the initial power of the shot to my advantage, possibly play it into the space left by the guy moving to the net, whilst trying to avoid his attacking move towards the net.

Generally both the shots mentioned above are taken early and forehand, whilst lowering my body to meet the shuttle,  the other options are with a more traditional defensive backhand stance, looking to lift into a corner forcing them to move around to adjust. Generally although this sets them up for another smash, it buys sometime and on occasion can lead to a mistake, as people are on occasion prone to admiring thier smash and wont fully expect it to be returned with venom to a far corner. The other option from here, is to take all power from the smash, and return it low and flat, and looking to exploit and gaps left through the oppositions movement.

If I'm on the left side of the court most shots will be variants of the above,

generally tho, I am always looking to make them play one extra shot, make them think smashing it at you isn't the option, force them to play a drop and hopefuly through predictive net play you may take advantage from here.

Generally if they have the attack, I'm looking for any opportunity to move them around the court, then look for an opportunity to exploit the gaps left through thier movement.

not sure any of that made sense,  and its most likely not textbook stuff or even anything Paul would recommend,  but at the level I play at it generally works 🙂

great thread

I have had this conversation with an ex pro boxer, an ex pro (still playing) footballing coach and a guy who coaches rugby at the highest level.

They all kinda say the same thing.

I've asked them to post here but I don't know if they will, so I'll try and say what they've said.

Boxing : You spar against every kind of style so you instinctively know what to do, defensively or offensively, you block, counter punch or push/attack/defend, you don't think, you know, and punish any weakness.

Football : You play to your strengths and don't make mistakes, if someone see's a weakness you make sure everyone knows and play on it, if the other team compensates it means there's a weakness somewhere else, exploit it.

If you have a defensive weakness, remember how we stop it on the training pitch and use it to our advantage.

We've trained this, don't make it a pointless exercise

Rugby : Play sensible territory and posession, nothing beats organisation. Make them worry about mistakes, support the idea's when your teammate does something that doesn't come off.

Everything you do comes from the training pitch, if you have to think about it you weren't listening.

***********************

I know some of this doesn't translate very well to badminton but some of it really does, you can't train natural talent but training instinct and awareness is massive in any sport

Old but interesting thread!

In level doubles I would say (i'm thinking good county level):

Generally try and turn defence to attack or to neutral within 2/3 shots

If not under much presure when defending just play the shuttle in the space and wait using the movement pressure on opponents to produce opportunity

If you are the crosscourt defender think “get involved” – look for drops that you can move in on early- cover the centre line shots where possible

If you are overpowered by the smash then block away from forecourt player and one of you go in – no point trying to stand and defend several shots