FOOTWORK ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL

FOOTWORK ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL 

(the in or outside turn)

This is a little complicated to explain in writing but I hope you all can follow me. The footwork from the net results very often that the player is not in a right angle towards the shuttle, you can see this when a player has to bunding to much sidewards to hit the shot. This has everything to do with the Flight Corridor Efficiency (FCE), this FCE marks the place you are towards the shuttle, when you are within the FCE you can hit the shot with most power and accuracy. The more you move outside the FCE the more compensation you have to make in order to get the shuttle back. Imagine yourself that the FCE is a transparent tub in the air and the shuttle is flying in the middle of this tub, when you are with your body and racket within this tube you are in the perfect position to hit the shuttle, the tube (corridor) is however not very big is not even  100 cm Ø and the more you move away from the center the more compensation you have to make to get the shuttle back the way you would like to. After a situation at the net your opponent play you at you ARH/BH side, now you have to consider with what foot you will start to get the most out of your FCE. It all depends on from where the shuttle is played if it comes from the BH net side of your opponent the shuttle will most lightly fly right over you and there for you are already within the FCE, but when the shuttle is played from the middle or FH side the angle is already so big that you are most likely outside the EFC. Now it is crucial to start your footwork in the wright way, a matter of fact is when you start with the wrong foot you will NEVER get into the EFC at all and you constantly have to work with technical compensations. 

Try to imagine that you have just played a drop from your opponent back from your BH net corner and you are on your way back direction the center in your first step. When your first step has been a step back with your right foot past your left towards the center you are stepping out/away from the FCE, your opponent now has the change to put pressure on your ARH and you will have to compensate in order to get the shuttle back. With this footwork your opponent is in a good position towards a cross lift but NOT for the ARH shot, when however your first step would have been a recovery step, you still have your right foot in front and because the recovery step is a relatively small step you will be able to start the next step with left and there by into the FCE. This step with left can also be a turning hink on left or just jumping backwards on left that all depends on the speed and height of your opponents shot. Starting with left after a recovery-step we now know give you the inside turn towards a ARH shot and starting with right will bring you into the outside turn and thereby in a situation you don’t want to be in. The recovery-step is crucial for good footwork and it should be  something you try to make a habit, first of all it will give you stability at the net, second you make use of free energy because the recovery-step when done correctly is done with eccentric power, it will bring you more easy in the FCE for your ARH, you don’t move your racket arm away from the shuttle like you would have done when moving your right leg backwards and there for you are more and faster able to intercept the next shot. When you do the recovery-step your opponent can still play you against your feet with a cross shot, but it is a lot easier to make a correction step with right after the recovery-step to get to this cross shot, the shot have to be relatively high to avoid interception and it is better tactics because the whole court of your opponent is open on the ARH/BH side. I hope this article has given you something to think about :-)