SLOW DOWN FOR MORE SPEED

Slow down for more speed, the rules of footwork

Footwork is the main subject in badminton training, and it is also one of the most misunderstood parts of our game. You can find very little information about footwork other than some general thing, it is also very seldom that you see inspiring footwork training. 

The criteria for good footwork is very simple, if you have to run to a shuttle then you have just something wrong in your footwork.  Badminton footwork is fast but not running type of fast, most players OVER RUN and with this I mean there is no speed regulation, the speed pedal is always on the bottom of the floor from the moment the rally has started.

One of the first things I start to work on with players is to slow down their footwork, there is a rule in footwork that says Speed = Lose of control.  And this loss of control is both in footwork and in stroke technique. Controlled speed starts with timing of the split step and the correct way to implement this split step, the split-step is the second generation Hypherflextion jumps, 20 to 30 years ago we learning in coach education that you needed to get tension in you muscles to be able to start faster in your footwork and has a exemple they were looking at the third law of Newton.

Newton's third law is: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object.

So players were told to make a small jump upwards to fall down in the hyperflexion jump with your knees a little bendt and your upper body somewhat forwards. This has been the way to do the start of footwork training in many years and can still be seen in former East block countries and some countries in Asia. The biggest problem with the third law of motion is that it collides with the most important law in Badminton and that is Time, Space & Energy (TS&E). This law tells you that you have to create time and space plus you have to save on energy and all these things you have to take away from your opponent. When you jump up first you lose time and energy so jumping up is an unnecessary movement that will not help you in your game. 

Ten years ago we started to introduce the new definition of the moderne hyperflexion jump that we called the split step. Now we cut out the upwards jump but go straight down, just by spreading the legs a little more and banding the knees. The whole motion is downwards with very close floor contact, this split step can be done neutral (two legs landing at the same time next to each other) but it can also be done in a pre set split step,  with one feet a little more in front. This fits also more into the law of TS&E, because you now anticipate on the next shot by making sure you are in a position that you get played with the feet and not against the feet. In a neutral split step you will have to make a correction step to put your body in the right direction. With a pre set split step you are doing two things in one, you make the hyperflexion jump and you bring your body in the right direction.  You have now saved one extra movement and again saved time and Energy.

Without the control and timing of the split step you will not be able to use the law of TS&E and you will always running behind the facts on what happened on the court, you movement will be uncontrolled and you loss on all three factors of TS&E, you will start to late and loss time, because you are to late you will loss space by coming to late, you have to speed up to get to the shuttle so you loss energy. When you lose only 1 of these 3 elements your technique will go down, if you lose all 3 you will be hopelessly under pressure. 

This is a small part of the Elite Coach Education Program on foot work of the VBO, the VBO is the only Education organisation in the Netherlands that gives international coach education service for the last 50 years. If you want to know more about the program you are welcome to contact the VBO, [email protected]