Badminton Singles Tactics #05, Building Shots | How do you play badminton like a chess master?

A building shot is any shot that is played with the purpose of creating opportunities to win the rally. It is a player's process of building the foundations for an attack. This article will discuss the idea, advantages, and steps of building shots.

Against a good defender, a player cannot play attack always in singles. The player will simply lose because the opponent is under no movement pressure and the player's attack allow the opponent to apply movement pressure to the player. Before the attack, the player needs to create an advantage in the rally. The player can do this by applying movement pressure.

No.1 Before attacking, gain the advantage by building shots

It is like a see-saw: the player moves the opponent around, and he moves the player around. If both the players maintained perfect moves, the see-saw would go on forever. But this never happens. Eventually, one player will be slightly late to recover. If the player can compromise the opponent’s recovery to a central base, then the player gains gain an advantage. It might seem like a tiny advantage, but the player can make it grow. This is the first purpose of building shots: to create an advantage.

If the opponent gains an advantage first, then the player should usually play to neutralize his advantage. Again, the player is choosing building shots rather than winning shots: the player is trying to improve the situation, from bad to neutral. It’s important that the player executes this as defensive building shots, and not just defensive shots: the purpose is to build a situation where the player can win, not just to return the opponent’s shots. After the situation is neutral again, the player plays to gain an advantage.

Singles Tactics #2, Flexible Base Position

No 2, Increase the advantage by building shots

The player should not go for a winning shot unless his chances are good. Playing a smash is an immediate threat and it offers the opponent a chance to defuse the situation by lifting high and deep to the center, or to counter-attack with blocks, drives, or shallow lifts. If the player goes for a winning smash and fail, the opponent has a good chance to gain the advantage himself.

Often the threat is greater than the execution. Withhold the threat of outright attack, and increase the pressure on the opponent’s movement instead. Meanwhile, the player has to cover the threat of smashes.

Once the opponent’s recovery is compromised, the player can play to compromise it further. Player can continue hitting to the four corners and try to choose shots that the opponent will find difficult to reach. The player is in control of the rally players because the opponent has failed to reach a good base position; The player has to maintain this control and force the opponent farther and farther out of position.

The purpose of their approach is to maintain and increase an advantage.

Singles Tactics #3, Hitting to the Corners

To a chess master, a single pawn is usually a winning advantage. A pawn has the potential to become a mighty queen, and this threat allows the master to force his opponent into further concessions.

Players should learn to play badminton like the masters play chess. He should recognize his small advantages and use them to push the opponent to greater concessions. He should go for the kill if he has a good chance of winning.

No 3, Now play the winning shot

Once the player has created a large enough advantage, he should stop playing building shots and start looking for winning shots.

These won’t necessarily be different shots than the player was previously playing. He can often win by movement pressure. But they are played with a different purpose, and the player needs to understand that. This difference in purpose affects many subtle details, such as the choice of shot trajectory.

Singles Tactics #1, Forcing Movement Pressure

Methodical way to play singles rally

A methodical way to play a singles rally is described, sometimes a step can be skipped.

Player can neutralise the opponent's neutralize advantage by using defensive building shots.
Player can gain an advantage by using building shots.
Players can maintain and increase the advantage, still by using building shots.
Once the player has a large enough advantage, then he can switch to winning shots.

Obviously, this process can be interrupted; the player might lose control of the rally, and be forced to start all over.

It is the basic recommendation that a player can adopt this method as the basic approach to singles rallies.

The player will win more points if he play methodically than if he play instinctively and emotionally.

Nevertheless, it often pays to be greedy. When the opponent has an advantage, the player can sometimes immediately steal the rally from him with a well-judged counter-attack.

For instance, let’s suppose the opponent has just played a good attacking clear to the player's forehand; then the player is forced to take the shuttle from behind your body. What are your options?

Defend
Counterattack
Attempting to win the shot

Defend

The standard response would be to neutralize the opponent's advantage first.

The opponent plays an attacking clear to the player's forehand.
The player plays a high defensive clear to the middle. The rally continues, with a neutral situation.

By playing a high clear, the player is following the first step of the method described above: neutralize your opponent’s advantage.

Counter-attack

Depending on the nuances of the situation, however, the player may be able to skip the first step and immediately play for an advantage himself:

The opponent plays an attacking clear to the player's forehand.
The player plays a fast cross-court drop shot, using slice.

By playing this shot, the player has placed himself under more movement pressure; but the opponent is under movement pressure too. Depending on the situation, the player may have a good chance to gain an advantage.

Most of the time, the player is better off playing the safer shot. But he should keep his eyes open for opportunities to skip a step, stealing control of the rally from the opponent.

Attempt an outright winner

Sometimes the opponent’s attack will have a fatal flaw, which the player can exploit with an immediate winning shot. For example:

The opponent plays an attacking clear to player's forehand.
The player jumps out into the corner, taking the shuttle from behind his body, and wins the rally with a cross-court half-smash.

In this example, the player moved straight to the final step (winning), skipping over steps one, two, and three steps of building shots.

It is emphasized that this is the exception, not the rule. Don't go for winners out of vanity! Most of the time, it is better to defend first by building shots.

Nevertheless, a player should watch out for opportunities to win the rally with a sudden burst of speed and aggression. If the opponent has left an opening, use it!

How to let the opponent to leave space?

By hitting to the corners, playersthe create space in the opponent’s court. Players can use this space to put pressure on the opponent’s movement.

For example: playing a clear or lift creates space in the forecourt; the Player's next shot could be a drop or net shot.

This is another way to think about building shots: most building shots create space in the opponent’s court.

The only exception to this rule is when the player plays a fast shot (smash or drive) directly at the opponent. This can be a building shot too, because the player is hoping for a weak response that he can attack; but it doesn’t create space.

The forthcoming articles will discuss about the following different types of shots used to build shots and take advantage.