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Here are two seemingly completely different subjects: cruise missiles and badminton. One is a modern military weapon, while the other is a popular recreational sport. The two don’t seem to have anything to do with each other, but after recently witnessing my friend and mentor Mr. Su’s underhand control shots, these two seemingly unrelated subjects came together and inspired me to write this article.
A cruise missile fly along its programmed course, stays low to avoid detection, and strikes its intended target with great accuracy. It has a long range, high speed, low altitude, and high accuracy as its positives, plus it’s fairly hard to detect. Usually it would be quite difficult to guard against such a weapon. In badminton, we can think of the shuttle as a missile flying in the court. If you can hit the bird so that it just clears the net and then descends as it homes in on an empty corner on the opposite court, then wouldn’t that be analogous to a tiny cruise missile? Such a low-flying and accurate shot would be difficult for opponent to defend against.
In terms of badminton skills, underhand shots usually don’t get much discussion. Most people like to hit overhead shots and spend time practicing their clears and smashes. However, underhand shots are still a very important part of badminton. For example, you put forth a full-strength smash at your opponent. At the last possible moment, the opponent reaches the bird with an underhand stroke and the bird returns in a low and diagonal trajectory. Instead of getting a second chance to attack, you now have to sprint in order to reach the bird in time. In this situation, usually the bird would have fallen to the ground already, or the return would fly into the net.
An underhand shot is where the head of the racket is pointing down or to the sides when you hit the bird. The grip on the racket is different depending whether it’s a backhand or forehand shot. You should control the shot using your wrist or, for more precision, your fingers. The angle of the racket, the distance from the racket head to the ground and other such factors are different depending on the situation. The speed, angle, and target at the shuttle depend on the shot you are trying to return. Underhand shots are useful because they are hard to predict and have sudden attacking power. The target of the underhand shot should be out of the reach of the defender(s) and towards the front corners or the middle sidelines. This will make it a lot harder of the opponents to make a high quality return.
In order to get the desired accuracy and the long and low trajectory, you must put the correct amount of power into the return instead of just blocking the shot. You want the bird to spin along its axis like a rifle round in order to get speed and stability. Have the bird fly diagonally in your court and target the opponent’s front sideline areas. The bird should decelerate dramatically after crossing the net, which makes it a lot harder for opponent to predict its landing place. A lot of practice is needed in order to master underhand control shots. In order to fire these “cruise missiles” at will, you need get to a point where you will instinctively use these shots. Underhand control shots are a good way to get back on the offensive and to score points.