Action - Badminton (January - February, 2012)

January and February have been successful months for me in terms of action. My badminton skills are improving as I attend all my sessions punctually and consistently. I start all my sessions with short warm up periods. This warm up period is crucial in order to avoid muscle strains and injuries, and also key to starting a proper badminton match. I play all matches with complete dedication and active participation till the end.

I focused majorly on doubles matches, while only playing rare In these months, I have improved on most of the aspects in badminton. All my experiences have helped me to analyze my strengths and weaknesses in the sport. These include services (serving), smashing, hitting drop shots, smashes, overhead clear shots, placement, my unorthodox dive and 'rotating' shots, as well as tactics involving analyzing the opponents' strenghts and weaknesses. However, I still have a marginal scope to cover in a few aspects. These are variations in my shots, i.e. a kind of tactic that helps in building pressure on the opponent's by tiring them, communication with my partner, and lack of consistency in achieving my desired shot, i.e. being able to hit one shot perfectly after a few (around 5-6) shots.

The photographs below show how I have gathered experience with practice, and am improving in a variety of fields associated with match play.

Me (on the right hand side in image - wearing black shorts), applying the 'scorpion' pose for recieving a serve.

Communication with my partner played a major role in our win!

Me hitting my unorthodox 'rotatiting' shot in which I turn a complete 360 degrees to be able to hit a backhand shot while turning towards the opponents.

The scorpion pose being applied to hit a high serve.

I am now able to serve efficiently not only to safely start a rally, however, to also earn easy points by using placement and power variation.

A STRAIGHT "DOWN THE LINE" SMASH!

Me hitting a overhead clear.

Smash!

 In the photographs below, I am on the other side of the court. Hence, I am not visible clearly. However, my shots can be analyzed by viewing them through the perspective of my opponents.

Me serving from the other side of the court.

Me playing an overhead clear and placing it in between the two opponents. I was able to identify communication as their weakness, and use it to my team's benifit!

Me placing a shot perfectly and winning a point ending a long rally.

Me playing a diagonal drop shot! It is my one of my favourite shots!

Me tactically placing my service and using it to challenge the opponent.

My badminton skills are improving and I am very happy with this improvement. I will continue to play and practice badminton in order to improve myself further in the future as well.