Old fashion method to determine stroke consistency

What is stroke consistency?

It is the ability to hit the shuttle within the a small area on the string bed, shot after shot.

We have seen video of the professional players under-going training using several high speed cameras with computers performing body motion analysis in order to optimise their competitive performance. This includes hitting the shuttlecock within the sweet spot to optimise the transfer of energy  from the arm via the racquet, to the shuttlecock.

Unfortunately for us (aka the non-professional), we will never have access to such facilities nor can we afford to purchase such specialise equipment for a single purpose.

Luckily there is the old fashion methodology for the non professionals.

PRO is the cost of a restring.

CON is will take a while before we can see the results - not within the few minutes as per for the professionals with the high tech setup.

The methodology in-question involves reviewing the areas of fraying on the racquet stringbed.

The following pix is my own racquet. String brand is Gosen and the string thickness is 0.63mm. Used for about 12 badminton sessions so far.

Fraying on my own racquet stringbed

The following are the idealogy behind the fraying.

If the fraying occurs within a small area in the sweet spot, your stroke timing is consistent. Professionals will have a small round spot of about 3.5-5cm diameter within the sweet spot on their racquet stringbed.

If the fraying occurs within a larger area in the sweet spot, your stroke timing is good.

If the fraying is larger than the sweetspot, your stroke timing is not as consistent as it should or could be.

If the fraying is outside the sweet spot, your stroke timing need to be changed.

Recommend you restring with a darker string if you wish to determine where you are hitting the shuttle on the stringbed.

Why?

Since the head of the shuttlecock is white, the shuttlecock will leave white residues on the dark colour string upon contact. Hence you can then see the residues. This will provide an idea where you are hitting the shuttlecock on your racquet stringbed.

ISBS study of relation between tension and speed of shuttlecock leaving stringbed

ISBS conducted a study of the relationship between the tension used on a badminton racquet and the speed of the shuttlecock leaving that stringbed.

The following chart summarizes their findings. The article is at this weblink with the full details available for download as PDF.

Basically, the results are shuttles leave the stringbed at a higher velocity at the lower range of tension tested. Automation was used to swing the racquet consistently.

How to determine sweet spot on your racquet?

The sweet spot is the area of the racquet stringbed which permits the optimum transfer of energy from the stroke of your arm, to the shuttlecock via the stringbed.

In general, the sweetspot is usually on the upper half of a ISO frame vs in the center for a BOX frame (aka Yonex Carbonex series).

Here's how you can determine the sweetspot for your racquet.

Basically listen for a change in the sound pitch. If you hit the stringbed against the base of your palm, at the location of the sweetspot, the pitch will increase and produce a nice lively tone vs the dull sound, if otherwise.

Please came back on November to discuss how to determine if you are hitting the shuttlecock in the sweetspot aka  maxising the transfer of energy from your stroke to the shuttlecock.

Unfortunately those affordable "stuck-on" monitoring tools from China or Hong Kong can not inform if you are hitting on the sweetspot - bought one to try after reading the marketing material ... provides other useful statistics though. Will provide that review in the near future

Possible non strip grommet replacement for ZF2

Discovered a bad grommet on a clients ZF2.

If the bad grommet were not at the end of the strip, you would need to replace the entire strip. And unfortunately (for you), Yonex only sells them as an ENTIRE set for the ZF2 (as well as several other models)!!!

Luckily in this case, I could just remove the bad grommet on the last position of the strip; replace with a normal grommet. In the pix, the offending strip is nearest to my finger on the frame of the racquet.

Upper strip with last grommet removed from the end of strip and replaced with normal grommet

Please take note of the string alignment towards the top of the picture - you can then avoid string overlapping the cutoff strip, if the vertical tie-off is on the other side of the frame.

Reasons for using high tension on racquet

Always wonder why players want to use higher and higher tension on their racquet.

Guess there is 2-sides of the coin.

Players would revert.
- hit further
- better control
- sounds nice when hit shuttle
- thin strings produce nice high pitch sound
- feel more "professional" as they would be using tensions closer to the world ranking players ??

IF I own a sports shop, I would say the following instead, as it would provide  more regular revenue opportunities
- higher tension strings break faster
- racquets would be easily damaged at higher tensions, especially when they clash
- racquets tend to turn soft after several restrings at higher tensions
- thinner strings at higher tension tend to snap faster

Does anyone ever ask if you experience any elbow pain, recent pain on the upper arm or pain in the neck area after you started using a higher tension? Never heard anyone in the shop asking such questions ... I do when the client wants to use a higher tension.

All you hear in the shops are  ... wow you still using such low tension???

You as the client need to ask yourself ... do they have your interest at heart, or, are you just an atm for them?

Same string diff thickness

Was quite surprised when I performed a comparison of the Yonex BG66 Ultimax string actual physical thickness.

The red string appear to be thinner than the yellow. Also find the red string composition to be more solid when compared to the yellow.

Bought from the same wholesaler in UK as the Yonex agent for South East Asia, Sunrise apparently does not sell strings in reel form when I made the inquiry.

Could this be evidence of an OEM activity eg Yonex contracts a 3rd party to manufacture for them, since Yonex does not confirm nor deny if they have factories which produces strings?

Gosen and Ashaway proudly confirms their manufacturing facilities.

Carlton 3.7X - 1st generation non-wooden racquet

Recently acquire the Carlton 3.7X for a collector.

Was curious how heavy it would be - answer in the pix below (in grams).

The 3.7X is quite collectable as it has a midway tapered shaft. The 3.7X also differ from the 3.7 as it was an all stainless steel frame vs the 3.7 frame which does corrode and easily cracked.

I lost my own then newish 3.7X at Narita airport in the late 1980's during a stopover flight from Singapore to LA. Was pretty disappointed as the authorities was never able to locate the missing racquet.