Could Total Football influence a sleight of hand in a split second of badminton?

Peter Gade teaching his double action shot to kids in Siri Fort Complex, New Delhi. (ExpressPhoto/Pritish Raj)

The beauty of the devilish deception of ‘switching the grip’ is in the fact that, as Keyser Soze said in The Usual Suspects, there is no change of grip, at all!

What really happens is that Gade is poised at the net with the racquet pointed in a backhand parallel to the floor. The natural trajectory of popping the shuttle would be travelling straight. But Gade subtly lifts his elbow higher at 90 degrees with a loose flexi grip, and flicks with the exact same stance, albeit with the other face of the racquet, turning it into a very skilled forehand shot that glides over the net, but cross — not straight. The delicious deception is in using the two-facedness of the racquet and completely wrong footing the opponent.

In Laudrup’s case, he would dribble to the left and then suddenly twist to the right. The body and head would shift towards the right, pulling the defender in that direction. And then, the Dane swiftly shuffled to his left.

“I used to look up to football for inspiration. That was part of my creative process. We had some great footballers in Denmark at that point of time and one of them was Michael Laudrup. I was constantly looking at creative players like him for inspiration of body feints and footwork that can confuse the opponents,” Gade explained.

Much like the footballer who went on to play for Real Madrid and then Juventus, Gade reckoned that sportsmen turned out a show, with a large part of deception using the body to confuse the opponents. “Using the body is part of the deception. We need our body to make a few movements but the mind should always know what is the final outcome,” Gade said in a 2020 YouTube video.

The 48-year-old who finished with 4 bronzes and a silver at World Championships, mastered the art of deception so perfectly that he stopped giving away anything from his body movement. At the peak of his career, his smashes and drops had nearly the same jump, same shoulder rotation but the magic lay in the movement of the wrists and how he would change the direction of shot.

“I find deception very daring as you are going for something which can totally go wrong. It is a skill players master over time and I am always happy to see when players attempt shots like double action or no look returns,” Gade said.

Seeking inspiration always from the footballers of the Danish team that won the Euro in 1992, was not merely a creative outlet, but a necessity to keep up with competition.

Gade played in an era when the game was becoming more physical and rallies faster and aggressively. While the Chinese champions Xia Xuanze, Chen Hong, and Chen Yu were smashing the shuttle like drummers, Gade along with Taufik Hidayat and Hendrawan came with the subtle delicacy of violinists.

“It is fair to say that I was inspired by some of my opponents like Hendrawan and Taufik Hidayat. They were really good at deception and I used to think that I want to do this,” Gade explained about what pushed him to learn the art of deception.

His disguises included precise wrist control and elite footwork which would leave his opponents guessing about where he might play the shot, especially the ‘double action’ where he would change the direction of the shot at the very last moment. Laudrup, known for his impeccable body balance during dribbles could send the defenders left, right and centre.

“I wanted to be offensive but also add some finesse to my game. That led to me finding inspiration in football and also discussing it with the likes of Hendrawan,” said Gade.

The courage to wait

Gade had multiple variations of the deceptive shots and one of the most crucial parts of his whole gameplay was to wait. The pause, as potent as the pandemonium that followed.

In the YouTube video during the pandemic, Gade says, “The idea for me is to wait as long as I can. That’s the whole idea about deception, you gonna need to be very close to the shuttle before you can decide what to do. A lot of players don’t have the courage to wait, they panic a little bit and go for the safer options.”

Both Danes could cause royal rumbles. Story goes that Laudrup was once discussing retirement from football over dinner with a friend – the conversation overheard by King Juan Carlos I. Spain’s King stopped by his table and quipped, “That’s good news. I’ll be the only King in Madrid again!”

When Gade, happily dubbed Peter the Great, stopped playing, quite a few shuttle kings sighed in relief, knowing they wouldn’t be made fools of again.