Opinion Poor footwork on court
Yusuf Johari,a well-known coach from Indonesia,oversaw early careers of legendary shuttlers Mia Audina and
Yusuf Johari,a well-known coach from Indonesia,oversaw early careers of legendary shuttlers Mia Audina and Chandra Wijaya. Over his 36-year-long coaching career,the nugget that gained the greatest fame was how his shuttlers would go to sleep with their fingers clutching an imaginary racket,wrists weaving flick angles through the air even as they dozed off.
In Mumbai recently to dig out similar young wrist-wizardry on the behest of Prakash Padukone,Joharis appraising look okayed the smashing and net-dribbles. But like a tetchy ballet teacher horrified at a pupils botched basic pirouette,his trained Indonesian eye tut-tutted at their footwork. Indian shuttlers,he summarized,grew up with the most undisciplined and untutored foot movements on a badminton court,which nullified their wrist skills and shoulder strengths.
Padukone admits his youngest wards at Bangalore are being put on a corrective course,but the Indonesian believes it could be the single-biggest impediment of the current generation of shuttlers.
Footwork determines reaching shuttle with speed,while never compromising on balance,for a quick retrieval at the net could be followed by a pouncing dive on the back-court. Striding or quick comprehension of how many steps are needed to get to the shuttle needs hours of practice,and isnt necessarily intuitive in every player. Greats like Padukone,Gopichand and now Saina Nehwal had woven this invisible aspect of training into their daily runs,though not all juniors place enough importance on working on their lunges in order to get into careful position to return a shuttle,and then get ready for the next one. For the Indonesians,like most other badminton powerhouses,footwork is non-negotiable. Not many Indians apparently,grow up with the right habits.
PV Sindhu,most recently,has struggled to settle down in her footwork,mostly because she was shooting up in inches through her teens. With her coach having singled out the stepping problem,a cure is underway in Hyderabad. But as the Indonesian pointed out,several unsuspecting Indians are risking ankle and knee injuries and hamstring pulls as they try to make up for the faulty footwork with over-reaching and straining muscles.
Shivani is an assistant editor based in Mumbai
shivani.naik@expressindia.com
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