My Favorite Badminton Shot: The Drop Shot That Catches Opponents Off Guard

Hello.
This is Yasuda.

Before I knew it, it had been over a month
since I last played badminton,
and I'm feeling restless.

I can't wait for next week...

This time, I'd like to share
my favorite badminton shot.

Here we go!

Badminton, a sport that suits a weak, skinny guy

Back then and even now,
I am the exact opposite
of the 'power! brute strength! aggressive, push-push'
type of player.

In junior high,
I was at the level where I'd lose an arm-wrestling match to a girl.
(That's a dark chapter in my history.)

Because of that,
badminton, a sport where power isn't the only thing that determines victory,
really suited my personality.

In badminton,
rather than hitting the shuttle with power,
it's more about catching the timing and flicking it.

My senior in high school
ignored that
and just overpowered everyone with strength, haha.

For Yasuda,
it was a sport I could really enjoy.

The hopeless smash that was said to be 'slow enough for a fly to land on'

I was actually told this by my coach in high school.

What was that shot just now!
That's not a smash.
'A fly could land on that.'

Even as a figure of speech,
that's mean.

Saying a fly could land on it means
the shuttle is practically stopped!

It seems it was a smash so slow it was practically stopped.
It certainly wasn't fast, but
even as a figure of speech, it was a shock.

And it was a humiliating experience being told that in front of everyone.

I've forgotten the coach's face and name,
but
what he said has stayed with me ever since.

Ambition is burning within Yasuda...

Using the smash as a decoy to hone the drop shot

What is a drop shot?
The form is no different from a smash,
but it is a shot that drops near the opponent's net,
in contrast to a smash.

Therefore, it is important to make it look as much as possible
like you are going to hit a smash.

It's all about the mind games.

Assuming the smash will be returned,
when the return is weak,
or after forcing the opponent to stay back,
a drop shot that falls plop near the net

is an incredibly satisfying feeling.

Adding variety in speed makes the smash feel faster too.

In reality, rather than the speed actually increasing,
because there is a change in the shuttle's speed,
you can make it feel faster to the opponent.

I have been playing badminton longer
since becoming a working adult,
and my physical strength has definitely declined compared to when I was in my teens.

Because of that, I started thinking about how to play
while maintaining my stamina until the end,
and I came up with a strategy using the smash as a decoy.

The result was a success.
My drop shots started landing,
and the smashes I hit occasionally started landing too.

After I became a working adult,
when someone said to me,
'Yasuda-san, your smash is fast,'
I was crying on the inside, haha.

By adding variety in speed,
it had started to feel faster.

Now,
I enjoy badminton by alternating between
'a smash so slow a fly could land on it'
and
'the drop shot.'

If I ever meet my old coach,
I would love to show off my drop shot.

Thank you for reading until the end.
Yasuda