The problem with badminton YouTube videos

January 8, 2023January 13, 2023 badmintonandy

I feel disappointed by many badminton YouTube videos

The titles offer so much

However, the content leaves me wanting more

Do you feel the same?

Why not talk with a friend about your favourite Badminton YouTube videos and find out if you both recognise any of my concerns?

Maybe you won’t have as many as I’ve listed. They are not all mine as I’ve included some that I’ve heard from other coaches and players. If your thoughts aren’t on the list then email me and I’ll add them to these.

Think about how you felt when you first read the title. What did you expect and hope for and did the content deliver that?

Share a video with a friend, then have a conversation

Afterwards, ask –

“did I find all I was expecting ?”

“do I now have useable information to try”

“is the information applicable to my game”

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The problems

Clickbait titles – Often it’s these that attract but then they don’t always deliver useable information. Too many offer interesting information but not enough practical advice that you can use.
Over-exaggerated mistakes – have you noticed that when mistakes (how not to do something) are demonstrated, it’s often in an overly exaggerated way? Racket swings are huge, players are shown to lose balance, stumble, and almost fall over.
Misrepresentation – the context of ‘sensible’ information is changed to make it appear negative. Very few things apply everywhere and at all times, so why take one bit of ‘sound’ advice and highlight where it doesn’t apply. It’s often context dependent.
Absolutes – technique aspects are given as ‘absolutes’, often dismissing other possibly suitable variations. How many absolutes are there for a technique, have you ever considered this?
Over-analysis – there is too much breakdown and analysis (especially of technique) that’s not required for improvement. Information is offered that is interesting BUT not effective if you want to improve. Knowing everything about everything is not required (it’s NOT the key to improving). Plus it could fill your brain with too many thoughts.
Complex movements – whole complex movements are demonstrated as solutions in the belief that by watching you will be able to improve. If just watching worked, we would all be great players. Be aware that some players in the clips are very good and have had years of training.
Changes without realism – recommendations are often given without any guidance about the time it takes or the steps to try as you move towards that changes. Would you accept a statement indicating that the change may be very difficult, even impossible?
Techniques are demonstrated in artificial situations – the practice you see is manipulated to show how easy the technique is, but then when you attempt it in a real game it doesn’t work as easily or at all. Why is that, maybe the practice situation has removed lots of variables from a real game or the feeder was ‘skilful’ in helping the performance improve!
World Class Players do it therefore you should! 🙂 – Be warned, it’s tough to determine why they are doing the things you see, how often it’s done, and if it’s just a fun activity in a warm-up ie 15 mins of a 35 hr training week. It could even be a sponsored activity and not something they do regularly.

Do you agree with my thoughts?

Talk with a friend a find out what they think

What I wished they offered

Click on this image to read about the things I’d like in a Badminton YouTube video. I’ve tried to offer some alternatives.

The comments are based selfishly on my wants, maybe they are not the same as yours.

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As always there are exceptions

Of course, there are some very good badminton YouTube videos. My favourite is from the people at Badminton Insight, TheBadmintonFamily and TobiasWadenka

They all certainly do provide plenty of great advice, so study them hard and you will find value in their content. I certainly do 🙂

Some videos are fun, like the Sweetspot + Accuracy Challenge! and others are more technically and tactically informative. They do provide many of the points above and if you study them, you will find value in their content.