Jo Goode - 5 Top Tips

Jo Goode, Olympic Bronze Medalist and now Coach at the Ashaway Academy has compiled 5 Top Tips to quickly improve your game:

1. Return of Short Service
Make sure the back swing and follow though are as short as possible. This both encourages and enables you to take the shuttle as early as possible and adds control

2. Men's/Ladies Doubles Play
If you play the shuttle to the net, you MUST follow the shuttle in. This will encourage the opposition to lift.

3. Defense
When defending try to use a short back swing and short follow through. This will enable you to quickly recover and be ready for the next shot as soon as possible - Increasing your chances of regaining the upper hand.

4. Net Play
When at the net - keep your racket at eye level. For the shots you will be playing at the net, this is the optimum height and minimises the amount you will have to move your racket to hit the shuttle enabling you to take the shuttle as early as possible.

5. Maintain your key equipment
Have your racket re-strung and re-griped regularly, strings will slacken off and grips will wear. A good rule of thumb is to restring and regrip at least as many times a season as you play per week. Shoes, ensure they are not covered in dust or worn out.

Jo has recently been testing the new Zymax strings, due out in Summer 2009. See the link below to find out more.

Zymax is coming

SPONSORED PLAYER UPDATE

Ashaway players were in abundance at the recent English Nationals, we took the opportunity to catch up with a few a of them.

Rachel Howard is our Ladies Singles player and now a full time professional player, she has recently recovered from a stress fracture that had here out of action for nearly 12 months and is now building her fitness level and match sharpness to press on to where she belongs at the top of the england rankings and beyond.

Rachel is pictured here during here 1st round victory at the english nationals, due to her long term injury she was not seeded in the event and in the second round came up against the number 1 seed Liz McCann. The game was very tight and could have gone either way, but unfortunatley fitness eventually played a part and Rachel bowed out after a strong performance. Check out the Rachel Howard Blog here to see rachels progress this season

Mark Sellwood (pictured right)is a Mens Singles player and High Performance coach based in Birmingham. Mark is a consistent player (currently ranked at 13 in England) and a fantastic coach. Mark narrowly missed out on repeating his form from last year, missing out on a quarter final meet with Raj Ouseph, losing 22-20 in his 2nd round match.

Nathan D'Cruz (pictured left) is the new kid on the block, last year he was the Under 19 national champion and is now training full time at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes. Nathan is a real talent and a prospect for 2012. Nathan also narrowly missed out on a quarter final match up, loosing in a tense 3 set match to Harry Wright.

Also representing Ashaway at the Nationals were Caroline Westly, Ivor Griffiths, Neil White & Jo Dix.