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one of the most efficient and smoothest
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badminton players ever has to be Lee
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hanil from South Korea and there are
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good reasons why he's one of our most
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highly requested players to study lee
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Hil has had one of the longest careers
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of any men's singles badminton player
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with a career lasting almost two decades
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but it's one thing to play for a long
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time and another to play at a high level
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for a long time at the age of 38 lehon
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ill was still winning World Tour
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tournaments which is insane considering
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how demanding badminton is as a sport
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there are things Leon ill does very well
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to help him play at the pro level for so
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long that you can Implement in your own
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games those who have heard of lehan ill
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will know him for his extremely smooth
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and stable movements on court in fact
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Chinese national team coach sanza once
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said that lehan 's footwork was the best
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and even better than that of Lind
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for now instead of talking about leun
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Neil's actual footwork movements we want
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to focus on another potentially more
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important reason why lehil moves so
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essentially Lee moves smoothly because
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of the shots he plays certain movements
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are much easier on the court and he is
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an expert at playing shots where the
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most likely returns are easy for him to
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move to so instead of just studying
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lehon 's footwork movements we should
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also study what shots he chooses to play
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all of his shots typically go past the
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service line and he rarely plays the net
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and even when he does play the net it's
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usually a Crosset as long as Lee Hill's
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shot quality is good which it often is
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the only returns his opponent can play
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will generally go past the service line
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watch these rallies and pay attention to
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what kind of shots lehan's opponent play
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you'll notice that almost all of his
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opponent's shots off the push must pass
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the service line from these positions it
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is very unlikely for players to play a
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fast shot that's tight to the net if the
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opponents take too much Pace out of the
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shot the slow shot speed is very easy
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for lehu and Ill to play with and puts
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position the clears are also easy for
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leean ill to deal with because after
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playing a push he's generally positioned
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in the middle of the court if his
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opponent clears lean ill only has to
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back the key to being able to do this in
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your own games is practicing your push
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quality you have to pay close attention
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to the height and speed of your push a
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push that's too flat is easy for your
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opponent to cut off and you do not
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always have the time recover a push
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that's too high and slow often leaves
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your opponent with too many options and
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hence hard to guess what they're going
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to play you need to find the middle
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ground where the shot is fast but also
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high enough that it goes over your
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opponent and ideally forces them to take
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a late forehand or backhand leun ill
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moves so well because his pushes are
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often on point and gives him both the
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time to recover and ability to predict
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coming a similar logic can be applied to
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Leon's blocks and Nets by blocking with
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some pace and doing it when Leon's
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opponent is further back in the court
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his opponent's most likely return is
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generally a push or lift Lee hil's goal
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is really to eliminate playing the net
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this way he doesn't have to run back and
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forth across the whole court and drain
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his energy instead he plays shots that
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make the court smaller and thus easier
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now shot selection and quality aren't
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the only things to watch for from Lee
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Hil you should also pay attention to how
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leun contacts the shuttle first leun
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always stabilizes before hitting the
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shuttle he would rather stabilize his
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body first and contact the shuttle at a
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lower point over attacking as soon as
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possible second Lee hun ill generally
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controls all of his shots using his
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fingers and wrist his shots rarely
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involve large turns and movements in his
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upper body one reason lehon eel is very
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stable on court is because he uses the
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two points mentioned to hold the shuttle
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in his court and control the game's
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Rhythm to understand this let's first
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think about what happens if you attack
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the shuttle as early as you can and
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sacrifice a little bit of stability
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let's say your opponent plays a push and
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you immediately jump out for a smash you
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might contact the shuttle super early
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and put pressure on your opponent but
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the return is also going to be very fast
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if you're slightly out of position when
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you play the attacking shot you you
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could easily lose the rally as you'll
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need to recover when your opponent has
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already played their return by
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stabilizing first even at the cost of
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taking the shuttle lower it's much
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easier to get to the next shot because
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you're already in position to move this
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is what we mean by holding the shuttle
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in your court you want to force your
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opponents to play to your Rhythm and the
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first part of this is to make sure you
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stabilize before you hit so that you're
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always prepared to move to the next shot
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timing having a short swing that's
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controlled within your wrist and fingers
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is also what will help you be more
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stable lehan E's exceptional ability to
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play his shots with minimal usage of his
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body reduces the need to spend time and
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energy returning his upper body to his
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position lean 's short swing is also the
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second part to holding the shuttle in
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your court by being able to play to any
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corner on the court with such a short
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swing it makes it very difficult for his
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opponents to predict what shot he's
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going to hit thus opponents often have
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to respect all options and cannot
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aggressively position to punish lehu and
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's shots the short swing also makes it
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easy for leh and Ill to use slow into
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fast-paced changes that catch opponents
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guard of course there are times when you
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do want to gamble and put pressure on
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your opponents if you're a faster player
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who who has the physical capabilities to
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quickly change speed and direction on
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the court playing more aggressively is
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something you probably want to do too
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for someone like 38-year-old Lee Hil
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though he probably doesn't want to play
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a smash net style where he's sprinting
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around the court this is also Lee hil's
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weakness though he almost never goes for
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full smashes drives or spin Nets and
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rarely increases the speed of his
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footwork to put more pressure on his
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opponents that's why some people refer
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to Lee hunel as the gatekeeper he excels
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against more inexperienced players who
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rush and attack predictably but against
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other top players who have the
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consistency to play at Lee hil's speed
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forever and have dangerous attacking
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shots it's difficult for him to push
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himself to win every rally we can't
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expect a 38-year-old to beat
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20-year-olds after all regardless it's
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still very impressive that leonil has
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not only continued playing at the pro
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level in his late 30s but also winning
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titles it's because he's super efficient
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gameplay by placing high quality shots
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in certain parts of the Court he can
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make his movements more comfortable by
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reducing the options his opponents can
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play additionally stabilizing before any
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shot and practicing using a short swing
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that requires minimal body movement will
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make it easier for you to move on the
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court like this video don't forget to
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