Reading and deciding: space, yourself, your opponent, pace and partner
What tactics means in the BWF manual, the five things to read on court, and a "guess the plan" game that trains reading and deciding.
What tactics means
The BWF Level 1 Coaches' Manual (2nd edition, 2017, Module 8) defines tactics as the capacity to make effective decisions based on awareness of the situation. That has two linked parts: awareness (reading what is happening) and decision making (reacting to what you have read).
Five things to read
- Space: use the width, the depth and the height of the court well, and know whether you are balanced.
- Yourself: your strengths, your weaknesses, where you are on court.
- Your opponent: what they are good at, what they are not good at, what they are trying to do against you.
- Pace: is the speed you are hitting at helping you win?
- Your partner (in doubles): their strengths, their weaknesses, where they are.
Three moments to decide
- before the match: a game plan;
- between rallies: a change of tactic based on how the last rallies went;
- between strokes: where to move to anticipate the reply.
The one thing to change
After each rally, ask yourself one question from the list above, for example "what did my opponent do that worked?", and change one thing in the next rally.
A game: guess the plan
- Two players play singles.
- Secretly tell one of them to follow one plan, for example to make the opponent run the long diagonals as much as possible, or to send them back to the same corner as much as possible.
- The other player must guess the plan and answer it.
- At the end, talk about how well it worked against that opponent.
The manual suggests this kind of practice because players who work out answers for themselves develop tactically faster than those who are only told. A good habit with a partner is to ask questions rather than give the answer.
Mistakes to avoid
- Playing the same plan whatever your opponent does.
- Reading only your opponent and forgetting your own strengths and your balance.
- Changing five things at once: you cannot tell what worked.
Limits
The manual lists these as areas of awareness, not as a fixed order. Reading well takes many matches; use them as questions to ask yourself.
General practice advice: play within your limits and stop if something hurts.