why steeper smashes seem faster or are faster?
I was thinking about, why steeper smashes seem faster.. I remember hearing that steeper smashes seem faster. Has anybody else heard that?
If thinking about it in terms of two a diagonal line, going down, that’s the hypoteneuse, the longest line, so if anything by that, it’d be a longer distance, more time for the shuttle to slow down.
Gravity could be a factor? Maybe gravity helps steeper smashes even more than flatter ones..
I was wondering if another possibility is the angle of them is a bit outside of what the eye is most able to focus on, so the brain has to fill in more.. Like how sometimes it’s easier to it aim the shuttle if you crouch down so your eyes are at the level of the shuttle.. So with a cross court net shot if it’s low it’s easier to hit it well if you crouch low. Head to a similar level as racket. Similar thing with aiming a gun the gun is brought to eye level , making it easier to aim. Or if firing a rifle from a low point, you get down to its level. Maybe the brain’s unconscious physics calculations are more complex when the object is not so in front of the eye.So it’s harder for the brain to “slow it down”.. Whereas when the brain is having an easier time with the unconscious calculations, it’s easier for it to feel like one has more time as if the shuttle is coming slower.
Another factor though which I think might really be the main thing, or the thing.. Is that the kind of shots that we hit steeper, are the ones that we can take earlier, from not as far back. ‘cos when we are further back, we can’t hit it as steep and have it still go over the net. And if we hit it from not so far back, then there is less time between hitting it, and it reaching the opponent’s racket, or the floor, so the shuttle will have had less time to slow down. A really tall player doesn’t just take it higher ,, by taking it higher, they are taking it earlier too. i.e. not as far back. Similarly net kills are super fast / powerful even, because they have less distance to travel so less time to slow down. The moment they are hit, they are not as fast as a smash would be, but their speed over the net is probably faster.’cos compared to a smash, they’d have barely slowed down
If somebody does a poor lift that isn’t high and a player runs forward and hits it hard and flat, then that’s very powerful/fast, and not steep. And it’s probably at least as powerful as a steep one, because it’s perhaps taken as early as a steep one is, from the same point as it is the shuttle travels the same distance, I guess maybe even slightly less distance actually because the hypotenuse is less diagonal..and the player has more likely got their while body into it. .
Curious what thoughts people have on this.
