In this assignment I am going to analyse how I played in a game of badminton and how Ronan O`Gara played in a game of rugby. Then Im going to suggest ways on how both of us could improve in our performances.
Me (Badminton)
Attack
Firstly, although I lost the game, I only lost by two points so I did do well in that sense because it was a close game but there is always room for improvement. I have given myself a three for my smash shots and have given a one for my over head clear. These two areas are the areas of my badminton performance that need improving the most. I have given myself a one for my over head clear because out of the twelve points i scored only one of them was an over head clear. I only scored one was because im not accurate with my overhead clears so my opponent easily knocks them back to me and often scores a point from it. This is bad because i could be scoring more points if i were better and i would take pressure off myself by them not coming back and scoring an easy point. Iv scored myself a three out of five for the smash because they are better than my over head clears but still lack in accuracy. They are both low scores because they both involve power and accuracy and for some reason i struggle to combine the two. This might be because of the lack of badminton i play and my inexperience of attempting them so one way i could improve on them is to practice with someone serving high shuttles to me and having specific points the other side of the court that i would aim for. The more i did this, the more over head clears i would score and the less points i would lose therefore becoming a better performer.
For the drop shot i have rated my self five out of five. This is because half of my points were won from my drop shots and i didn't miss one. That was very good but i dont think i would be able to hold that consistency if i were to play a few more games so to keep up the perfection of my drop shots i could stand at different areas of my court and practise them. Simply hit them over the net or, to make the training session more game related i could have someone hit shuttles to me in different areas of my side of the court, one after the other at a reasonable speed and then i return them in the form of a drop shot. This would also improve my agility around the court. I wouldn't focus allot on this though because i need to improve my smash shots and over head clears much more than my drops.
I hadn't done bad from my serves but they weren't perfect. I scored three points from serves which isn't allot but they were all a millimetre within the boundary which is why iv rated a four star instead of three. To improve this it would be a simple matter of practising it more until it was perfect. Maybe put cones on different places on their court which would be known as a 'Sweet Spot' and aim to hit them.
Defence
My defence from the opponents drop shots i have given five stars for the reason of not conceding any and returning all of them back in his court. Although that part of my performance was very good, again, i don't think it would be consistent so i would practice them in game and training but i wouldn't focus on it too much as there are more important things i need to improve on.
On the other hand my defence of returning his smash shots and over head clears was poor and needs immediate seeing to. I think the reason i have scored so low with both of them is because to return them you need to get low and im 6ft 2. Im not using this as an excuse as i see now i need to get much lower and bend my knees more but to keep my lumbar curve locked which will give me a greater advantage into hitting the shuttle. Another reason i have just thought of to why i was so bad at returning these shots but so good at returning his drop shots was because i was too close to the net. So because i was too close i was returning the drop shots because they are closer to the net but not giving myself enough time by standing back a bit to return the smashes and overhead clears. So to improve on these returning these shots is a very simple matter leaving more space between me and the net which will give me more time to hit the shuttle back and give me more space to hit the shuttle in the direction i want.
I only conceded one point due to to his serve so iv rated myself four star for that. My returns from serves are quite good and dont need much improving on although my back hand does because when im in the 'position of readiness' my racquet is too far from my body because my arm has abducted too much which in turn makes it harder for me to achieve the back hand i want. To fix this i would now have my arm closer to the mid line of my body. Iv also realised how bad my accuracy due to the fact i hit the net four times which isnt acceptable for a good performance, one, because you are giving the opponent easy points and two, you would have more chance of scoring a point if it goes over the net.
I think all in all for a person at my level this isnt a bad performance but i want to get higher and higher so im going to focus hard on my weaknesses and improve in the ways i have suggested to become a better performer. Also i think that allot of my weaknesses were due to lack of experience of the game so game time will be a big factor to me improving.
Ronan O Gara
Kicking
Ronan O Garas kicking in the game i watched of him was 100% successful kicking five out of five over. You cant improve on perfection but id suggest to him that he keeps up the kicking training he is doing because it seems to be going well. He kicked four times into touch and they also were perfect making massive ground and reliving the pressure off his team.
Here is an example of O'Garas awesome kicking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfihOeFpJ_Y&NR=1
Teamwork
Ronans teamwork was very good and should be considering he is a number 10 and is the first reciver to most of the backs moves. I have rated his teamwork to how many successful moves he made and he made 5 out of seven. Although this was not perfect he executed them with superb precision but the two he didn't complete were due to a bad delivery of his pass. In the comment box for teamwork i have written, 'good but should be more aggressive.' Iv written this because the moves he performed were good but not aggressive enough and he should run a little bit harder. To improve his teamwork its just a matter of going through the moves on a day to day basis and getting better with every turn.
Tackling
For a professional O'Garas tacking wasnt up to scratch and was quite poor for a man of his level. He made six tackles which is good but he missed four and one of them led to the opposition scoring a try. To improve on this he would have to do core strength training and weights because in my opinion reason he missed some important tackles was because he isnt the biggest of rugby players. So because he is light the opposition just shrug him off and power through. To prevent this he would have to do some form of weights training weither its interval training or a type of plyometrics. If he were doing plyometrics id advise that he would do the spring board push up and jumping over the spring board on to the floor and back over something at lower thigh height because he needs to improve his chest strength for the ring of steel and his leg strength for the leg drive that would follow in a tackle.
Passing
His passing was good but for a number 10 but he should be hitting every pass. I have given him four stars out of five for his passing because four of his passes weren't as accurate as i would of liked them to be and also two of them missed the man completely causing the ball to be turned over and pressure was back on Ireland. To improve his passing skills he could do target practice and set up targets for him to hit. He could start with a short distance, e.g 10m and then progress to a much further distance, e.g 100m. He must also make sure that he is passing more in the training session with his weaker hand so it improves and eventually wont be known as his weaker hand. Also in training he will be passing allot so his improvement will come in time.
Attacking
His over all attacking was good, successfully completing most of his moves, he didn't give away any turnovers, his kicks were 100% accurate and he even broke the line once. It isn't expected for a number 10 to break the line because this is normally the job of the centres so for him to do this is a good achievement. I have rated him four out of five and the only way i feel he could improve is if he got more aggressive. Not agressive in a fighting or lose your head way but he should try and push forward more and gee his team up a little now and again. There is no training session that can improve aggression but maybe if he pushed himself as hard as he could in training he might be more up for the games to come.
Defending
Too me O'Gara's defending is not as good as his other team mates or the players at that level of rugby. I have rated him a 3 out of 5 star and the reason i think this is because of his tackling and that fact he missed four. I know it might seem like im being picky but one of the tackles let to a try and if another team were to spot this weakness they would target him and truly punish him for it which is why i would suggest that he is to do some strength training, either plyometrics or interval training. A balance of upper and lower body strength improvement to balance his body and allot more tackle bags in training. He could really push himself once he gets bigger and gets used to the tackle bags by turning the bags into big rugby players. He should get used to tackling people bigger than him and aim for their legs because i did notice that he was tackling quite high.
If O'Gara takes into consideration all of the points iv said he can improve on and goes about doing it, i have no doubt that he will improve his rugby performance but he should also remember to still practice the thigs he is good at, just not as much as his weaknesses.
