What level of Mixed Doubles are you playing?

Reflecting on different styles of mixed doubles

Mixed Doubles (XD) is my favourite event. It also happens to be the one I'm best at, so I may be a bit biased (I mean, my name literally is "To-bias" 🙃). However, XD is one of those events where the tactical change depends on your level of play. To determine which level you're at, consider some of the following questions:

Are you playing standard XD positioning (i.e. male in the back, female in the front) most of the time, or just doubles positioning (i.e. rotation)?

On defense, are you still in a front/back position, or side by side, preferably with the female player cross-court to the lift? Is lifting even "allowed"?

Is your strategy simply to "hit at the female player" and "push the female player to the back", or more general strategies like, "hit to their backhand", or even, "just get the birdie over the net and in"?

So what level are you? Wait, I didn't set specific criteria for the level of beginner, intermediate, advanced, high performance, elite, GOAT, etc. I understand that businesses want to create labels to categorize people, but what do these labels even mean? If you don't know the standards on which these labels are set, then why label yourself that way?

However, in answering the questions, you might be able to determine where you are on a certain continuum. Generally, you want to play standard XD positioning given your partnership, but there could be use cases where it's better to play doubles, especially for junior players post-puberty for girls, and pre-puberty for boys. Or, perhaps the male player is weak at the back, or very strong at the front.

Often, it is better to play defense instead of challenging the net if the chance your opponent can net kill the shot is greater than 50%. The best defense is actually a very good lift, ideally with the female player cross-court to the smash to maximize distance.

Pro tip: it's best to assess how good lifts are before addressing defense. Why? Consider the concept of trying to defend net kills. Your defense may improve slightly with practice against net kills, but the overall time you have to train on defense would be maximized by improving lift quality. Determine if it's a defense problem, or lifting problem first.

The last strategy is very common in junior badminton especially in North America, and it is to "attack the girl". This includes flick serves, clears, cross-court smashes, and sometimes floaty mid-court shots to bait them into reaching for it. At the same time, many young female players are simply instructed to "take the net", often at their own peril of trying to hit net shots with their opponent waiting to net kill. I can understand that mixed doesn't seem very fun when it is reduced to those tactics.

Given the different styles of play, one of the main things I try to do in mixed is to quickly figure out my opponent's play style. It is easier if you have the chance to watch them play a previous round, but that isn't always possible. Some questions I ask myself:

Do they play mixed style, or doubles style? This is most obvious when the male player serves.

Do they lift properly and get on defense, or "panic lift" and try to get it away from you as quick as possible? Or do they almost exclusively challenge the net?

Are they trying to pick on my partner exclusively at every opportunity?

Sometimes, reflecting on your own style of play and determining your strengths and weaknesses will give you the exact strategy against playing your opponents. I know that statement is "common sense", but you would be surprised how "common" it is when I ask players how they want to approach their match and they "don't know".

It's a bit like writing off coaches that have limited athlete experience and go through a coaching education pathway instead. I went through it on purpose because now I know how they think. This is similar to those who write off post-secondary business degrees. However, to do one can help you understand what they are teaching in business school, and the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Whether that's worth doing or not is a totally different thing. Your mileage may vary.

Here's a fun clip from YouTube of a recent tournament I played. Sometimes, as the male player, you can anticipate when your opponent wants to attack your partner. Additionally, when a shot is potentially ambiguous (i.e. in the middle), it is best to call for the shot to prevent accidents...

Pro tip: As the female player, on defense where they can attack the middle or the side line, covering the side can allow your partner to help cover the middle. This is particularly useful on defense if you happen to be on the same side as your opponent's attack.

Pro tip: Generally, middle shots are best for the female player to take if they are at the front, and for the male player if they are in the back. However, on consecutive attacking shots, it is generally easier if the same person keeps attacking as it is easier to make timing with your own shots. However, in the case of the video, it would have best been handled with communication (i.e. calling the shot).

And that concludes my first post! ✌

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