Learning to play spinning net shots

I originally learned to perform spinning net shots by doing the following exercise:

- feeder throws shuttles over the net with a straight underhand toss
- player lunges in and plays the spinning net shot with either inwards or outwards sweep

I've never felt that this translated well to games, because if the opponent plays a reasonably tight straight net shot, he'll stay up close enough to kill your net shot.

So, how might you use the shot in a real game situation?

One easy answer is off of the slow drop: you have time to get there early, and the stroke is easy to execute because the shuttle is so close to the net. For these reasons, the slow drop is not really a commonly executed shot for more advanced players.

The next situation would be off of the cross drop hit at a normal pace. This shot lands closer to the net than a straight drop and it takes longer to get there because of the extra distance going cross-court. In addition, the shuttle will already have some lateral momentum, which makes it easy to spin if you use the outwards cut. You can practice for this situation by having the feeder toss from the "T" using an overhead throw.

Third situation is when you re-net. If your opponent doesn't hit a particularly tight net shot, he has to stay far enough back to defend against the flick. If your net touch is good, you might be able to slip in an ever tighter net shot. However, because the shuttle is further back from the net, the difficulty of the shot is greater. You can practice this shot by having the player serve, the feeder plays net and the player re-net. Note that since the shot is more difficult when the shuttle is far from the net, a tactic to use against players with good net shots would be to push the shot slightly further from the net to reduce the effectiveness of their spinning net shots. However, this will also open yourself up to fast shots to the backcourt.