How to Be a Good Badminton Player

By Willie Ong

To become a good badminton player, beside Physical Skill, you also must have a Mental Strength. Mental Strength is very crucial especially when come to the tournament. Besides these, Sport Nutrition is also important especially for the player preparing for the tournament.

1. Physical Skill:

Let's start with the most fundamental of badminton skill, ie: Strokes, Steps/Footwork, Stamina, and Strategy.

Strokes:

The basic technique of badminton strokes includes Overheads forehand and backhand clear / smash / drop, drives, lifts, net shot. You are higher recommended to learn from the badminton demo video(see link at the bottom of this page). With the video, it will save you a lot of time learning all the basic strokes.

After you have learn the basic strokes, the next step you have to do is practice and practise. Without the ability to execute all the different strokes, one will not be a complete badminton player.

Steps/Footwork:

Steps/Footwork is always comes together with stroke. A good badminton must have a good coordination of footwork and strokes. This includes foot, body, arms, swing coordination.

Stamina:

A badminton can last anything from 15 minutes to 1 hour plus and there can be more than one game within a day. A completed badminton match is best of 3 games, that means you got to play at least 2 games continuously. Without good stamina, a badminton player will be unable to successfully execute his/her desired strokes or even cannot finish the game. Again, stamina need to be build over the time via regular training, workouts or exercises. Regular workout will also help to improve your game by increasing your arm strength.

Strategy:

With good badminton skill and stamina is not enough, you must also have a good strategy to win a game. you have to make the correct shot at the correct time, either a drop-shot, smash, or clear? This is also important to identify the weakest point of opponent. This is especially crucial for doubles game, you should identify your opponent weakness and attack the opponent who is weaker. This is the most simple strategy. If your opponent is weak on his/her backhand clear, then you should hit the shuttle towards his/her backhand more. To go one level higher, it is also important to make the correct choice for a series of return and to lay out a game plan for whole match. This is so called the strategy of a badminton game.

2. Mental Strength:

Besides physical skill, a good badminton player must have good mental strength as well. Mental strength is the ability to make the correct decision even when under pressure or at the crucial moment. For example, when one is down to 5-19, or reaching the match point, 20-20. The player must stay focus to the game regardless whether he/she is leaving behind, leading, or under huge pressure due to the internal or external factor (eg: audience). A good badminton player must also be able to change strategy during the game on different situation. A good badminton player will not go down without a fight and should be able to keep his pace and the accuracy of his shots until the very last point in the game. A good example would be the game in between Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan during the Malaysia Open 2006. Lin Dan was already leading 20-13 in the rubber game and this was a really difficult situation for Lee Chong Wei, But he handled the pressure well and showed a great fighting spirit, slowly clawing back in to the game. And Finally, he won the game by 23-21.

You also have to keep yourself calm in the court and with high EQ. Many incidents, good or bad, can happen during a match either outside or inside the court. For example, bad line calls, umpires decisions or insulted by the audience or even opponent coach. See The Athlete's Mind Guide(refer link below this page) .

3. Sport Nutrition

Beside physical skill and mental strength, Sport Nutrition is also important especially for the player preparing for the tournament. On a day-to-day basis, you have to take care of your nutrition by consuming a well balanced diet comprising carbohydrate, fat, protein, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals and water. A Nutritionist can extend help in achieving this. Water should be consumed in just adequate amounts before, during and after play, ideally at the amounts required to quench the player's thirst.

Badminton Techniques and Fine Points

Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world. It is the base groundwork of playing badminton sports. There are two basic types of grips in badminton sports - the forehand grip and the backhand grip.

Mastering various types of serves - high serve, flick serve, low serve and drive serve is important to improve your game.

Badminton drop shots are delicate shots which when played with the right placement and timing can ensure you an upper hand in the game. Drop shots in badminton sports are of two types – slow drop shot and fast drop shot. A well executed smash shot is the deadliest weapon that you can use on a badminton court. Badminton net play is an important area of the game which requires great amount of refinement. Net shots are of three types - net shot, net kill and net lift.

Exploring Other Sports to Improve Badminton

Playing basketball for example, can help improve your badminton game. Basketball player are normally tall and have fast reflex. The reflex of basketball players can be applied so that you can reach the shot faster and earlier.

You can also apply the high jumping ability of basketball players so that you can produce a higher and steeper angled jumping smash. You can gain a stronger wrist from the game of basketball and will produce more powerful shots.

Playing soccer can also help improve your game. Soccer players are known for strong legs and high stamina. You can apply this to your game and react to shots faster.

A fast 50 meter swim equals to 300 meter sprinting on the land. You can apply a swimmer's stamina to stay longer in the court. You should apply this focus on your game as well.

You can learn a lot from boxing as well to improve your badminton. A boxer needs a fast reflex and agility to avoid attacks from the opponents. In my humble opinion badminton players should be more serious and focus in order to improve their game.

You can try playing the sports mentioned above or any other sport and apply the things learned to your game.

Exclusive summary about Badminton by badmintoninformation.com

Choosing A Badminton Racket

Choosing the correct badminton racket can be a crucial decision, whatever level you are at. Hopefully, with a little help, i can help you find just the right badminton racket that suits your style of play.

As you search to find the perfect badminton racket you will soon get to know the more established racket companies such as Yonex, Carlton, Wilson, Head, Prince and numerous other brands, who all want you to part with your cash and select their badminton rackets. The trick is to find the right badminton racket which compliments your style of play. Think of your badminton racket as the cherry on top of the badminton cake. In my opinion, a badminton racket you buy will give you, at most, an extra 5% to your game. The actual racket strings are probably more important than the racket itself.

Badminton Rackets and Injuries

As a result of these violent actions, many players develop repetitive shoulder injuries. Work is the energy required to produce a certain shuttle speed. It measures the efficiency of the badminton racquet. The more efficient your badminton racket is, the less work you need to put in. So a low work racket is good for you. Think of work as the rackets power.

High shock is bad for injuries.

Some argue that a light racket will allow you to swing faster, and therefore create more velocity on impact, resulting in faster shuttle speed. The other side of the argument is that a heavy racket will have more mass on impact, despite less swing speed, and this extra weight will create the necessary shuttle speed.

Faster swing speed means less control. Over time this lightweight racket will demolish your arm compared to a heavier one. The modern trend in all racket sports is to have light rackets with a head heavy balance.

More mass at the top will help the racket to crush through the shuttle on impact. It requires more effort on your part, you have to work harder to achieve the same shuttle speed as a heavy, head light racquet. Also, head heavy rackets feel sluggish and slow.

Head light and heavy is best for performance, and best for avoiding injury.

Add weight to the handle. There is also a little gimmick called lead tape, and the idea is to apply this tape to the racket head. This will create a head heavy balance. Specify what weight and balance point you want.

Exclusive Summary about Badminton Racket by Antony Cassidy