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April 11, 2009

Badminton Backhand



Badminton Backhand

The first thing you will want to learn in the mechanics of your badminton backhand is how to grip your racket. The best grip on your racket for an over the head backhand will be to have the flesh of your thumb on a bevel that allows the racket to face squarely at the shuttle. As for your racket position, the primary goal is to hit the shuttle before it passes your body completely. The racket in your hand should be pointing in the upward position and the hand you hold the racket in should be close to the opposite shoulder. At this point your upper body will be rotated away from the oncoming shuttle.

Now you have the grip and the position down you want to focus on the mechanics of the badminton overhead backhand stroke. The actual stroke in this swing will consist of your hip, shoulder and elbow working together to connect the racket with the shuttle. The stroke ends with a powerful twist of the forearm to the point of the racket squarely meeting the shuttle in mid air with your racket arm fully extended.

Incredible Forehand Grip Backhand Shots

Tilt to backhand side overhead drive
This move is very useful for answering quick drives to your backhand side, and the aim is to use even more velocity to overcome the velocity of your opponent's shot. The characteristics of this stroke is that it's fast, powerful, and flies straight at the opponent's chest, making this move an effective counter to fast drives to the high backhand side.

Tilt to backhand side overhead smash block
This stroke is to use to return relatively flat smashes to the backhand side. The characteristics of this block are that it can react very quickly and the power of the return shot can be adjusted. It's possible to clear to the opponent's backcourt or drop it into an empty corner, so this stroke can be used to turn the tides and start a counterattack.

Behind the back, between the legs smash block
The situation for using this stroke is that the opponent's smash is close to your body but your racket is not in front of you. In this situation you can put your racket behind your back and between your legs in an attempt to block the smash.

Behind the back waist position smash block
Another "trick shot" that's seen in world class competitions, this stroke involves putting your arm behind the back so that the racket head is on the waist of your backhand side. One of the most famous practitioners of this move is famous Indonesian player Taufik Hidayat, and bellows are some videos of him using this amazing skill.

Near-net forehand diagonal drop on the backhand side
The signature move of famous Danish player Peter Gades, the net shot involves using a forehand stroke to return a drop shot to the backhand side. Instead of returning the shot with the backhand, you let the shuttle fall a little further and then swing backwards with a forehand stroke, thereby dropping the bird to the other corner.

Turned-around baseline underhand drive
When the opponent clears to your backhand baseline corner, there will be times when you won't be able to reach the optimum position for hitting the return clear. Instead of trying to hit the backhand clear, you take one more step towards the bird so that your back is facing the net. At that moment you can use a hard, underhand forehand swing to drive the shuttle back towards your opponent and catch them off guard.

Turned-around baseline underhand cross-court drop
Similar to the above technique, the only difference is that this stroke will attempt to drop the shuttle in the diagonally opposite corner near the net.

Baseline backwards between the legs drive
The final trick shot technique in this article, this stroke is used when the shuttle is falling from high path towards the baseline. With your back turned towards the net, you run towards the shuttle and let it fall to your knees and then use a forehand stroke the drive the shuttle backwards through your legs and towards the opponent's court.

Exclusive summary about Badminton Backhand by badminton-information.com and badminton.tonyjiang.com

April 5, 2009

Badminton Racket Compared


Badminton Racket Compared

Yonex Badminton Rackets - Are They The Best?

Yonex Badminton rackets are used by more top players than any other manufacturer. Yonex are the dominant force in badminton today. Other top end Yonex rackets are the Armortec series and the Nano speed series.

Prices for these rackets range from around £80 to £110, which is a significant amount of money to invest in a badminton racket.

I have used many Yonex badminton rackets over the years, from the early CAB 8DX, CAB 20 and CAB 21. Yonex badminton rackets are probably the best you can get.

Carlton Badminton Rackets - A Cheaper Alternative?

If you are looking for an alternative to Yonex, then Carlton badminton rackets could well fit the bill. Carlton are badminton specialists, they only manufacture badminton products, unlike many of their competitors. This focus has enabled them to create high quality rackets, full of innovative technology.

A welcome addition to the Carlton range is the isometric head shape. Almost all the range have this alternative, and is comparable to the Yonex rackets.

Prince Badminton Rackets

Prince badminton rackets have been around for quite a while now, offering slightly quirky designs along the way. I have used the older Prince models with the x-axis design, and they were prone to string breakage due to the string bed design, which caused the strings to be spaced out more than conventional designs.

Prince still use this head shape in some of their lower priced rackets, but the more expensive rackets now use an isometric head shape, or as Prince call it, the quadraform head shape. Prince have created open ports at the 12, 3, and 9 o'clock positions on the racket head.

SOTX Badminton Rackets - A Rival For Yonex?

SOTX badminton rackets are a relatively new name in the badminton world, however, they have been growing at a fast rate in China. There are nine ranges in the SOTX line up, and the flagship rackets are the CP series, which stands for Commax Power, or circle power.

The CP series is designed to withstand higher stringing tensions, as high as 31lbs. This tension produces excessive vibration in normal badminton rackets, but with the force pro technology, this is no longer the case.

Things get even more expensive with the SOTX Woven range. The SOTX Diamond Fighter range is made from special memory alloy which reduces the ageing process of the racket. The main stumbling block for SOTX badminton rackets is gaining an honest reputation for quality and durability, and only time will tell if they are successful.

Exclusive summary about Badminton Rackets by Antony Cassidy