Was thinking of letting my kid learn badminton and getting a racket for him. Thinking of either a Voltric 1, Nanoray 10, Nanoray 60 or Arcsaber lite. All in 4U weights. Any suggestions?
It builds technique. I think it's generally a good idea to start kids off with even balance rackets. Nothing that dictates their swing too much.
I gave my 8 yrs old an Apacs nano fusion 722, it is a 5U medium even balance racket. I used to let him played with my old school carbonex 8 but he struggled with the weight. When he struggled, he started to loose patient and interest to play.
My kids played with 2U from 8 years old. I told them their model has been used by past World Champions. Good enough for a World Champion is good enough for my kids and they better respect their equipment! Actually, what produced more improvement than the racquet weight was allowing them to train twice a week, once of those session with a private coach. The other in a group session where they can mix with others of the same age and not worry about the weight of the racquet. Once a week sessions has little benefit. You would not expect a kid to play the piano well with only once a week piano lessons and no practice in between. It's the same with any skill based activity. The good thing about private badminton lessons is that if mum complains, say it is cheaper than private piano lessons. I met some Singaporeans on holiday recently who had done skiing for the first time. They said private lessons were expensive until I asked them how much piano lessons cost and do a cost comparison. Why complain about the expense if willing to fork out more on piano
If the racket head touches the floor while your child hold the racket near the cone standing up straight, you might want to consider junior/mid racket. You want to encourage them to be able to do full swing from young. If the racket is too long for them, it will make them hesitate or worst, break the racket head.
If you do have to get a shorter racket, get the longest one they can use. I've seen some with shafts that are like 10cm long, and they are severely detrimental to a player's development.
Wrong solution. I would agree for a five year old but the OP's son is 8 years old. My 6 year old did this with her standard length racquet for a short time. It happened because her hitting point on the overhead was too low and she had a long downward follow through (she had forgotten how to swing (as can happen with young children)) Getting her to hit the shuttle at a higher point and follow through with the hand ending near the hip and shortening the follow through after the shuttle is hit. (watch exactly how pros do it). Not hitting the floor after hitting an overhead shot is tremendously good feedback into helping the swing technique There is a story of an 8 year I know visiting HK from America. The boy plays regularly in America under a coach, perhaps not too seriously at the moment. The boy joined a group class here. First thing the coach (originally from China, province level) did was take away the shorter racquet and make him use a standard length racquet....
The logic here is that if they have to be using a standard racquet length for the rest of their life, they might as well start using it for as early as possible. One of the things they worry about is getting used to the different distances away from the body as the kid grows taller. The child has to then cope with changing body length and changing racquet length. I guess it is one of those things where logic (and us mortals) points one direction one thing but coaches (with their experience) go the other way. Certainly that story about my child banging the racquet head on the floor and solving the problem is true.
Eventually i bought a Voltric 1 for them. Not a single complaint about the racket per se but more about the colour of the strings and grip
Why would anyone let their kids start playing badminton with "incomplete" shorter rackets? It severely ruin the hitting timing and might cause long term inconsistency to the kids later. Play with regular racket of 3U is ideal enough for technique development.
Regarding racket lengths for very little kids: This discussion is full of strong opinion. Which is fine. But it seems a bit much to say that a 5-6 year old will be ruined forever if they don't use a regulation length racket from Day 1. After all, their bodies are going to grow -- and they will adjust to that just fine. So why is it not conceivable that they can adjust to a different length racket? One could make the argument that having a proportioned racket is actual beneficial to technique. But that wouldn't have any scientific proof, either. So better to let and let live.
This is what I have done to my 8 yrs old racket recently. Since he loves Ipad so much, i decided to give him little surprise. So now he can hold an APPLE thing on and off court. PS: Don't know why it end up with two photos, sorry.
that 8 years old boy, from what i heard, is now using a standard length racket. he still doesn't play seriously. aye...
I have to reward my 8 yrs old free time for the same amount of time he spent on court and his free time = IPAD time.