best way to improve your game, not racket, nor your smash.....

[faaiz]

foot work power+good timing+fitness+strategy would be good to improve

[jump-smash]

easy to say
but really hard to do

[urameatball]

snapped the strings on both my racquets in the first game at a tournament last week.
ended up borrowing some girl's backup racquet strung at 18lb (I use 24lb), which took all the power out of my smashes. played 7 matches totalling 19 games. Even got a huge blister because I was not use to the grip on the racquet.

Came in 2nd after losing in the finals in 3 sets.
I hope that's sufficient evidence to prove that skill level is FAR more important than equipment.

[nickspeed9900]

here is my advice if you want to improve your game.

unless you are using an old steel racket with fishing lines, buying a new racket will do you little good. perhaps you will get a small margin of improvement, but it will not give you that edge that you are looking for, and by the time you know that, you will be what, US$100 poorer.

and no, if you can hit the birdie ok, then trying to improve the strength of your smash isn't going to make that much of a difference, it will be marginal, once again.

the one and only thing that i recommend, is free, the only thing you sacrifice in getting this imho, pretty sizable improvement, is you need to spend the time to practice it.

and what is it? the old saying, "if you can't get there, it doesn't matter how good you can hit the birdie." i recommend you practice your footwork.

here is the rational why i recommend footwork. many people i have seen, and that's including myself, usually play in a open gym or with friend, playing games. or may be you will even try to spend time doing some drills, clears, drop, smash, etc. but hardly have much time to do footwork drills. and the reason for that is simple, footwork drills are not natural, you need to occupy your own side of the court, and your friends won't be able to play "with" you.

besides, if there are ppl waiting for the court, i'd feel strange to have to take up the court. footwork is then the least practiced of all skills, and as a result, unless if you are natural for it, it will be the weakest part of many ppl's skillset.

but footwork imho is the most important skill to have. i will say it again, "if you cannot get there, it doesn't matter how good you can hit the birdie." the collorary of that is that if you get there early, you have many more choices of shots to hit, you will have all the time to do your stroke, trick shots, you will be less pressuerd so you can have the choice to smash anywhere on the court, you can even peek at your opponent and see where the holes in their formation are, and the list goes on and on...

furthermore, if you have good footwork, you spend less energy moving around the court, you don't need to lunge and bent down so much, you ended up having more reserved energy at the end, perhaps that will help you outlast your opponent...

i have always known that footwork is important. but as the situation with gym i mentioned above, i never had the chance to practice it. now i have forced myself to spend more time practicing it. and the improvement is very apparent, many shots that i used to feel pressured and have trouble with, i am getting them with ease these days. i no longer feel like i am on the wrong foot all the time, and movement around the court is smoother than before.

so, if you think a new racket or trying to increase the power of your smash is the next improvement you are looking for, think twice and go practice some footwork. if you really want to spend some money, go buy yourself a better fitting pair of badminton shoes..

there ends the lesson, of the day....

TOTALLY AGREE with you Kwun! Footwork! Footwork! Footwork!

[aaronhor]

Thanks Kwun for the sharing. Footwork is always my weakest part, followed by smash. But I do not have any personal coach, so I do not have any idea on how to improve on my footwork as well. What I normally do is just watch some youtube video and try to follow, but the result is not so good...

[aman85]

I want to improve my performance but i dont have good time&exercise... Huhuhu... Now i still amateur!!!

[indrato]

Yesterday i learned a lot from my partner. He is 62 years old. I tought we will be outmatched by our opponent, but to my surprise although the opponent is really good, we can manage to balance the game. We lost 28-30, actually we were leading by 28-26 but lost because i was a bit nervous and impatient. My partner although he move slowly, he can reach all the shuttle placed by the opponent. Wow... i really impressed.

[Craig Jackson]

Great advice.

Does anyone know any drills or anything you can do to improve your footwork at home?

[kagaya]

Great advice.

Does anyone know any drills or anything you can do to improve your footwork at home?

tat's would be good if we can practice at home any recommendation ??

[starx]

Of course, badminton is played in two steps and if you have that much space you can train at home. This is a good exercise because you have to go back to the starting position in a small space.

[CoolTraderFx]

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/foru...-after-1-month) you can find all the drills you need. more will be adding in.

[saneguy]

Footwork is the most easy way to bring a loud difference in your game..easy said then done I know... I still struggle with it...work in progress...I'll get there soon

[garylcyhk]

Totally agree! I'am working on it but need to lose the weight first!

[Rykard]

Totally agree! I'am working on it but need to lose the weight first!

try circuits they are working for me.
something like below - 30 seconds of exercise 60 seconds of rest do 3 rounds of.

shadow

press up

step up

squats

lunges

sit ups

[SantaSCSI]

I never got the footwork training when i was young (i play in a recreational club) so the change to good footwork is hard. It's a real pro if you can incorporate this into your initial badminton training. It's way harder to unlearn a wrong method than having no method at all :P.

[Avenger]

I don't know if I ever posted about my story here

I learnt proper footwork and I can cover most of the court
sometimes it feels that the bird is impossible to get, but I made it on time to get the shuttle
the feeling is.. amazing

even my friend said I am improved a lot in past one year (when I go back to indonesia)

I also lost 7kgs in past one month (it's still 114kg..) which is good for my health and for badminton
I feel much faster and lighter

[Alex.W]

Badminton without good footwork is like playing baseball if you can't hit the ball. You can't reach the bird if you don't get around the court.