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

[rikimaru915]

I agree, but the problem is no body to play and practice with. aha

[CHC7576]

Try skipping. It will keep you on your toes and guarantee improve footwork and strengthen your legs which are most crucial in playing good badminton.

[pasifik]

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....

I aggree with Kwun. I used to be a single badminton player and footwork is very important thing before you can do some sort of practices. I can say footwork is the basic that all badminton player must have before they can play badminton in the right way. If you become master in the footwork practice then you will be able handle the rest.

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[Panger]

indeed, proper footwork is one of the building blocks to being a good singles player. then again, there are plenty of other aspects of the game that people tend to take for granted, and end up hurting their singles performance :/

[pasifik]

I agree with you, Panger!

Good resource for badminton lesson is (removed) and if you want more just go (removed)

Cheers,

(removed)

[Oldhand]

I agree with you, Panger!

Good resource for badminton lesson is (removed) and if you want more just go (removed)

Cheers,

(removed)

pasifik, you need to slow down on posting your links.
You are very close to being labelled a spammer

[pasifik]

Thanks, Mod. I won't do that again!

[Beechy]

Whilst i agree that footwork is a very important aspect to your game i think that positioning is equally important, especially in singles where the aim is to get your opponent out of position so you then have a chance to win the point. Although saying that i think kwun is right.

[nicknackman]

it's all about the footwork...for those who are beginners/intermediates...stop trying to learn fancy moves when you haven't mastered your footwork. Footwork is especially important when playing singles. I highly recommend working on lunges and other other exercises mentioned here.

[7slee0]

how do u get your reaction to "action" faster.
for example, your playing singles and u clear it, you go back in the middle for the next shot your oppenent is going to hit to you. He hits a really good drop but all you do is sometimes stare at the birdie for like a split second, then start running towards it...

how to fix this?

[nicknackman]

a good way to prevent just stopping and staring at the return shot is to observe you opponent immediately after you have made you shot...so while ur running back to the centre u should observe ur opponent's footwork...it'll give u a good sense of what sort of shot he/she will make afterwards...ideally in a perfect strategic game of badminton shots are made based on shortest distance or greatest recovery time. If your opponent is tired he/she will tend to make shots that give themselves more recovery time. Always try to keep in mind of the lengths of a triangle. Cross-court shots are tricky to get but they take longer than straight shots...giving you a split second more time to react. Badminton is very much not just a physical sport but a mental sport like chess...

[ayiee1976]

thats right kwun, when players are young the coach need to practise the footwork very well, the strength and power will come with the age and than younger the players are starting practising footwork than better. When you are older it's harder to practising footwork.

I'm 32, and yes learning footwork at that age is no fun at all. I feel like a stick trying to learn.

[Panger]

a good way to practice your reaction speed is shadow badmionton. this is by no means fun, but it's very good for you.

specifically:

try standing in your ready position in the middle of the court, on your toes, with FAST feet (as if you were doing it as an exercise). This means your going to be moving your legs very quickly, anticipating where to move from the center (obviously you wouldn't have fast feet during a real match, but for practise it helps a lot).

Then think about which corner you want to move to, and try to explode from the middle of the court to that corner. Don't think too much about making it all high speed, you just want to be able to get that initial burst that will help you get to those tricky shots you have trouble with.

Make your way back to the center, and then rinse, repeat.

Also, having a partner point to the corners makes this a much better alternative than trying it solo.

You can also make it even harder on yourself by trying to move to the opposite corner that your partner is pointing to (it keeps your mind in the game!). For example, if they point to the front right corner, you would have to move to the back left corner of the court.

This is also a great way to warm up during a tournament.

[alphazed1]

hiii... cudnt agree more on the footwork thing... it turns out tht am into big time bodybuilding and martial arts... hence exploding on the court is hardly an issue with me... i actually have the biggest advantage as my court coverage itself.... can smash and go for drop shots too... deceptive ones as well... so i do have an edge over my opponents mostly...

-ve thing is i do not utilize the opponents court... in the sense tht most of my shots land almost i the mid or at the max half a mtr away frm the sidelines... this way even if the opponent is not gud at court coverage (lunges etc), he can pick the shot up easily... seriously need to improve on tht...

any help on how can i come out o tht mental block of thinking tht i may hit the bird out o court...

[Panger]

That just takes practice alpha. There is nothing wrong with hitting shots that are a meter from the sidelines. If anything, thats almost better than aiming for the sidelines, and as you practise/play more, you will likely get more comfortable aiming closer to the line over time.

A good way to get your opponent moving is to start off with a quick, deep clear. As long as you keep hitting the shuttle to spots where you know they will have to take more than 1 step to get, they will eventually run out of steam. I know plenty of guys who don't have the best accuracy, but they have incredible footwork and stamina, so they can seriously just outlast a guy by making him move, even if they have to work 3 times harder themselves.

The best advice i can give is to make sure you have a reliable deep clear, which from what i've gathered should be a piece of cake for you being a great athlete. This is one of the most annoying things for your opponent. It doesn't matter how fit they are, because baselining someone and then sending them to the front over and over will take its toll on them eventually.

And hey, think about it....if you know you're in good shape AND you keep doing this to him, you WILL probably start to get really tired, but just IMAGINE how he will feel!

[katz_2007]

how to improve my drop?

[nicknackman]

start doing net shots...and every 30 shots or so...take 1 step back and do 30 there...and take another step back and do another 30...and so on...do that as ur training and eventually u'll work out how much power and speed u need to hit a drop shot perfectly...