Hello guys I am wondering why it is, that the overwhelming majority of Badminton players rather play doubles than singles. I would think that in Table tennis or Tennis most ppl dont play doubles (or only seldom) No matter where i enter a Badminton Gym I see doubles on at least 4 of 5 courts if not more.. Personally I like to play Singles so much more..I oftentimes have trouble even finding a guy to play singles with me! I have to ask 5 guys to get one Single and that is often only one set... As far as I have read in this forum doubles seems to be more popular all over the world in badminton. Any ideas why that is? Are Badminton People in general rather lazy? Singles can be very very demanding physically. When I here ppl talk about Badminton they dont quite do that respectfully (for example...many gays play badminton...its for softies...blablabla). When I started playing and noticed how exhausting singles play is I thought jeez those idiots have no clue. Meanwhile, after a bit over a year at a club I dont really argue about that anymore, because honestly I think many badminton players are indeed lazy and not really like to push theirselfs (obviously there are ppl who do!) I played soccer in my teens and went to very lowlevel boxing for 2-3 years and I must say ppl there were definitely tougher/more active and motivated in terms of joy of running and sweating etc... Or is it because in doubles you can just smash around wildly and thats what many ppl like a lot? Or do Badminton players like to talk in a group of 4 while playing? tell me your thoughts
Court costs play an important part, you can half court costs by playing doubles. In club play court space is typically at a premium, I know of no club in my area that plays singles on club nights. Furthermore I know of no league in my county for singles players. A lot of social players I see are couples playing mixed doubles versus friends. Doubles allows you to use pairings to even up player differences amongst a group of players. A skill difference in singles can't really be overcome unless you start using handicaps...and I hate handicaps.
Cost is an issue if you rent a court. If you play in a club, unless you're at the level that people would enjoy watching you play, it's very unlikely that you can have a court for two people only. I don't think people are lazy but the majority of the recreational players are technically and physically not able to cope with singles games, especially when they play against someone who is much better, they get frustrated, see no hope to win and have no clue how to continue. For doubles, they have a partner to rely on, so probably also longer rallies and a bit more fun instead of losing a point after 3 or 4 shots.
Singles is a lot tougher (physically) than doubles. A LOT. And what kind of people do you get at badminton club nights? Well, here in England it is typically filled out with 40+ y/o in the majority. Singles is just not a good game for them. Even if that wasn't a factor, it has already been mentioned that if you don't play doubles, courts are more expensive, and there will be a longer queue of people sitting of at club night. boooriiing. Although not as boring as watching two 50y/o ladies trying to play singles.
first, court is expensive.. second, singles is much more demanding than double I started badminton as doubles player then in UK, since I don't have enough friends to play double, I play singles I can say singles is very different than doubles in doubles, court feels much smaller, you don't need to move that much in singles footwork is very essential, and not everyone willingly to learn that plus again, court is very expensive.. (more expensive than hiring five a side court! fee per person) doubles is very fun.. the more the merrier right? it is also much more fast paced than singles however, I do like singles, it is more strategic minded compared to fast reflex doubles
Anything is better than WD , it is worst than watching paint dry and WS it is like they dont want to win the rally ....goes on forever. They hit more clears in one match than I hit in the entire month
Doubles is fun cause you are not alone on the court. Can plan strategy with your partner and way more exciting. Quicker returns. On a fun point of view.... you can also slack off when you are tired. =P
Here in Taiwan and in Vancouver it is about resources. At every club I've been a member at there is a wait involved for a court. If you play singles you are halving the availability of that court space and wait times would be unreasonable. I'm not sure that singles being demanding is much of an issue either as when there is court availability (usually near the end of the session once some members have left) you get people taking the opportunity to play singles.
Ugh, I know how you feel. During one match I remarked that it was like watching two balloons having a Kung-Fu fight.
At my club there are enough courts for everyone and you can play singles whenever you want. You just pay a monthly fee which allows you to go to the hall and play everytime you want to, like a flatrate. Due to this arrangement I was able to regulary practice singles since my junior days and I have to say that I like it much more than doubles. Its that man versus man situation I like about singles. When loosing in doubles many might say it is their partner fault. In singles you win or loose yourself. Its really a different game I think. Doubles is about skill and tactics, singles is about running. In singles you can beat a stronger opponent by running, in doubles usually the better (more experienced) pair wins.
thx for the replies some things were new to me, i had not thought about it for example that its easier to make a fair matchup between 2 players also that a lot of old ppl play badminton is a good reason, my club has a looot of old players, i can understand that they rather play doubles however we have a lot of young guys too, pretty much all of them prefer doubles about the courts available: I think you can play with 3-4 guys singles at one court because after 2-4 sets players just take a break and watch the other 2 players play, so 3-4 guys could share one court since nobody will play 2h of singles without a break anyway but as it seems it is nearly impossible to find such a group of singles volunteers anyway ^^ if you have to pay for the court then doubles is obv. very good for splitting the price i guess doubles is in many ways more comfortable and the vast majority of badminton players all over the world just like it comfortable and not too challenging Surprisingly I must say that I have found out that THOSE ppl who DO like playing singles rather play vs better players! While its hard for me to get matches with better players, im optimistic they will play me more as soon as it gets challenging for them to play vs me. This is a hard step for me since I have so few possibilities to get really efficient practise but i was able to win a few sets vs several players who crushed me a few months ago One guy before the game looked unsatisfied that he had to play vs me because he wants to get better just as I do and therefore looks for good opponents (he thought he would kick my ass because he didnt see me playing for 4weeks or so ) but then lost the whole match against me..i hope he will remember that!! He would be a very good trainingpartner for me to reach other players (since he is one of the few who play singles seriously)
There's no reason why people over 40 can't play singles, if they have some sessions with a coach and learn the proper footwork. Of course it's tough if you're not used to it, but if you do it every week then it gets better over time. Here in Australia I see people in their 50s playing squash, which is about as demanding as singles badminton. I think the reason why there's almost no singles at badminton clubs is just overcrowding. Even with everyone playing doubles there's already a wait for a game; if people played singles as well, you'd spend a lot more time waiting than playing. And I know someone in his 60s who runs marathons--he's a lot fitter than many 20 year old badminton players. At club level, age has little to do with it.
