Can someone please tell me the official definition of a legal serve? Some people tell me it needs to be below the waist, but as far as I know, it's so long as the racket head is lower than the racket handle at contact. I don't serve up by my neck and I've never been called for a service fault in a tournament, so I never worried about it. But some guy at the club was telling me that I needed to serve below the waist. Because he was really insistent, and I really never thought about it, I went ahead and accomodated him, serving well below my waist but now that I have the chance to ask, can someone clear it up?
Quote from BadmintonCentral's Badminton knowledge section: "9.1.5 the whole of shuttle shall be below the server's waist at the instant of being hit by the server's racket" at the instant the racket hits the birdie, the shuttle must be under server's waist or it is a fault about the tourny thing... it depends on what tournament, but if people were paying any attention to the official rules at all shouldve called a service fault if the birdie wasnt below your waste upon collision.. but in most cases, serves are a bit quick, and people dont really notice where your waist is exactly... so will allow any serve as long as its within the area... unless someone actually looks carefully for this fault, it doesnt usually get called cuz i wear long shirts... who knows where my waist is exactly!?
if you watch proffesional mens doubles, and look closely it seems they hit it over the waist, like at the navel. ive always wondered why that was never called?
1. It's the 1st contact pt counts. 2. The definition of "waist", i heard is "below the last bone of rib cage".
That's my understanding as well. Kinda unfortunate for us short people. I suppose a giant like Yao Ming (7'5" NBA basketball player) would have no trouble serving or receiving...he could serve downwards, and just hold his racquet out at the net while receiving!
i wonder how people call this fault... how would the referee see where the last rib is on a server!? whenever i see this called... i cant seem to tell the difference in the valid serves to the invalid ones... maybe poor video quality
you have to be aware to know what is legal and not legal.. of coz dont make it to obvious to know that ur serving illegally. maybe you can ask your frens to watch how you serve.
Well I hope it's below the rib cage. I've always naturally served at about the navel, but serving around the area of my hips would be odd. I could do it, but it wouldn't feel natural. So now I'm still kind of lost. So it is below the waist, but if we can't properly define waist, then that still leaves me unclear on what legal is.
Try to stand on your toes when you serve, there will be an advantage to that as well. But have to becareful for the opponents returns. I was talking today with my fren regarding , what is the different if there is a 7 footer badminton player that serve? Like what 9Cdn553Woba mentioned... his serve might be like a smash to drives. Shorter player will have disadvantage in serving. Well the rules is the rule...
Umpires look at the elbow for guidance, the elbow is usualy in line with the bottom rib and can be used as a marker or indication as to when a service is called as a fault or not. Check it yourselvs, the elbow is above the naval by about 1-2 inches.
Illegal serves are really hard to spot in professional play. They are so close and it's really up to the judge's discretion. I'd recommend also keeping the entire head of your racquet below your wrist for safe measure. Also, you can tell if a server is illegal most of the time if a straight arm that is holding the racquet is higher than 45 degrees.
Pointfore.Ca is entirely correct and good explanation. In top-flight tournaments they have a service judge as well as umpire and it is their job to call service faults
last bone of your rib cage spans from just below your chest to just above your naval line, guess the definition of "waist" is naval line then.
Looks to me, we are not approaching this subject of "legal or correct service" in its entirety. This subject has been discussed in this Forum at great length before. Suffice it to say, it will be wise for those interested to look up the Laws of Badminton "www.intbadfed.org/laws.html" to discover the rules for themselves. In the above description by Dill, mention was made on the "elbow" being in line with "bottom rib" (or as most of us agree, the WAIST level). This is not correct. The elbow (not the wrist) can certainly be above the waist to maximise the execution of an effective serve. If it is any lower when striking the shuttle, its trajectory will be steeper trying to get over the net and offers an easier chance for the receiver to attack the service. Of course the flight of the shuttle should be upwards from the server's racket and the movement of the racket must continue forwards after the start of the service. (So a very tall guy does not have any undue advantage as some may think.) The key words are "continue forwards and upwards", meaning no stopping mid-way or executing a tennis-type overhead serve. It is the HAND holding the racket that should be BELOW the waist. So the elbow can be high with the racket held pointing downwards. Another thing to note is that when striking the bird, the RACKET FACE at its highest point must be below the hand holding the racket. So it goes: Racket below Hand. Hand below Waist (lowest rib). Don't forget the other related rules though!
I think when Dill mentioned the elbow, that was meant to be when the arm is placed alongside the body (not during serve). That height is then used as a reference point for the waist during the service movement for the shuttle.
agree with Cheung in tournaments with service judges, in all the games I've seen there are very very few faults called for serving with the shuttle above the waist. The most common fault is racquet head above the hand. not true. The laws (9.1.5) state that the whole shuttle shall be below the server's waist at the instant of being hit by the server's racket 9.1.6 states that ...the whole of the head of the racket should be discernibly below the who of the server's hand holding the racket thus, the hand can be above the waist holding the racket pointing downwards such that when the shuttle is struck the shuttle is below the waist
Having to have your hand below the waist when serving would be QUITE awkward..let alone uncomfortable for yourslef.
I think serving below the waist rule is flawed. Taller people tend to have greater advantages when serving... For me as long as the racket is below the shuttle when being served, it's fine by me (not that high of course).
You're going to get raped silly by someone who knows how to abuse an illegal service motion, even more so if he's tall. In fact, if I understand your definition of a legal serve correctly, you've handed tall players an even bigger advantage whereas, right now, it is actually minimized. They still have an advantage, of course, but not nearly as much as if you allowed them to serve at chest level, which is what I'm getting from your suggestion. Then let's not even get into the obvious question: How do you define "not that high"? Fact is, you cannot just allow any serve with a general underhand motion.
