I am a beginer in the sense of wanting to play badminton seriously. I am in my middle age and I played lots of backyard badminton when growing up. I also played often for exercise when I was at University. I now have a good coach. My problem is not about learning the basics but un-learing the bad habits/wrong technique. I find it very hard to learn the basics when so many bad habit had been developed and programmed in my brain. I am a right hand person and it was sometimes so frustrated that I was tempted to start training my left hand to play badminton from scratch.
the only thing is repetition... your right arm is conditioned to such movements and reactions already, and it will require some concentration to consciously move your arm the way YOU want it to. the problem isn't your brain being programmed to do things "improperly". rather, its just because you have been through the motions thousands of times before, with the improper technique, and therefore, your body is just used to it. some call it muscle memory.
I am undergoing the process. Right now with the "proper" footwork I am slower, can't clear consistently and don't even talk about the smash anymore. And yea I am only 22. You will probably need twice amount of effort as I do to correct the bad forms.
I'll have to argue with that ... As for me , I've played a lot of badminton when I was little . And my grip was all wrong . But when I got coached , after 2-3 practices , I've managed to change my grip completely. It's not really hard to unlearn it when you practice the shots again and again until it gets through your head that that's what you are suppose to do . It may be hard at first , but keep at it
Everyones experience will be different but the sooner you start learning proper technique the better.I went through this process myself a long time ago.I think one thing that helps is for you to see the advantages of proper technique and for the coach to focus on the results.Usually we abandon bad technique as soon as we learn or experience a better one and the results start rewarding us. Practice is good reinforcement but when more than one skill is deficient it becomes a real problem of going back to bad habits.Many people practice just one skill in isolation and this is fine for the most part but what often isn't done is joining skills together to make sure there is a smooth transition from one skill to another.Doing game situation rally practices is great if you can do it but unfortunately many go from single skill isolation directly to games. The other problem I find many don't realize there is a direct connection between strokes and footwork.So often I see people first doing bad technique and desperation shots because of no foundation in footwork.Hitting good strokes is a matter of getting into the optimal hitting position. The first adjustment I find difficult for people to do is get underneath the bird for overhead strokes.Second is that they line themselves up to hit the bird in the same place as the bad stroke technique they have adopted.This means they let the shuttle drop lower to the side of them which translates to them having to hit harder which many can't do which leads to a poor shot.If the you get into the optimal hitting position from a serve and were not to swing the shuttle should land or hit your racquet shoulder.The optimal point of contact is between the eye and the racquet shoulder at the highest point possible.Next step is the body rotation in the shot which leads to your footwork bringing you back to your central base.Most people just complete their poorly executed stroke with momentum going in one direction and then must awkwardly try to run late for an already executed return.Anyway I am sure you get or have seen this picture before or can relate to it.Just try to remember that badminton is not skills in isolation but a sequence of lots different strokes in random sequences.Try to make sure you can go from one skill to the other smoothly with good technique otherwise you are apt to go back to bad habits.
Undoing bad habits If you are having a difficult time substituting your old bad habits with your newly learned skills, then you may need to stop playing games for a while (or at least cut back quite a bit). Instead, practice the new skills w/o using a shuttle at all so that the new skills start to feel more natural. The next step is to practice drills (with a shuttle this time) where you are focusing on 1 new skill at a time using proper mechanics &/or proper footwork. Don't be tempted to play too many games at this point if you are serious about changing bad habits... you'll tend to fall back into those bad habits & reinforce them if you do.
