The newer nets I have played with have a plastic net tape like tennis nets and seem to deflect the shuttle, i.e. flatten out its flight path and also more shots hit the top of the net and tumble over than the old cloth nets do. The thing is that most of the older halls still have the cloth nets, the hall where I play most of my badminton has 4 courts which had the same nets on them for years, but since one of them was worn it was replaced recently, with one of those plastic net tape ones. They are actually very different to play with, obviously people who have only played with the old nets are not used to the shuttle deflecting off the net and aren't as likely to still return the shuttle as people who have more experience of it happening. Is the plastic type net chord the international standard now? The older members don't like the fact that the shuttles bounce off the net, but I actually think it makes things more interesting. The reason the shuttles bounce off the top of the net is the following, which I noticed when I looked up close at the nets. old nets ________________________________________________ <-top of net chord ----------------------------------------------------- <-string ________________________________________________ <-bottom of n.c. new net ________________________________________________<-top of net chord ----------------------------------------------------- <-string ________________________________________________ <- bottom of n.c. As you can see the string that passes through is not right under the top of the net chord, probably because the new net is more rigid, this is why the shuttles deflect off the top. Is every net used now of this type? I think our net is more like this than other nets, but the plastic topped nets still seem to get more shuttles hitting the tape and going over than the old nets...
i have never seen a pure cloth tape myself. the net tape that i have seen is usually a cloth base with a leathery plastic outter. i think you guys must have a very old net setup. FYI, here is the official rule: 1.8 The top of the net shall be edged with a 75 mm white cloth tape doubled over a cord or cable running through the tape. This tape shall rest upon the cord or cable. 1.9 The cord or cable shall be stretched firmly, flush with the top of the posts. interesting to see that "cloth tape" is specified explicitly!
i think you're looking for the word "vinyl". and i agree, i have never seen anything other than vinyl coverings for the net tape! a hard plastic net tape would be horrible!
I never actually think about this stuff anyway......but I am sure that my gym uses the "cotton tape" on top of the net. (Everytime we play badminton, we need to stretch the net really hard to make the net flat, so I remember the feels of the net tape) Old? Oh yeah. School never cares about badminton, and our nets have a bunch of holes on it already. (But school insists on using it; they will not let us replace it)
I've seen enough of the "older" stuff in 2 of the clubs, while the rest using the newer version. I, too noticed the difference, but always just thought about "maybe a lucky day".
