Hi guys, I have just started playing badminton. A friend of mine who's pretty good at it has convinced me to join a sports centre at a university here. Anyway, I have only played twice so far(6 hours in total) and I'm obviously a big newbie. I'm looking to buy one or two rackets and some shuttlecocks to go with that. I'm playing twice per week, around three hours per each session. I don't know what style of a player I am yet, but I seem to have the most trouble with two things - serves and powerful returns in the back of the court when I'm far in the back myself. My friend told me that serves will get better with more practice, but he's concerned more with my returns. It seems that I lack strength(and/or technique) to be able to do it right. When I'm returning from the back of the court I seem to hit middle of the opposite side of the court and a good player has absolutely no problem smashing it from here. I'd like to be able to return further in the court. Again, maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about and no racket will fix that - I don't know. I've been playing with cheapest OEM rackets available at the University, so I have no idea what they are even. At this point I would like to have something of my own. So, please recommend me some rackets that will make beginner's life a little easier. If I need to clarify further before you can help me out, please let me know. I will be more than happy to provide as much detail as needed. Thank you.
you might want to check out my brand new Woven 2 http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31862&highlight=woven Durable and well priced racket. p.s: welcome to the badminton world, I hope you will enjoy the sport just as much as I do.
Just went to the nearest Sprots Experts store. From Yonex I looked at MP21 priced at $99.99 and Carbonex-8400 for $45. I didn't see MP23 there. Should I try the 8400 or look for MP23? I looked it up and saw that MP21 is a stiff racket and from what I read about badminton rackets the stiff ones provide more power while sacrificing some of control. Is this true?
stiffer rackets do tend to give u better power. its up to u if u perfer a mp or a cab. cabs are oval head so they hav a smaller swt spot, which is good to train with. mp 21 is probably better overall tho. i recommend u try out both types of rackets if u can cause at the end its down to your personal preference. hope that helps
stiffness of racket should be positively corrected to your strength, if you are weak even flexible racket is stiff for you, its very arbitary, don't listen to any of the good players talks about preferring stiff rackets, get one only when you have adequet skills and strength control is mostly due to practice, you won't feel much difference when you start your game any racket would do you good, mp23 is quite stiff imo, not sure about 21, i think its good to get cab, their low ends are quite flexible for starters at a price of 45, just grab it, spend the rest on a better shoes and more training sessions that should last you few months to a year depending on how much you devote to badminton
As far as i know, if you are having problem with clearing shots from the baseline, you may want to choose a flexible racket to help you propell it forward better. Generally, stay low in the badminton racket series The higher the number, the more stiff it tends to be (correct me if im wrong).
mp 22/23 best beginner racquet. try also blackknight. canadian product and awesome quality. other brand also will do. avoid buying from canadian tire. you are wasting your money if you buy from them (if you are planning to play for a while).
Don't just buy the racket, have it stringed properly too. Yonex Carbonex 8200/8400/8600 are pretty much the same, but 8200/8600 are lighter which I think is a good thing for beginner so you can work on your skill without putting too much stress on your wrist. Since you just started, don't get carry away by power, but instead, work on your technique. ISO head rackets have different balance and feel compared to Cab. Nowadays most people are buying ISO, but I just prefer Cab for its light head and quick response. I used to play with Widebody30 which is heavy headed, rather stiff, but I was really slow with it so have been staying with Cab since. But for beginner, you probably cannot see the difference.
Well Canadian Tire (well the one close to me at least) sells the Carlton Airblade Lite for $50CAD. Based on reviews it seems to be pretty good for beginners. On 2 racquet-selling sites (UK), it's being sold for $93CAD and on another (US) it's being sold for $79CAD. It also comes with a full case w/ strap
If budget is limited, don't limit to 1 or 2 brand. Try to get your hand on the rackets, and demo yourself. Since you are in MTRL, contact "Jinryu" from this site, as he's carrying SOTX, Yonex, etc in his store. If you can stop by his club, and demo some rackets, it will be very helpful for you to make a decision.
Whoa, seems like a sweet deal! I just checked and I can also buy that around here. Any opinions on this racket? $50 for a racket with case is very appealing provided it's an ok one to begin with!
The MP23 is a pretty good racket, although for a totally new player, I'm not quite sure. It's medium flex I think, but the 2U weight might be too much at first.
I just went to Canadian Tire and bought one. Well not really. One Canadian Tire listed and labelled a racquet as the Airblade <b>Super</b>lite for $50, but it was really a Airblade Comp Ti or something. I went to another one and found a Powerblade (NOT AIRBLADE - it has an isometric headshape rather than traditional oval) Superlite for $50 with full racquet case w/ strap, which is awesome. So be careful which one they are actually selling.
Oh, that's unfortunate as I'd prefer to stick with oval rackets for now. Is that Airblade Comp Ti you mentioned much worse than the advertized Airblade Lite? Thanks.
Well the Airblade Comp Ti is 102g which is kind of heavy, while the Powerblade Superlite I got is 84g, which I think is pretty light. I think you should just go to Canadian Tire, see what they have, try it out yourself, and return it if you don't like it. The reason I say this is because they seem to have a really good return policy now. Here's what it says on their website: "In-store Returns & Exchanges Your Satisfaction is our Business If you wish to return your purchase, simply return it in its original condition and packaging, with the official sales receipt for an exchange or refund." So you can basically try it out for a week or two (or however long) to see if you like it by comparing it to the Carbonex 8400. Just don't hit it on the ground or something.
