Hi, I could use some help please. Long story short : I play league standard but have never been coached (40 years old) My kids (12/15 years old) want to play but have zero experience. My work + their school time = no convenient time to get them to a proper coaching place. I can book a court that suits us all but my question is where do I start ? Obviously forehand/backhand grip comes first and I think I've sorted that out. What should I be teaching them in terms of priority ? My plan at the moment is : Forehand clear Backhand clear Forehand Drop Backhand drop Footwork Net shots Serve/receive As I'm not a qualified coach, nor do I have the time or money to become one, some help in being able to teach my children enjoy and progress in badminton would be really appreciated. Thanks.
Hi! Well, I am a qualified coach, and thus I hope some of my advice is helpful! Firstly: grips! You got the right starting place. Remember, the grip changes depending on where you play your shots! There isn't just one forehand and one backhand grip! You will want to immediately show them how to stand on the court! What does it mean to be "ready" i.e. wide base, knees bent, racket foot slightly forwards, racket up, non racket arm for balance, and body slightly lowered. This is good posture, and will ensure that they can move around and see the shuttle and are ready to play their shots. At the age of your children now, the most important thing for them is to develop good court coverage! Encourage two steps to the front and three to the back, learn good lunge technique to protect their joints! Court coverage can be taught with the strokes, but a combination of some movement practice with good posture, should lead to goo movement. Then, the strokes (with footwork)! FH Clear FH Drop FH Smash (can all be learnt together) BH Serve BH drive BH Drop This should leave them with a good base to play most other shots. Encourage them to take the shuttle AWAY from their body, and always IN FRONT of their body. If you wanted to learn some important things, you may consider purchasing Lee Jae Boks coaching DVD the Roots of Badminton Disk 1 which covers the roots of badminton - posture, attitude, hitting technique, grips and footwork. These are the principles onto which you should teach other things. There are other DVDs as well, which are excellent, but the whole set is £90 and perhaps not what you are after (but all are exceptionally good). If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. p.s. a backhand clear is an irrelevant shot until they can hit MOST other forehand shots + good footwork so that they dont use their backhand much. Matt
Training Thanks very much Matt, that's a real help. One more thing if you don't mind. Without getting into the in-depth discussions about shuttlecocks that are already on the forums, which would be best for me to teach them with ? I was going to use Mavis 300 (blue) until they're more capable. I know how much better feathers are but I'd imagine they'll take a real pounding until they can hit them right. If it makes that much difference, I can take the old shuttles from one of my clubs and use them until I know for sure that they want to play badminton and it isn't just a passing fad (teenage girls get a lot of them !). The mavis 2000's get good reviews on the forums but i've never met anyone who likes them. Thanks again for the help. Incidentally, whereabouts in England are you ?
I am in coventry at the moment but my permanent home is in kent. I personally use mavis 300 if I have to use a plastic shuttle, i think they are fine and the more expensive ones don't seem to be much different to me. If you were to emphasize that your children weren't hitting with power, but technique, then I wouldn't imagine that feather shuttles would take TOO much of a pounding, but certainly they would be less resilient than the mavis 300s. Once they are "into" badminton, I would recommend changing to feathers, because it is so much easier to hit good length clears and proper smashes etc, than with a plastic shuttle. Taking old shuttles from your club sounds like a good idea, especially for practising net shots as they are far superior for around the net. Once again, I would stress that you teach them how effortless hitting with power is. Without this first step, they will probably only develop bad habits and not enjoy badminton. Once they are completely relaxed and focussing on technique, then they will play well. The secret to good badminton is to focus first and always place emphasis on the DIRECTION of the shuttle. It should go exactly in the direction they are hitting it. If this means hardly swinging at all but it goes in a good direction, so be it! Over time, power will develop from this. You were right to ask! Please feel free to ask more questions.
If you're kids have zero experience, I'd recommend getting them involved in the sport and having some fun. The best thing you could do for them is to find a friendly junior club. If you immediately drop a regime of lessons on them, their enthusiasm may evaporate. If you do want to start with some coaching, I'd keep it mostly situational. Kids typically play an extremely limited range of shots, so try to challenge them to attempt different things: playing from the net, hitting soft as well as hard -- that kind of stuff. Try using games that teach court awareness (e.g. awareness of the width of the court; of the depth; of covering the next shot). This way, you extend their technical experience while also increasing their enjoyment. You can include some tips in this process, but I'd recommend keeping it light. Going directly into formal practices is quite dispiriting for most brand-new players.
Thanks again Matt, really appreciate you taking the time to answer. Thanks to you too, Gollum. I know what you mean about regime vs enjoyment and that's exactly where my problem has been. I'm pretty sure I can give them some training with technique and make it enjoyable but obviously only time will tell. Ideally, the theory is to give them some basics and see if badminton is something they want to play regularly. I don't live with them so any excuse to see them is good for me which is the main reason I'd like to teach them myself rather than a club. Also, because of my work hours and their school/ extra curricular stuff it makes it awkward to find convenient times. Booking a court as and when I know we can all make it is a lot easier and I thought sending them to a club may make it a chore rather than fun. I like the idea of games that teach court awareness, if you could describe them in more detail I'm sure that would help. Thanks again for the advice guys
