hey there, i just got into badminton after i saw a few of my friends playing for our high school badminton team. I would play for the team but i play varsity tennis. Anywho i played some badminton with them and they say im not bad and that i have potential. I enjoy playing and i want to get good at it. Can i use my tennis skills to my advantage? Thanks, -Glen
The advantage you have has already shown itself. That's because of your improved hand-eye-ball coordination. To get good at playing badminton after playing tennis, I would say it's pretty difficult. Many of the shots in tennis have to be unlearned. Even a simple thing like overhead, shots. It's easy to spot a tennis player playing badminton. They do usually do a massive wind up. Other things are taking massive swings at the shuttle with locked forearm muscles. So tennis skills applied to badminton? Very little apart from ball sense and early racquet/body preparation. On the otherhand badminton player to tennis player is much easier......
Glen, IMHO, Tennis and badminton gamewise are similar only in that they are both racket sports! Tennis is definitely more of a power sport using hammer shots and requires strong arm while badminton is a sport requiring strong wrist for power shots while also using quickness and finesse at times. Tennis uses a lot of arm movement while badminton is mainly about wrist (something that hinders my game) Tactically, they are different games also. Badminton is about moving players to four corners and back & forth using combination of clears and drops and smashes. Tennis is a lot centered on moving opponents' side to side. Of course, if you enjoy the game and practice at it, you will find success. In the beginning, you should practice your footwork and basic stroke skills. Those constitute the fundamentals badminton. Also, the one beauty of this game is that anybody of any body build can play, albeit different styles of game. So, join the school team and have fun! If you are really interested, you could even join a club.
Agree with Cheung on "hand-eye-ball coordinatino". Also, I think u might also have some advantage in arm strength, speed (however, depend on ur playing style) as well as mental strength / experience (if u been playing tennis in competitive lvl for a period of time.) However, adopt tennis skills in badminton is kinda difficult, at least at the very beginning. As ppl stated above, footwork, and shot (won't repeat in detail, since they just make me run out of word, hehehehehe) are highly different in these 2 sports. Then, as a surely result, the tactic will be different. I consider the most difficult part in ur learning process is the mental issue. U r already a fairly good tennis player, who has some skills and being able to win in tennis. When u suddenly come into badminton (especially with the influence of "very similar" or "even easier" sport, which is NOT TRUE anyway), u might be extra frustrated than the pure beginners. Sometimes, u might fell so lost, since u think u r good (in another sport, though), has the strength (badminton also requires flexbility, endurance, quickness, etc) and speed (but might not right footwork), but still losing. I've seen cases like good tennis / basketball players showed a lot of interests about badminton, but gave it up after several months of trying. It's hard to just "drop from heaven to the hell", and seems everything has to be start all over again. So, be mentally prepared, the first steps are the hardest. However, if u can survive, with some hardworking and ur existed advantages, u don't see why u can not be good in the near future. Welcome to the community.