Exactly!. I said the exact same thing to my friend, and we had a debate whether footwork or technique is more important. I know both are as essentially important, but obviously just like you, foot work is more important because "if you can't get there, you can't properly hit the birdy."
I agree with you to a certain extent. I agree that all skills are important, and that they work together. However, it is very important to compare, because people have to work on what is more important first in order to practice the other.
If you had footwork but no technique then you can't return the shuttlecock in both are just important.
You can have technique, but you can not have no footwork. If you can't get there in time, you can't hit it properly anyways. SO my point is just to support that footwork is more important. Obviously you have to work on technique, but foot work is more. It opens more doors to your technique.
There are 3 pillars of badminton and they form its foundation. These are: 1. Grip. 2. Stroke production. 3. Footwork. You must have all 3. On or two without the other will only make you a half-baked player. Forget about other things like strength exercise, building bulging muscles, etc. until you get all these 3 right.
Just follow the order of the numbers. It is a logical sequence. First you need to learn how to use a grip properly for the various strokes. Then you learn the repertoire of strokes, after learning the various grips. With these in your belt, you then learn footwork, which will allow you to move around the court efficiently to carry out what you have learned earlier.
thats right kwun, when players are young the coach need to practise the footwork very well, the strength and power will come with the age and than younger the players are starting practising footwork than better. When you are older it's harder to practising footwork.
Try skipping. It will keep you on your toes and guarantee improve footwork and strengthen your legs which are most crucial in playing good badminton.
I aggree with Kwun. I used to be a single badminton player and footwork is very important thing before you can do some sort of practices. I can say footwork is the basic that all badminton player must have before they can play badminton in the right way. If you become master in the footwork practice then you will be able handle the rest. (removed)
indeed, proper footwork is one of the building blocks to being a good singles player. then again, there are plenty of other aspects of the game that people tend to take for granted, and end up hurting their singles performance :/
I agree with you, Panger! Good resource for badminton lesson is (removed) [FONT="]and if you want more just go (removed)[/FONT] [FONT="]Cheers,[/FONT] [FONT="](removed)[/FONT]
Whilst i agree that footwork is a very important aspect to your game i think that positioning is equally important, especially in singles where the aim is to get your opponent out of position so you then have a chance to win the point. Although saying that i think kwun is right.
it's all about the footwork...for those who are beginners/intermediates...stop trying to learn fancy moves when you haven't mastered your footwork. Footwork is especially important when playing singles. I highly recommend working on lunges and other other exercises mentioned here.
reaction? how do u get your reaction to "action" faster. for example, your playing singles and u clear it, you go back in the middle for the next shot your oppenent is going to hit to you. He hits a really good drop but all you do is sometimes stare at the birdie for like a split second, then start running towards it... how to fix this?