Hello! I am a beginner and Playing for about 5 weeks. I was playing initially with my friend racket. A week ago i bought my own. Lining ss20 g5. For last few days my smashes are always hitting the frame. A friend of mine said that if this continues a few times, your frame will break. I got so worried and stopped hitting smash. Just mlnow while examining my racket found a small scrath like thing in my racket. Is it a crack. Please help me i had to save lot of money to buy this. How to stop hitting the frame Please help me. Thanks
This looks like just a paint scratch. It's nearly impossible to break your racket by hitting the shuttle on the frame. I wouldn't worry about that. Hitting the frame still happens at higher levels all the time, don't feel too bad! Hitting the strings would of course be better, and working on your timing and hitting smashes at 60-80% max may help tune this in. What will break your racket is hitting the ground, or especially hitting another racket in a swing.
Just want to add, some racket had really bad paint quality that easily chipped from simple miss hit. For example are the low end Lining TC009 (or 008... The naming are just confusing, so spare my mistake). One of my friend own it & his 3days old already in very bad shape (chipped everywhere), but regardless the racket still survive till this day.
It's only a scratch. But I confirm it can happen (saw it two times from beginners) if you consistently frame the shuttle, specifically if you are a hard hitter. But I wouldn't stop smashing just because of that. And if it does, that's part of learning. The racket is just a tool for you to progress. If you stop smashing, you won't learn. EDIT: didn't see the part you mentioned you saved for a while to get the racket. Don't worry, I really don't think you would break it easily by smashing but be aware that a racket can break. Especially when playing doubles.
if you can't sleep thinking of the paint scratch/chip, actually you can fix it by applying mixture of super glue and black paint, using the sharp side of a toothpick
