Get a Grip! How to deal with dusty badminton courts

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by kwun, Apr 25, 2005.

  1. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    (Article posted in BadmintonCentral front page)
    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
    Unless you are a professional player playing in a major tournament where there are volunteers armed with mops ready to wipe the floor for you, likely you will have encountered dusty badminton courts. Dust is not only slippery but dangerous as slipping can easily cause injury. Here we describe a few ways to deal with these dusty courts.
    [/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Don’t be the dust mite[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The first thing we need to remember is not to become the source of dust. Dust in gyms comes from human activities, and most of it comes from dirty shoes. Streets are filled with dust everywhere, if you wear your badminton shoes outside dust will trap in the grooves in the sole of your shoes and you will bring them along with you into the gym. If you want to keep the gym clean and dust free, make sure you wear street shoes for street, and gym shoes for gyms only.[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mopping the floor beforehand[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mop the floor. Most gyms are equipped with large mops. If you get to the gym and noticed a dusty floor, find the overseer of the gym and borrow their mop. They will lend it to you as they are always happy to have someone else clean their gym for them.[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Wet towel/napkin[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]One popular way to get dust off one’s shoes is to put a wet towel on the ground and gently step on the towel. The water in the towel will clean off the dust and leave you with a clean sole. Often players put one next to the court behind the net post so they can go wipe between rallies.[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Carpet/Rug[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sitting areas in gyms are often lined with carpet, entrances to gyms often have a entrance rugs. These provides a good clean the dust off the shoes. Just step into the carpet and rub your soles against them.[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Use your hands[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This sounds kinda strange. But I learned this effective method from a top level player. The idea is simple, raise your shoes, put your palm face on the sole near the toe end, and then swipe it along the sole towards the heel end. The swiping action along with the sweat on your palm will take the dust off your sole. This is an effective and fast method that you can do quickly in between rallies without interrupting the flow of the game. You can wipe your hand against your shirt or shorts if you find the feeling strange.[/font]

    [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To conclude, we have described a few methods to reduce dust accumulation on your sole. A good grip of the ground reduces injuries as well as builds one confidence on footwork.[/font]
     
  2. odjn

    odjn Regular Member

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    there's also spitting on the gym floor, and wiping your shoes on the spit
     
  3. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    i am not sure if i want to encourage that. not very hygene imho... ;)
     
  4. Pete LSD

    Pete LSD Regular Member

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    Now, I know why my sinus and throat are re-infected by bugs. :crying: :crying: :crying: All thanks to unconsiderate folks.

     
  5. FEND.

    FEND. Regular Member

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    Nah, prolly you don't drink enough of water after your badminton sessions! :p.

    Kwun, it's better to sweep the floor first and then mop it. Sometimes when you mop it straight, the dust will just stick to the floor and not go away when you want it to!! But just wondering right, wouldn't dust be minimal cause court shoes are usually not worn outside the court?

    I mean we usually keep em in our bags and take em out at home and I'm sure lots of people just dust it? But probably dust comes from the air around and settles on the court. Poor ventillation?

    lol. My thoughts only :)
     
  6. madbad

    madbad Regular Member

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    Had that exact issue a few times during the winter at where we play. Most of the players change into their court shoes once in the gym but a few play in what they come in. Ever tried hitting the soles together? Notice the amount of dust that comes off it! We had the floor swept, then mopped and even then there was minimal improvement. We resorted to having a few damp towels at courtside so that we could wipe the soles of our shoes on them before continuing. Contrary to what some club members thought, a few of us reckoned the wax used on the surface (wood) had just as much to do with it.
     
  7. Jinryu

    Jinryu Regular Member

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    Just remember to wash your hands before you eat:rolleyes:.

    There is one court that i play at though where the gyms are so dirty and mopping/sweeping is out of the question.. and I used to bring a towel, but found it too disgusting to bring that towel home afterwards, caked with dust, hairs and dirt (seriously!)

    So what i used to do to wet my soles was just sorta spill some water around the water fountain (when no one was looking) since i guess they figure that too much water around there is hazardous and they always clean it. So it's a clean place to get some water on my shoes.

    Course, after about ten minutes, my soles are all dusted up again from the courts, but in certain situations you do what you can.
     
  8. Dave18

    Dave18 Regular Member

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    But i really think that wiping the shoes with the hands is really dirty. You don't know what your stepping on.
     
  9. BzerKboi

    BzerKboi Regular Member

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    i personally like sliding on the dirt :)
     
  10. Shuttlebugs

    Shuttlebugs Regular Member

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    I used to play badminton on concrete floor in Malaysia. One thing we did that actually helped to promote grip on dusty slipery floor (apart from giving it a good scrub, mop and dry) was to springle fine soap powder on the floor. Wonder if others have that experience.
     
  11. registered

    registered Regular Member

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    hrm most people i see just play on the courts reguardless of the dusty floors, i always do it, i do swipe the bottom of my feet with my hands all the time... well there is one good thing is that i actually did the splits forward once, because i slipped :rolleyes: and when you can play on a dusty floor... WOW it's amazing when you play on a clean one because you react faster :)
     
  12. Joseph

    Joseph Regular Member

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    Did you write this article because of the tournament you just played in Kwun? :rolleyes:
     
  13. K3vin

    K3vin Regular Member

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    using your hands to clean your shoes is a basketball method to get better grip =). never knew people don't know about it.
     
  14. Californian

    Californian Regular Member

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    This problem comes up a lot in multipurpose gyms with wood floors.

    I do all the things you mention, and sometimes I still have problems with dusty floors. I hate it when I slide when trying to stop, or slip when I try to push off to move.

    The problem is worse on floors that are not properly cared for, especially in areas where they are painted (such as in a basketball key).

    One thing I've resorted to, especially if I know I'm going to stay on a certain court, is to take a damp towel and wrap it around something that I can push around the court before playing. One player took an empty bird tube, cut a lengthwise-slit in the side, stuck the head-end of a racquet into the slit so that the racquet would be the handle for a makeshift mop, and wrapped the towel around the tube to make a wet push-mop.

    A swiffer would be better, but it takes a long time to cover the area of a court.

    In really bad cases, some kind of wet mopping is the only thing that really works. Wiping your shoes only lasts as long as one rally, sometimes not even that long.
     
  15. bighook

    bighook New Member

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    A point which I see missing is the proper way to dust mop the floor.When Dust mopping the floor make sure to push the mop head in one direction only.No turning the mop handle the other way as you are now redistributing that dirt and dust which you have just pushed forward and is now sticking to the mop head.When mopping do passes from one end of the court to the other and when you reach the end lift and shake the mop to empty the dust deposits(dump and shake).The mop is only capable of of catching so much before it is just slipping under the mop and you are just pushing the dust from one area to another.Take my word for it.I have watched people do the mopping and never do a dump and shake and sure enough the floor is just no better.Don't waste your time if you don't dump and shake at the end of a pass.If the floor is really bad you may have to go over it 2 or 3 times to get the results.Also don't just do the courts only but also the areas from where you actually walk to and from the court.Before you start your dust mopping see how dirty the mop is also.You may be better off shaking the mop for a while before starting your passes.I myself refuse to play in really bad conditions as the risk of ankle and hamstring injuries is just not worth it.It often only takes ten minutes to do a whole gym and it takes a split second to do the injury and 4 to 6 weeks to recover.Not to mention the quality of play is way better on a clean floor.
     
  16. Neil Nicholls

    Neil Nicholls Regular Member

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    Simon Archer does that a lot

    another variant is to use your hand to wipe some sweat from a sweaty area, and then wipe the sole of the shoe. Use the non-racquet hand so as not to transfer sweat and rubbish to your grip.
     
  17. coops241180

    coops241180 Regular Member

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    other tricks include, wiping the soles against your shins/calves.

    or wiping them across the top of your shoes..

    nb: both of these result in side effects tho - bald patches on your legs for the former, and premature wear on the fronts of your shoes for the latter.

    find it good to use these in combination and with a damp towel at the side. reduces the frequency of wiping..
     
  18. Californian

    Californian Regular Member

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    I pretty much agree. Also, push along the boards lengthwise, not across them, which usually means pushing from the back of one side of the court to the other end, rather than back and forth across the width of the court (but that depends on how the floor is laid out). Doing it this way means you will have to duck under the net on each pass, so you will have to be careful, but I believe it is better and faster than turning around at the net to go back to the back end of the court.

    I would prefer to start at the end of the court closest to the wall, make a pass to the other end, swing around, keeping the mop always in contact with the floor and keeping the same side of the mop in front, and make another pass, and then shake out along the wall rather than closer to the center of the gym. I prefer the wide, double-headed types of mops. Then I can apply some downward pressure with a little bit of overlap on each pass.
     
  19. Californian

    Californian Regular Member

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    I've seen some people fling some sweat onto the floor off the court and rub their shoes in it.
     
  20. Jinryu

    Jinryu Regular Member

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    Reminds me of days at the dojo; only instead of mops, the instructor would get like 10 students to get a towel, get down on their hands with the length stretched out, and have a whole, 10 person mop swipe the whole length of the room, lol.

    If only people would help to clean courts (and it wasn't just one or two people doing it) it would be helluva faster.

     

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