Hi gang, My daughter is taking badminton training, and I was thinking of getting her a new racket for the progress she's been making. She's able to hit shots, but as she's a little on the small side, her clears are her struggle. Was thinking of getting her a head heavy, flexible racket to help her progress. She's currently using an old Protech Nano Titanium 9000, which I think is medium flex. Was thinking of the following rackets, but am not too sure if they will be beneficial. Specs listed Astrox01 as Hi-Flex, and the 99 Play and 88D Play as medium flex, but I've not seen the rackets personally yet, so I can't really tell. 1. Yonex Astrox 01 Clear/Feel/Ability (I'm not sure what the difference is between the 3) 2. Astrox 99 Play 3. Astrox 88D Play The last 2 were recommended by the racket shop, but as they're medium flex, I'm not too sure if that will help her. Thoughts?
A while ago before Covid enter our live, sometimes i play with a coach that train kids on the same hall with my club (just different court). Sometimes we just having fun, me & my friend agains the coach & 1 of his trainie. 1 of it was a little girl (maybe around 7 or 8). She use AX7. Ofcourse she lack on strength but her placement are quite good actually (even better than our lower lv friend. Just that we adult excel on our well made muscle AKA strength). not sure about the racket mentioned as i had never try it but in general: Head heavy is good just not to head heavy , between 290-295BP are fine. 4U & flex to mid flex are good to go. With string tension around 20-22lbs. Dont worry to much about racket. Creating the basic fundamental are important on this stage to create good habit & also let her enjoy the games. As she grow, her strength would be improving aswell & when she had good basic & start with the technical stuff, then you might want to find a suitable racket for her style like maybe stiffer racket or higher tension string to gain more control.
Getting her a new racket won't immediately bring progress, but may help her more easily develop, without needing to overpower a racket that doesn't fit her. Training without needing to use 100% power all the time will help in development, as then you can focus on technique. I'm not totally sure which rackets would suit children best, but going off of your ideas: Astrox 6 is 4u and flexible Astrox 2 is 5u and very flexible. Both should also be fine for her and are reasonably affordable. Really consider getting a new string put in the new racket, as the factory string is made to never break, not to play well. Good feedback from the string is important for learning. I would suggest looking into BG-65 at around 20lbs. Replace once or twice a year (it probably won't break before this). When she can clear more easily, you can increase the tension a little.
The rackets you've listed might be a little too head heavy for your daughter. Perhaps an Astrox 77 or Astrox 88S Game would be better to use.
Thanks for the feedback. Have spoken to her coach and he has also basically said a (medium) flexible slightly head heavy racket will suit her for now.
I would advise a medium racquet- medium balance , medium flex and 4U. At this age, there’s no need to expect her to do full length clears. There’s still a lot time for her for physical development to catch up. What is important is for her to get progressively skilful and comfortable with moving around the court and at the same time holding and swinging the racquet. A high serve to the back court is also very very useful to develop and that can start now. I think if you look around, girls (good players) who are eleven years old can do full length clears but with inconsistent length.
Hi, I'm in the same situation. Looking for a racket for my 9yo daughter. She currently uses an old Prince given to me (don't know what spec). She has been training 2-3 times a week and has been improving. Unfortunately, I cannot get most of the rackets listed above. What I found with some online HK shops was the Nanoflare Junior - I wanted to ask what you think about it - I was thinking the G7 grip would work for her small hands. Alternatively the how about the Astrox FB? I may able to get the Astrox FB from my sister and won't need to buy one
Both are probably fine, but the FB is possibly more fragile. The junior is also shorter, and has a smaller grip size. If she's 9, I wouldn't know which would fit better. If she already has a full sized racket, perhaps getting the junior would be weird to adjust to, as it's shorter.
Here are my suggestions, but bear in mind everyone is different, etc... I would suggest skipping the junior racket and use a full size. The Astrox 22 LT or Astrox Lite 27i could be suitable options if you want a light racket. Astrox 1DG doesn't seem too shabby either, and could possibly get further use out of it. As others have mentioned, at this early stage there's no preferred play style and they just need something they can learn and develop muscle memory with.
agree with the others, skip the junior version. If she already use standard racket, playing with junior version would ruin all her training. & even if she currently using training version, i think its a good step up to learn to use normal racket than sticking to junior racket. For the racket itself, dont be to much bothered with it. Any racket that is not to heavy, not to light, not to head heavy, not to head light, & flex to medium flex would do good regardless the brand. Just take some model & let her choose her favourite color to makes her more excited to learn & also enjoy the games. & uummm as you could get her fb, i think its fine to let her try it & you could save your pocket for future investment when she need a real upgrade.
Here in HK, we try to move kids on to using full length racquets early rather than later - 5 or 6 years old. At 9 years old, the player should have definitely moved to full length racquets for at least 2 years, even if small for age.
Thanks! Great suggestions! Will keep using the Prince racket for now (checked its a 4U flexible racket) and get the FB from my sister for my daughter to try. And maybe if she gets really serious with it (fingers crossed ) I will let her choose a new racket that she likes.
Just curious, if a nine Y.O. girls whose still to develop a full length clears. Recommend to use a 4U racket. How bout adults, above 30's intermediate level. Is it better to use a 4U or depends on personal preferences? Coz, i met some player whose hitting clear farther than me, prefer to use a 5U cheap racket as his main axe. But, i feel better (easier) to use a 3U to catch him up.
some people (human with normal life... I mean non pros) had tendency on either power or speed. Depend on the person some had benefit on heavier racket coz they are slow swing yet had excesive strength while some other had weaker strength yet they quick with their hand. Afterall power shot are come from speed & weight. So if you sacrifice 1 aspect but cover up equaly on other aspect, you still get the same power shot. Even on my friend, not many who like my sledge hammer. The good thing less people want to borrow your racket when their racket snap
