In Badminton every, amateur as well as professional player, must be in need of having an arsenal of superb skills so as to outperform his opponent and emerge as victorious at the end of the day. He must also be in want of sharpening and mastering these useful skills simultaneously. We have brought for you a highly helpful guide that will surely hone your Badminton skills and assist you in many ways such as; winning games, maintaining supremacy over opponents and becoming popular and role model for others.
Badminton Skills; Tactics, Strategies & Activities for Beginners & Advanced Level Players
Badminton skills and tactics refer to those strong and powerful playing qualities that a professional player acquires via stiff practice, rigid discipline and intensive training. The more you practice by following strong routine skills and tactics, the more mastery and winning performance you could achieve over the court.
10 Essential Badminton Skills
In order to master at Badminton, a player needs to have a mastery over following 9 Essential Skills and tactics in badminton
- Forehand & Backhand Grips
- Footwork in Badminton
- Badminton stance.
- Warm Ups
- Long Foot Steps
- Jumping Skills
- On the Court Skills
- Badminton Tactics For Singles & Doubles (Attacking & Defending)
- Advanced Skills
- Badminton Training Activities
Let’s now discuss all those necessary skills that will convert a novice player into a competitive contender.
1. Forehand & Backhand Grips
Forehand and backhand grips are equally important for you to know, because a perfect grip will rescue you from harmful injuries, save you from putting a lot of pressure on your wrist and most importantly, help you to play better shots. The way of making comfortable-cum-solid grips is fairly simple.
Let’s check them out:
a). Forehand Grip: You have to hold the racket grip like handshaking; your thumb must be opposing the handle of the racket and rest of the fingers of your hand should be around the racket.
You should not hold the racket with a super tight grip, rather, it must be flexible in order to move and twist comfortably with the wrist. This way of grip will be useful for all forehand shots. We can apply this method for both, forehand and backhand grip.
b). Backhand Grip: The players must be capable of twisting the racket fast so that they can change as well as use different grips of backhand shots. Backhand grip will help you to perform the shot across the court.
To execute this grip, your thumb must be on the handle of the racket where the front racket frame starts, because your thumb plays a major role in backhand shots. This grip may also be useful for all the strokes.
2. Footwork in Badminton
The footwork means to move here and there on the court in different ways. It comprises jumping, long footstep, running and sudden shifts from one portion to the other on a playing area.
Usually, the footwork starts from the mid of the court. It combines brisk movements from one corner to the other on the court so as to reply the shots of opposing player. The quicker you move, the better you respond.
A brilliant footwork assists a player to reach and respond almost all the shots of your opponent and offers you with and upper-hand over him (opponent). If you possess a slow footwork, you may miss to respond each and every shot of your opponent, that drops at a fair distance from you.
If you fail to respond your opponent’s shots, you are likely to lose the match. Therefore, you have to learn the basic skills of footwork properly in order to play this game like professional players.
2. Badminton Stance
You have to make a perfect stance in order to hit a shot effectively. That’s how you should do it:
- You may put your non-racket leg a step forward.
- Your shoulder’s width far away from your racket leg.
- Your both knees should be bent slightly by holding your backside horizontal.
- Now upraising your racket with your dominant hand, in which you are holding your racket.
- Remember, your racket must be higher than your shoulder.
- Additionally, you can maintain balance by bringing your non-racket arm parallel to the dominant arm.
4. Badminton Warm Ups
It is crucial for Badminton players to know how to warm up before going for an actual match, because it will prepare you, in advance, to take up the real challenge.
There are some tips for warm up:
- Skipping for five minutes.
- Jumping jacks for one minute.
- Knee sticking for one minute.
- Jogging for five minutes.
- Shadow practice with racket for 5 minutes.
5. Long footstep
Taking long steps help you in reaching shuttle that is likely to drop out of your reach. Firstly, you have to put your right foot ahead on the way, where the shuttle comes from the side of opponent.
Secondly, you have to take a small step of the left foot by pouncing outward on the floor and pick up the right foot. Try to put weight on your left foot in order to take a long footstep and hit the shuttle.
6. Jumping Skills
You have take a standing position, just leaning ahead and trying to guess if your opponent hits the shuttlecock in front of the net.
You have to be ready to jump quickly in order to use bounce technique to smash the shuttle that must pass your opponent like a bullet and kiss the surface in no time.
7. Skills on the Court
You must stand on middle of the court by bending your knees slightly. After taking this position, rely on the forefoot and, a little high, your heel.
(a) Footwork right side of the front service court: You have to focus on the left foot when you start jumping. And, right foot striding outward. When the right foot pounces outward, subsequently, you have to lean forward as much as possible.
(b) Footwork left side of the front service court: In this footwork, you should focus on left foot. The left foot comes towards outside with long step, right foot comes forward and toe of the right foot is moving ahead.
(c) Footwork of the right side of back service court: You have to focus on left foot when you are jumping. The right foot turns by side in order to take step toward back court. You can jump and hit the shuttle simultaneously.
(d) Footwork of the left side of back service court: In this footwork, the left foot takes a small step towards the back court, and the right foot should take small step forward. Then, you can start jumping, swinging and turning with the racket.
8. Tactics in Badminton
Tactics can be considered the practical use of skills to get the desired results. Let’s discuss them bit further.
a). Tactics in Badminton Singles: The basic tactics for singles are described below:
- You have to make a situation in which your opponent faces difficulty to reach and hit the shuttle back to you; subsequently you may win a point.
- It will be possible when you hit the shuttle from the corner of the playing area, keeping in mind the position of your opponent.
- If he is near the net, hit a powerful overhead shot that goes in the back of the court. And, if he is in the back of the court, play a delicate net shot that just crosses the net and falls in front of your opponent.
- You must have the knowledge of each and every part of the service court so that you can play effectively and take an ideal position; in the center of the court.
- Serving tactics are also important. They are used to serve the shuttle, in a way, that makes the serve fairly difficult for an opponent to reply.
These tactics rely on low, high and flick serves. After adapting these tactics, the players have a sufficient time, after serving the shuttle, to get ready for another shot, and also to instantly cover his court’s areas; right, left, back and front.
Sometimes, you might not be able to pass serves perfectly and your opponent has an accurate powerful shot, in this situation you need to be more flexible, observing the main strength of your opponent before starting the serve.
b). Tactics in Badminton Doubles: There are two major tactics which are adapted in Badminton doubles. One is attacking tactics, and the other is defending tactics.
In doubles, the server must have swiftness and considerable power to make the shuttle pass the net. Some strokes are also essential for doubles such as; drive, smash, serving, smash returning and wiping. The players must learn these strokes in order to be superb doubles players.
Let’s know more about attacking and defending tactics.
1. Attacking tactics (For scoring points): As we know, for playing doubles, we need teamwork. In doubles, mutual understanding is very important for both; you and your team-mate. When you start attacking with a powerful shot, you and your team-mate must take front and back position.
It means, one player takes position in the back of the court and the other player takes the front of the court. In doubles, attacking tactic is used when back court player strikes the drop shot or smash shot. There are lots of possibilities of sending the shuttle back to opponents.
If your opponent plays a returning flick shot, the back court player can play attacking shots easily. If your opponent hits the shuttle to the mid court, the front court player may play a shot which will create difficulty for opponent to respond.
If a team has a chance to attack first, will have more chance to score points and win. Therefore, you and your team-mate must be a powerful attacking player and do not pave the way for your opponent to attack.
2). Defending tactics (For saving points): When you are defending, you and your team-mate must take side by side positions so that both of you may cover the whole court. You are to be ready before your opponent starts attacking you.
9. Advanced Skills in Badminton
1. Advanced attacking Clear: Attacking clear has a trajectory that goes approximately to the opponent’s playing ground. It means the shuttle flies horizontally and quickly towards your opponent’s back of the court.
The main purpose of attacking clear is to create a difficult situation for your opponent, in which your opponent has an insufficient time to hit the shuttle. If you are fast enough with it, you are sure to score a point. Thus, it will help you win a rally. Note: When you hit the shuttle, your racket must be straight.
2. Advanced Defensive Clear: Defensive clear has a trajectory that runs high in the air towards your opponent’s back of the court. When you hit the shuttle, the tendency of racket’s face must be slightly backward. While attempting this shot, the defending player has sufficient time to come back in his service court to make next short.
3. Advanced Badminton net Shot: It is used to pass the shuttle just top of the net to your opponent’s side. The main purpose of this shot is to compel your opponent to lift the shuttle so that you can play a powerful winning smash. You have to hit the net shot, in such a way, that your opponent may give you a half court lift.
10. Badminton Training Activities
Badminton activities are very necessary for players to perform on the court. There are three crucial activities such as; strength training, speed and agility training, flexibility training. These activities will help you in performing well.
1. Strength training: While playing badminton, a player uses his all muscles of the body at once. For that reason, these muscles require strength. Compound exercises might be helpful in this regard. For instance, by doing overhead press, you will build your functional strength. You can do overhead press exercise with a kettle bell or a dumbbell.
You can improve your backward moving and sideways leaping with weight. Others including, leg presses, leg curls and squats. You may improve the strength of your upper body by doing chest presses, shoulder presses and pull downs.
It will be one of the most useful ways to improve your muscular strength. Eventually, it will make you a challenging Badminton player.
2. Speed and Agility training: This is the physical swiftness that comprises of a capability to create great energy and change the directions, on the court, quickly. A player needs quick responses to succeed in Badminton. You have to run quickly and frequently on the court and by changing the directions to prevent the shuttle from falling on your side of the court.
The shuttle has an insufficient time to land on the court, and the player also has not more than one second to react and hit it back to his opponent. Therefore, Badminton players have to maintain agility and speed.
3. Flexibility training: Flexibility is equally essential for badminton players. It always helps them to reach the shuttle by means of diving, jumping and turning while playing.
If you want to keep flexibility in your body, you have to do stretching on regular basis. A fine badminton player must exercise stretching before going for competitions. Stretching exercises make you more flexible. A player, who has a flexible body, can move his wrist, waist and arm comfortably.
It will also be helpful to make your swing better and assist you in playing seemingly difficult shots.
It is very easy to improve your flexibility. All you need is 10 to 20 minutes of daily stretching exercise.
Badminton is an artful playing. In order to win over your competitor, you are in need for a healthy style of tactful and skillful badminton playing.
Hopefully, the guide above would have served its very purpose of bringing out the best ever information needed for best badminton playing with skills, tips, tricks & techniques.
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