How can you become a better badminton player? If you want to improve your badminton skills to a whole new level, you’ve come to the right place.
There are several different badminton tactics, techniques, and drills you can do to level up your game. In this article, I’ll share a few tips for you to help you become a better badminton player.
Without any further ado, let’s dive right in.
Watch Professional Badminton Matches Closely
If you’re a beginner in badminton or you don’t have much idea when it comes to playing the game, then the first thing I would suggest is to watch badminton games. That’s how I learned the game.
When I was young, we used to play badminton in my village. Since I was very interested in the game, I often watched the highly competitive international badminton games. When you watch something many times, and you’re interested in it, your subconscious mind will automatically pick up a lot of things, and it will help us to imitate what we watch.
Hence, I try to put the things I learn from watching these games into practice when I’m playing with my friends. That’s a great way to improve your game.
Also, when you watch the matches enough times, you’ll understand all the laws of the game. That way, you’ll not be embarrassed due to not knowing the rules of the game when you’re playing.
When I was playing doubles with my friends, I didn’t know all the exact rules, especially the service court changing. So, I was confused about that while playing and couldn’t give my complete focus on rallies.
But when I watched several international games, I was able to understand all the ins and outs of the game. That helped me gain confidence and clear my mind when I play.
By the way, if you want to know all the service rules in badminton, check out this article to learn everything.
So that’s my favorite tip. Watch top-quality matches and learn how the professionals play. Try to imitate that on the court.
Warm Up Before The Match
This is really critical, but many people don’t focus on it when they play games casually. Warming up before a match, even if that is a casual match with your friends, has a lot of benefits.
The main thing is to get a feel of the shuttle. Before you start a match, just hit the shuttle back and forth with your friend or your opponent to get used to the pace of the shuttle.
This can be very important because if you don’t do this, by the time you get a feel of the shuttle in a match, you might lose several points, mostly due to your own errors.
If you don’t believe me, you can try this and understand the difference. If you directly start a match without any touches, chances are you’ll make a lot of mistakes.
The next reason why you need to warm up is to avoid injuries. Do a few exercises before the match and get your body ready for playing. These warm-up exercises will improve your blood circulation, and you’ll be less prone to injuries.
Play Badminton With Better Players
Playing badminton with players who are better than you will improve your game exponentially. This is much more powerful than watching badminton matches because you’ll see a good player implementing his skills against you.
You might lose all the games initially. You might not even see the smashes they’re hitting against you. But don’t get embarrassed about it. Gradually, your game will become better, and you might even reach the level of your opponents.
I can’t stress enough how important this tip is. Play regularly against tougher opponents, and I bet you you’ll improve your game.
So the next time when you go with your friends to play a match, don’t choose easy opponents to play with you. Play against the best player in your gang, and try to learn from him/her.
Learn Basic Footwork And Technique
Footwork is key to badminton, especially in singles, because you need to cover the entire court all by yourself. So learning the fundamentals of footwork in badminton is worth the time.
You need the right footwork to move around the court (back and forth and sideways) most quickly so that you can reach all the shots from the opponents.
The basic footwork for all the shots in badminton starts from a base position. The base position can be the center of your court. After the serve, position yourself at the base position so that you have the best chance to reach all 4 corners of your court.
Once you move to a corner and return the shot, you need to come back to the base position as quickly as possible and get ready for the next shot.
Also, learn how to take the steps for moving to each corner. If you want to improve your footwork, I suggest you check out the complete guide I’ve written on Basic Footwork In Badminton. That will help you learn the right technique.
Once you learn the footwork, practice it several times. Try to practice moving your friend to the front and back continuously. Once you become good at this, practice hitting the shuttle to the left and right sides interchangeably.
After that, practice hitting the shuttle continuously to the 4 corners of the court one after the other. This will help you learn to place the shuttle correctly and improve your footwork.
Master All The Shots In The Game
By this time, you might already know the several different shots in badminton. Now, it’s time to improve your options and add some new shots to your arsenal.
Starting with the serve, you need to learn how to serve correctly and use some variations as well. There are several types of serves and try learning all of them. Check out the article on this website about the Types Of Serves In Badminton to learn them all.
Then move to the next part, which is returning serves. Click here to find out the article on that topic and learn the different types of service returns in badminton.
There are several other basic shots and varieties in this game. After learning the serves, the flicks, the lobs, the net shots, etc., improve your smashing skills.
Try to learn all the different shots in the game. If you have learned all the basic shots, you can even try some trick shots to add some deception to your game. Check out this comprehensive guide on Badminton Trick Shots to learn some of them and trick your opponents.
Practice And Play Badminton A Lot
The last thing I want to say is to play and practice the game as much as possible. Play the game every single day consistently, and after a period, when you look back, you’ll see that you’ve improved a lot in your game.
There are some factors such as momentum and consistency, which are really true when it comes to badminton or be it any sport. To excel in a physical sport like badminton, you need consistent match practices. The more you play the game, the better player you become.
If you don’t play for a while, you’ll find it difficult to come back to the game and play the same level that you were used to playing. So don’t allow laziness or other factors to drop your quality and consistency. Take proper care of your body and try to avoid injuries.
If you’ve reached a level and you want to compete against tougher opponents, join a badminton academy or a badminton club. Also, go and participate in badminton tournaments in your area. If you want to become a professional badminton player, this article will guide you.
One thing I want to add to all the above tips is to play with the best equipment. Choose the right products to make your game better.
Final Thoughts
We’ve gone through the basics and covered a lot of things to improve your badminton. The last thing you don’t want to do is to walk away after reading this article without implementing any of these tips.
That will only waste your time reading this article without making any progress in your game. So, I urge you to implement all the mentioned tips. Hopefully, with more practice, you’ll become really good at badminton.
I hope this article was helpful to you in learning some new things related to badminton. If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, do share it so that others can also find it.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy badminton!