In a sport like badminton, certain techniques are very important to improve your game. Learning to play badminton in the right way is extremely essential to develop your game in the long run.
It is important to be flexible with your training as well as your game plan.
You need to work on your speed, focus, and technique, all at the same time for overall development.
In this article, I have enlisted certain principles that will help you improve your game. Read them and try to incorporate them into your regular practice.
Movement
It is very crucial to develop good movement as it will make you faster on the court. Good movement skills will reduce the stress on your body in the long run, which will save your energy in matches. While practicing, ensure that you combine all different types of movements for the overall development of your game.
The main different movements you can practice are Running/Sprinting, Lunging, Starting, and Stopping. All these movements will enhance your stamina and agility which will help you cover the court without getting tired.
There are various drills you can practice to enhance your movements. For example, A running drill where you run and stop as and when your coach blows the whistle or you start side running or some other form of movement.
Keep practicing such drills to see the change in your movements. There are many agility drills that you can practice with the help of your coach. Adapt to such changes and have an open mind to be flexible to use different types of movements in your training.
Footwork
To play badminton, you need to reach the shuttle to receive it. Moreover, you need to move efficiently with proper footwork. Footwork is the most important principle in badminton and the most difficult to master.
There are many drills with which you can improve your footwork. Make sure to do some footwork practice in your warm-up every day. Effective footwork helps you to get into position and execute a shot properly.
Effective footwork helps you cover the court effortlessly and enhances the coordination of your legs with the other part of the body. Well, you should also strengthen the important muscles through effective exercises that will improve your performance even more.
In professional matches, you might have observed players playing long and exhausting rallies. Well, one of the reasons they can play those rallies is that they have strong footwork to cover the court and reach every shot. It takes hours of rigorous practice and dedication to improving your footwork but the results are fruitful.
If you want to learn more about footwork, check out this article.
Hand-Eye Coordination
Considering you can reach the shuttle, the next step is to hit the shuttle at the right place and the right time. Most players make mistakes while hitting the shuttle either by missing the shuttle or hitting it in the wrong way. The best way to avoid such mistakes is to improve your hand-eye coordination.
There are different ways through which you can improve your hand-eye coordination. You can play other fast sports like Table Tennis and also train your brain to think fast while in court. Occasional table tennis, football, and catching practice are effective mechanisms to enhance hand-eye coordination.
Grip
Do you know that a badminton racket has a sweet spot? What is a sweet spot?
A sweet spot is a point on the racket from where you can hit the shuttle with maximum power without using much energy. Well, all badminton players must know the sweet spot of their racket to receive the shuttle properly.
For this, you need to use proper gripping techniques like the forehand and backhand. Once you learn these grips, you should practice shots with the grip, and then you will get to know how to hit the shot properly. Inappropriate gripping patterns can lead to injuries and poor performance.
If you don’t know much about the various grips in badminton, don’t worry. Check out this article, where I have talked about everything you need with pictures.
Recovery
One of the most important aspects to improve your game is how fast you can recover to your base position and be ready for the next shot. It gets really difficult to reach the shuttle if you have not taken your base position. Attempting shots from the base position make it easier to reach the shuttle.
Well, footwork plays a key role here. You need to practice rigorously to return to the base position after every shot.
Stances
There are different stances in badminton you need to master to improve your game. You need to understand when and how to move into these stances. The most important ones are:
Defensive Stance: You must move into this stance when you have lifted or cleared the shuttle high giving your opponent a chance to attack. You must be ready to defend the shuttle whatsoever standing with feet wide apart and slightly bending your body to receive the shuttle.
Attacking Stance: You must move into an attacking stance whenever your opponent delivers the shuttle at your backcourt. There are different ways to land in an attacking stance either landing on your right foot and hitting it sideways or receiving it backhand.
Forward attacking: Well, this is one important stance you need to practice to attack the shuttle close to the net when it is slightly above the net. It involves jumping from the middle of the court to directly hit the shuttle at the net and landing on your racket’s side leg.
Lunging: For every movement in badminton, lunging is very important. To receive the shuttle sideways and forward, your movement mostly ends with a lunge. Practice this stance to reach the shuttle faster by stretching the capacity of your lunge.
You need to anticipate well in advance about which stance you need to move into.
Additional Physical Activities
You can practice additional physical movements to improve your hold and wrist power by using a heavy badminton racket or a squash racket to hit different shots. To improve your running technique, there are many agility drills, shadow practice drills you can do with the help of your coach. These exercises will help to enhance your movement, lunges, and overall game.
Strength training and core training are also very important to improve your balance and muscle strength in badminton.
Play With A Variety Of Players
If you keep playing with the same level of players time and again, your game will remain stagnant. To effectively improve your game, it is important to play different types of matches with different types of players. For instance, if you are a right-handed player, you can practice one match by playing with a left-handed player and vice versa. When you play like this, you get to understand their techniques and style of play.
Also, practice other sports such as cycling, running, and swimming for the overall development of your body movements.
Observation
The best way to learn some movement or shot is to observe a player doing it and practice in the same manner immediately. When you watch badminton matches or videos, observe the movements, and try to incorporate them into your practice. Observation is really important for your body because when you watch a video of a shot, from every angle, it gets easier to memorize and try it.
Change Is Inevitable
You need to adopt changes in your training as well as during a match to adapt to your opponent and playing conditions. If the opponent can predict your game, you will be at a disadvantage in the game so therefore, change it immediately. You have to keep changing your game plan as it will prevent your opponent from guessing your strategy.
Final Thoughts
To steadily improve your game, mix practice, theory, videos, and training sessions whenever possible. As you can see, there are several ways to improve your game so keep practicing and never lose hope.
Moreover, all these principles can be practiced more effectively with the help of an efficient Coach. Practice a few extra activities and exercises o steadily improve your game. Play with different types of opponents under different conditions for overall development.
Most importantly, track your progress and keep a training diary to analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Try to make the most of what your coach instructs you.
I hope this article was helpful to you. Thanks for reading!