Badminton for beginners
Badminton is the fastest racket sport in the world, with shuttles travelling at speeds faster than a Formula One car (that’s 421kph). Danielle Sellwood and Jessica Whittington of sports magazine Sportsister, explain you how you can join in the excitement.
Suitable for people of all ages and abilities, the benefits of playing badminton are huge – by playing regularly you can improve your aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed and precision. Not only that but it's a great social sport, it can be played all year round, it isn't weather dependent and costs very little to try out.
Although the benefits speak for themselves, the speed, agility and fitness required for badminton is often underrated, as are the advantages of getting involved. For example, did you know that badminton players can cover four miles on court verses the same time in tennis where you only cover two?
The basics
For a beginner, badminton is a relatively low cost sport to start playing. You can generally hire a court at a local sports hall or centre for a low cost and this will allow up to four people to play at one time. You can also often hire a racket and a shuttle at your local sports centre, or ask around your friends to borrow one before you spend out on your own (see below for more on rackets and shuttles).
Clothing is very straightforward too as you can just wear any fitness or gym kit, however you will need a decent sports bra. Footwear is a bit more specific, ideally you should use indoor court shoes or badminton trainers as these have good grip and support. But to start with you can get away with any trainers as long as they have non-marking soles. If you do decide to buy your own, you can buy a good pair for under £50.
The court
So now you are ready to play you need to know what the lines on the court mean. If you are playing doubles you will use all the court and for singles just the central section. To serve you stand behind the short serve line and hit the shuttlecock into the diagonally opposite box.
If the shuttlecock falls short of the short serve line it is a point to your opponent and their serve. If the shuttlecock clips the net, but still lands in the correct area then this is a valid point. Once the game is underway the whole court can be used.
Scoring
To start, take up position on either side of the net, hit the shuttle into the air and let it fall naturally to the ground. Whichever way the ball end is pointing indicates the side the game will start.
The first serve is taken on the right hand side of the court, this is the even side of the court - the left hand side is the odd side. If your score is an even number (0,2,4 etc) you serve from the right. If your score is an odd number you serve from the left.
You can score a point whether you are serving or not, so you gain a point for each win. The game plays until either side has reached 21, however there must be two points between the sides - so 21-19 would win, but 21-20 would have to keep playing until either side was two points ahead.
Rackets and shuttles
Rackets are made of various lightweight materials and can cost anything from £10 to over £100. To start with you do not need to spend a fortune, but do avoid the very cheap rackets (under £10)
The key elements to think about are if the racket feels appropriately balanced for you, has the correct level of flexibility and is strong enough for the string tension that you require. This probably all sounds a bit baffling if you are new to the sport, so try to find a good sports store or racket specialist who can advise you. Very often they will loan demonstration rackets for a week or so, and that is certainly worth doing before you buy.
Shuttles are plastic or feathered. If you are just starting, plastic shuttles are ideal and cheaper. They come in three speeds - fast, medium and slow, start with medium speed until you know more about the game.
Get involved
With London 2012 fast approaching, BADMINTON England has made it even easier for you to take part in the fastest racket sport on the planet.
They’ve developed a revolutionary PlayBadminton online portal at www.PlayBadminton.co.uk which enables people to quickly search for a nearby badminton court, club or activity, providing easy access to the game anywhere in the country.
There are currently over 23,700 courts in England but awareness of where they are and how to access them is relatively low. The PlayBadminton portal is designed to address this issue by offering an easy route to get on court.
Alternatively, you can find a club in your area by using the links below:
Danielle Sellwood and Jessica Whittington write for Sportsister, The Women’s Sports Magazine.
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