5 Basic Badminton Skills Every Beginner Needs To Learn
5 Basic Badminton Skills Every Beginner Needs To Learn
5 Basic Badminton Skills Every Beginner Needs To Learn
Badminton is a beginner-friendly sport as anyone can start out and try to play the game. Usually, beginners
are only focused on trying to make sure that whenever they hit the shuttle, it goes over the net and within
the bounds of the court. But even for beginners, learning these basic badminton skills can help increase
both competitiveness and also the fun in playing.
Always having the right stance when playing makes it a lot easier to
minimize the movements you need to make to hit a shot. The ready
stance done by putting your non-racquet leg a step forward and
about shoulder width away from your racquet leg. Slightly bend both
knees with your weight balanced between both legs. Slightly bend
forward from the hip, keeping your back straight, and lift your racquet
up with your racquet-hand in front of you slightly above your shoulder
and the head of the racquet to be right above your forehead. Raise
your non-racquet arm to help improve your balance.
3. Footwork
Overhead Forehand – this is the most common stroke and most beginners are very more comfortable
using this especially for stronger strokes. Make sure to have a forehand grip, lift your racket arm up with
the racket slightly above your head, and tilt your body to the side of your racket arm with your racket arm
behind you. Widen your chest and use your non-racket hand to point at the shuttlecock to aim. Straighten
out your racket arm then swing it towards the shuttle in a downward motion while slightly rotating your
waist towards the front. Swing the racket until it’s pointing slightly downwards.
Overhead Backhand- the overhead backhand is slightly more difficult for beginners as you’ll have to face
your body backward to use this effectively. This is a slightly advanced shot that is hard to master at first but
doing so will set good foundations to how you play badminton. To start, turn your body to the back in the
direction of your non-racket arm, with your racket arm raised in front of you and pointing towards the back.
Keep your racket-arm close to your body, bent such that your elbow is pointing down. As the shuttle
approaches above your head level, slightly tilt your arm downward to gain momentum then swing up and
flick your wrist upward until the racket is pointing up and your arm is straightened out. Remember to
immediately go back to your ready stance once you’ve hit the shot.
Underarm Forehand– the underarm forehand allows you to hit low shots with a lot of strength, but it is quite
challenging to aim at first. To do this, from your ready stance, lunge forward with your racket-leg and keep
your racket arm slightly bent with the top of the racket’s head slightly below shoulder level. Straighten your
arm out to make the racket tilt backwards then flick your wrist, followed by your arm, to swing forward when
hitting the shuttle. Bend your body forward slightly to keep your balance.
Underarm Backhand– the underarm backhand is actually easier to do than the overhead counterpart since
you won’t need to turn backwards. Lunging towards your backhand area, Bend your racket arm downward
with the racket handle parallel to the floor and the racket head parallel to your body. Flick your wrist
upward, followed by your arm until your arm is extended straight and aligned with your shoulder
So what are the fundamental skills of you need? Badminton requires you to be able to move around the court quickly
so agilityis key, but don’t worry if you are not the most agile because playing regularly will help you to improve in
this area. In fact Badminton along with other sports such as Squash and Tennis are ideal sports to improve not only
agility but your hand–eye coordination whilst improving fitness.
What more do you want from a sport/game? Enjoyment? Well Badminton in my opinion scores very highly on the
enjoyment scale, because unlike Tennis (Which I Like) is way more accessible and easier to pick up and enjoy right
from your first game or lesson.
Let’s look at some of the skills and techniques you will need to maste
Badminton Skills And Techniques: #1 How To Improve Footwork As I mentioned this is a sport that requires a lot of
agility so this is the first thing to address. So moving around the court sounds easy but moving correctly means not
only will you be able to reach and make more shots but you will also be less likely to injury yourself, a win win
situation.
So how do you improve your footwork? Well you will need to pratice these footwork drills which you can see in my
article on Footwork. Don’t worry there are videos from the web to demonstrate how you should be moving and how
having the right footwork will allow you to better anticipate your opponents next shot / move. Get your footwork
right and your enjoyment playing the game will dramatically improve along with your skills and all-round
competitiveness.
Badminton Skills And Techniques: #2 The Correct Grip Technique Sounds very simple you just hold it and swing
right? Wrong some people hold the racket too tightly which not only reduces your dexterity which
will definitely impact you game, but it can sometimes cause the skin to blister. So if you want to improve your
Badminton skills and techniques you will need to grip your racket correctly.
I have other articles in which I go into more detail along with videos that show you exactly how you should hold your
racket. Whether it’s your backhand grip or your forehand grip you are going to need to know the correct Badminton
grip technique.
Techniques For The Beginner
Badminton Skills And Techniques: #3 Shots
Now it’s time to start to practice all the different shots that you will need to start and enjoy playing this great sport.
So here are the main shots you need to work on getting right:
Types of shots
Serve
Clear Shot
Drop Shot
Smash Shot
Backhand Shot