BADMINTON

INTRODUCTION TO BADMINTON

Badminton is a historically popular and highly skillful racquet game. It is played with a shuttlecock on a rectangular court. Like tennis, the game can be played as singles or doubles - with one person on each side, or two.

Players dart around the court, pitting their reactions and reflexes against the opposition. Four miles can be travelled by a player in the duration of a match, so fitness is paramount.

The shuttlecock flies through the air in amateur and professional games alike, giving the feathered (usually plastic) projectile its affectionate nick name of the ‘bird’. In fact, a powerful smash or serve in badminton regularly beats the top speeds of those of a world class tennis player - up to around 260kph for world class badminton players, compared to Andy Roddick's world-record serve of 246 kph. As such, badminton is arguably the world’s fastest racquet sport.

Badminton Fitness
Badminton is a popular fast-paced indoor sport. To be successful in badminton you need excellent court speed and agility, with a good background of endurance. The fitness training for badminton should focus on speed, agility and endurance, with also strength and flexibility also important. 

Training should be sport specific, addressing the specific needs of a badminton player. On court training, such as playing games and badminton drills, will provide some fitness benefits, but it needs to be supplemented with extra off-court training, such as resistance exercises in the gym and other cross training activities. Here is some more information about training for specific physical attributes that are important for badminton.

Speed :- movements around the badminton court are of very short distance, so movement speed training should focus of reaction time, acceleration and agility (change of direction). There are drills to increase foot speed, such as quick feet ladder drills. Training should also focus on strength and power development.

Strength :- resistance training exercises should focus on those areas which are actively involved in playing badminton, such as the wrist, elbows, shoulders, neck, chest, abdomen, back, thighs, knees and ankles.

Flexibility :- The badminton player uses their flexibility to reach, dive and turn to cover all parts of the court. Flexibility is something that can be improved with regular stretching. The badminton player should stretch before each activity (training and competition), plus other stretches, such as pnf and active stretches, to increase the flexibility of specific muscle groups.

Endurance :- Endurance is a very important component of fitness for badminton. Badminton players cover a lot of ground during a match with little rest. Not only is aerobic fitness important for court play, but you need to be fit for long technical training sessions and to recover well between games during extended tournament play.