Last updated on February 21st, 2023 at 11:44 am
When starting out playing badminton it’s easy to overlook a few key points. With that in mind here are 11 great badminton tips aimed at helping beginners and intermediate level players.
Many of them may seem obvious but many of us make the mistake of skipping straight to playing badminton without any further thought. Hopefully these badminton tips can help you enjoy your play more as well as helping to improve it.
How do I get better at badminton? Lets take a look at a few things you can do to improve your skills.
Badminton Tips Vital To Improving Your Game
1. Play To Enjoy
When taking up a new sport such as badminton it’s important that you actually have fun whilst playing. You’re way more likely to stick with it if you are actually enjoying playing. That’s why joining a club with a friend often results in your continued participation in the sport.
2. Don’t Spend A Fortune On Your First Racket
A big mistake beginners often make is by purchasing a really expensive badminton racket and expecting it to make them a really good player. This of course is not going to happen. We recommend picking up a relatively cheap racket to begin with. Remember you can always upgrade later if you decide to stick with the sport. The most important thing is to learn the basics of badminton such as shots types.
3. Ensure You Warm-up Properly Before Play
Often the most overlooked yet essential part to any sport is the warm-up. Most of us just want to go straight to the fun part, playing badminton right? Skipping a proper warm-up however significantly increases your risk of injury. In fact you can find out more about badminton injuries here.
To give you an idea of the sort of exercises you could include in your warm-up take a look at this excellent video from Greg and Jenny over at Badminton Insight.
Badminton Warm-up
4. After Play Cool-Down – Stretches & Jogging
You have warmed up, played a few games of badminton and now it’s time to head home right? Wrong, just as important as warming up before play is warming down or cooling down after play.
This involves various stretches along with jogging. This allows the body to transition back to a resting state. It also helps to reduces muscle soreness and injury.
In fact if you watch sports such as football you will quite often see players jogging and stretching after the game. How many badminton players simply skip this cool down or warm-down routine? That’s why its considered one of are most important badminton tips!
5. Know The Basic Rules
This may sound obvious but knowing the basic rules of badminton will actually increase your enjoyment and help to improve your game. Check out our badminton rules for beginners guide.
Learn How To Play Badminton Better With Great Badminton Tips
6. Learn How To Hold The Racket Correctly
Holding the badminton racket correctly really is imperative if you are to master the sport. Let’s take a look at a basic forehand grip, and backhand grip with the aid of a fabulous video from Badminton Family.
Badminton Grip For Beginners
7. Focus On Footwork
Improving your badminton footwork really is going to make a massive difference to your all-round game. We have an entire article dedicated to the topic in fact. In short by working on this aspect of your game it will allow you to not only move around the court quicker but smarter. You will learn to anticipate your opponent’s next move therefore giving you a competitive edge over those not quite as skilled with their footwork.
8. Return To A Central Court Position
Following on from improving your footwork is badminton court positioning. You want to be where you can best anticipate your opponents next shot. That’s why whenever possible you should return to the centre of the court following your shot.
9. Improve Your Fitness
It may sound obvious but by improving your overall fitness it can help you to become stronger in the shot and faster around the court. This is without doubt an essential tip that will benefit everyone. By focusing on fitness you can improve your power, stamina and agility allowing you to become more competitive whilst the increase in your agility means you can reach areas of the court faster and therefore save points.
10. Gradually Play Against Stronger Opponents
Once you have become reasonably competent in the basics of badminton you are going to want to test yourself against better players. Put simply if you wish to improve further you must play against tougher opposition. Don’t be disheartened or disappointed if you are soundly beaten early on as it’s all about learning from more skilled opponents. Trust me every top player experienced the same thing as they progressed in their careers.
11. Think About Strategy
For our final badminton tip we’re thinking about strategy. Start thinking about how you can manoeuvre opponent into an area of the court that gives you an advantage in winning the point. How can you use the badminton serve to your advantage? Which badminton shots do you need to achieve the desired goal.
Badminton Tips For Beginners
Hopefully these badminton tips will prove invaluable in helping you avoid several common mistakes new players tend to make whilst also giving you some pointers in certain badminton techniques. The aim is to help you play badminton better.
There are many other aspects we could cover such as shuttlecock types. However follow these 11 great badminton tips and you should not only see an improvement in your all-round game but also in your enjoyment of the sport.
How do I get better at badminton? Hopefully these badminton tips are the techniques to boost your game to the next level along with your enjoyment.
In the next tips article we will feature badminton tips for advanced players and badminton tips for doubles.
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If you are looking for a new badminton racket, shuttlecocks or other equipment please take a look at our Badminton Best Buys page where we select the best deals / offers online. By purchasing through these links you are helping to support the work that we do at badminton skills for which we thank you.
