I’m at an awkward point in my badminton progression where I’ve definitely gotten a lot better, but I’m starting to question everything I thought I knew.

I model my game after womens singles, where they clear and drop more than mens singles. That said, theoretically, the more I clear, the more chances I give my opponent to attack. But if I never clear, my opponent can move their base position a half to a full step up and take advantage. There’s a happy medium amount of clearing somewhere.

So, tactically or strategically speaking, when should I be clearing? Intuitively, I understand that I should clear when I’m not in a great position or I’m not balanced, but the pros I’ve watched definitely clear more often than just at these times. Framing the question another way, how do I tactically/strategically choose when to clear versus drop versus smash?

My whole framework for playing singles has been shook after I played an older gentleman (OG) that opened my eyes to how tactically/strategically underdeveloped my understanding has been. I’ve been playing mostly with friends, other classmates in my group coaching, or in competitions where we all have similar training and styles, but once I played the OG, even though I won (purely because I’m much younger), he took away my attack almost completely.

He played a flatter game with deeper drops closer to the service line and fewer lifts and clears so that I rarely could hit my best shots, which are clears, drops, and smashes. If he were just a bit younger, I absolutely could not beat him. I felt a bit dirty just trying to exhaust him.

The OG would absolutely punish my clears with deceptive drops, a few deceptive clears, and some smashes mixed in. I felt that though my clear quality was good, I was almost afraid to use them. I’ve never felt this way playing others my age before and this really made me wonder if I should be clearing less overall.

The OG would hardly clear, but when he did, I was often caught off guard and this made his clears way more effective. He mostly played a slowish flat game that forced me to hit either neutral or upward shots (drive, pushes, net, lift), thus tilting the game so he had more opportunities for offense. His net game was also better than mine, so he could usually force a lift before I could. Given this dynamic, what could I have done tactically to counter his strategy so that I could go on the offensive more often with my best shots (clears, drops, smashes)?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been thinking a lot about the split step lately and wanted to get your thoughts on the mechanics of it.

When performing a split step, are you supposed to land on both feet at the exact same time, or is it better to land slightly one foot after the other (with a very split-second difference)?

To me, landing one foot after the other feels more natural and efficient for maintaining flow and pushing off toward the ball. But I’m curious if there’s a standard consensus on this.

What’s your take? Does it depend on the situation, or is one method strictly better for footwork efficiency?

I've been considering to start badminton – probably more as main reason than in part – to save up on costs for a gym.

Now... I don't expect it to be a good training for arm muscles ofc. But is there any significant impact on the rest of my body?

I'm joining what's allegedly a "mixed" badminton club here in Germany – they claim they have everything from total beginners to experienced competitive players. Even if true, I'd still assume to play against equally bad beginners as I am at first, so there's probably not a lot of "competitive gameplay" happening in the first few months.

My question now is just:

Will it even be exhausting / demanding at all?

If possible I'll try to play against actually experienced pros to avoid doing matches that end up "too easy" for me, but I'm not sure how often I'll have the opportunity for this.

If I end up being "matched" against other newbies, will I then benefit from doing this sport as fitness training at all?

Might be a dumb question, but do you just go in with some friends and play with them all the time, or do you casually ask random other club members whether or not they're up for a match?

Or is there a more sophisticated system in place that classifies everyone by their experience level?

I also keep seeing people even here on this sub that are searching for match opponents, which makes me wonder if these aren't needed by some clubs before you can join them...?

I've been practicing this technique for a week already and it feels so unnatural lol. When doing jump smashes, i can somehow do it but the tradeoff is im losing so much power. It gets worse when i am trying to do leg kick + scissor movement, my form is literally all over the place.

are there any tips you guys can share?
what off court exercise can help me?
how do i practice it smartly on court?

My profile: 17M, 180cm, 50kg (yeah, underweight I'm working on it). Good reach, explosive power, can string together 5-6 point bursts, but I gas out hard and my stamina can't back up the power long-term.

Training situation: 5x/week, 60 min sessions, 2-court academy, mostly half-court singles due to space. Only train with Mavis 350 plastic shuttles (rare feather practice at the academy).

Recent Events: Just lost a U-19 match 17-21 in a single set, in heavy heat, to a calm, tactical opponent. Post-match coach came over and told me that you are not making the opponent run corners

PLUS POINT ( my recovery is fast after a fall or full-stretch lunge and get back into position quickly.)

How do you actually train rally construction and four-corner movement when your only court time is half-court due to space constraints?

Any tips going from plastic Mavis shuttles to feather apparently the timing and slice are totally different?

Realistic weight gain / strength building for a lean, joint-vulnerable frame like mine, without wrecking recovery or injury risk?

Anyone been in a similar spot at 17 (underweight, power-reliant, limited facilities) — is this a fixable pattern or a sign I should recalibrate expectations for how far I can take this?

(am i potentially able to make this a career going forwards?)

There are many discussions about badminton strings, however, there aren't many about mixed strings (combo) on the same racket.

Recently, I have had the opportunity to have my hands on a few combos:

- BG80p at 24lbs, mixed with 66u at 25lbs: Lots of power but a bit soft.

- BG65ti and Exbolt65 both at 24lbs: Good power and just enough stiffness for drives.

The second combo is quite impressive because it reduces the hard feeling of 65ti while keeping the nice touch control. What is your experience on mixed strings?

I have been watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6PVBijSrsQ video of 2024 asia championships and I noticed they almost never clear the shuttle rather they always just push the attack further, in my own gameplay (beginner - intermediate) I clear way more than I smash/drop, which lead me to question wheter I'm missing out on a fundemental understanding

Ive been playing badminton for around 3 years, though not very consistently. Ever since april this year ive been taking it more seriously but ever since then ive felt no passion or drive for me to do anything really I just cant find anything that drives me to work harder to my goal and ive kept thinking about it since then, anyway that helps?

After the first few days of coaching Yushi Tanaka at the Japen Open, Kento Momota flew to China to play in a tournament he was invited to be in.

A few other players including him were invited to be a participant of the tournament, with the participants ranging from different skill levels.

In the first round (R64), Momota faced an unknown amateur player. His next match is coming up and I think he is able to win the tournament, though he might face players like Zhao Jun Peng or Cheam June Wei.

ive only ever been to district level competitions twice in two years. and ive lost in the first round both times due to nervousness that completely overwhelms me.

i couldve won both times as the opponents weren't exactly on a different level, but my confidence went down and so did everything ive trained up until then.

my dad told me that exposure therapy was key (which is to join many competitions because then i wouldnt be nervous anymore even if i won/loss) but registration is expensive nowadays and i dont want them to waste money (considering the fact ill be nervous and lose on the first round for god knows how many times)

any tips/tricks? i know that getting better to the point im confident enough is what i need, but anything else besides that is also helpful

edit: thank u so much for all of your advices😭 im truly grateful for the help and definitely will put it to good use

ive been watching videos on the technique and doing it just feels so counter-intuitive. basic forehand grip in the scenario just feels strange and my brain automatically reverts to the "wrong" grip. it results in game being on the same level as an opponent but not being able to match their clear strength. because I only play once a week and don't have any friends to practice with it's hard to get the technique down. what should I do to make proper technique feel normal after so much time doing it wrong?

Like... Is it beginner friendly enough for late starters, or does everyone expect you to already have picked up everything back in your childhood?

And generally, how welcome friendly are these lol

I've gotten to know several people that happened to be in sports clubs over the years, and while they were all great guys (for the most part at least), they certainly all were fairly conservative and rather of the "yeah, I understand your point perfectly after like 2 seconds of explaining" attitude, after which they become locked into their personal viewpoint, not allowing for any sort of objective discussion anymore.

Like: "Yeah, you absolutely have to do the smash like this and that, that's how it's properly done", and if you ask other, more experienced guys, you'll hear a completely different explanation. Yet if you go back to the guy you initially talked to, he'll just insist he was right all along unless you do an extended reasoning lol

I've had my fair share of those encounters, and am somewhat worried "know-it-all" culture will be similar amongst badminton players as well... Stuff like this really makes any sort of productive learning / training difficult.

Pretty much asking since I'm this very position, and would like to know if the sport kills me in advance :D

When I play my shots, I feel like I'm playing like a pro. But looking at the video it feels like I'm running in a stampede. Too many net fouls, and premeditated drops is what I can see myself. Tell me something I can improve in the next one month that will help me drastically change my game. Thank you.

For reference: I haven't even started badminton yet, but I assume one thing that could make me drop the sport again is mouse arm strain I already have to deal with at work.

Regarding this, would you say it's fine if I intentionally focus on my technically "weak" arm from the beginning on, and stick to it?

Afaik it's not recommended to train both arms equally in badminton (which I find kind of odd if you're recovering from a recent injury or something, and are unable to rest your "strong" arm for a few days / weeks?)

So... should I then just focus on the arm I'm able to provide more rest to at the office?

I'm a female player who plays more XD than WD. I'm able to set up at the front and play decent smashes/drops when needed, but for some reason I just can't defend.

I always find that I can't move back in time to defend when my partner plays a lift or clear so the smash comes at me before I'm even ready to defend (for both XD and WD). Sometimes my defense ends up becoming a block to the net (which might get killed by the front court player) because I feel like I have no time to do a drive defense and I'm always not able to lift the smash.

I'm not sure if it's because my reaction speed is super slow because when I practice defending smashes (one person smashing and me receiving), I'm able to do drives (forehand more so than backhand) and I'm able to lift to a certain extend.

I'm also finding it more difficult to defend cross court smashes (maybe because of the angle?) but I know everyone always says to lift cross court if my defense is not as good as my partner's😅

Any advice would be helpful. Thank you!!

I've been considering to start badminton (I'm in my 30s) for a while, and from what I figured out this seems to be amongst the sports with the highest injury rates once you begin to play it competitively.

Apparently any sort of knee-injury imaginable is common, and people also often tear their achilles heel?

Now, is this actually true even for entry-level competitive players?

What kind of injuries should I expect?

I've had surgery on my knee once before (because of bacteria though, noticing has torn or broken) and I would rather avoid having to pay the hospital yearly visits lol

I recently made a post about my smash technique and I got lots of advice. I followed all of them and now my smash is so much better and I'm able to defeat players who are at my skill level.

Now,I need your help to defend a smash!!

If I was to defend my own smash then I'd be fried(my smash is lower intermediate level but my defense is recreational level) so yeah my attack to defense ratio is too high. I absolutely cannot defend a smash with my own technique and leave it on my luck which fails everytime so I need to create an actual defense to defend smashes and cross court drives.

As i told that I don't know how to defend a smash, but I also struggle when someone gives a long drop on one side of court,I return it and the opponent immediately hits a deep drive on the other side of court.

Basically I don't know much about defense but I can easily defend any drop other than the one I mentioned and don't have any problem in net plays or returning clears.also my backhand needs improvement but that's a concern for another day.

i'm a beginner badminton player and looking for some drills to do at home. i have only my room as space. thank you.

I'll be travelling to Delhi for the world championships. Where do I get tickets? And from which stand do I get the best view?

This has been a reoccurring problem I’ve been running into. This happens especially and almost only singles, and I’ve been wanting to get some feedback and advice about it.

Whenever I do a low serve, I almost always 8 times out of ten fall for their deception. For example I’ll do a low serve and my enemy will do a deceptive cross drop, or I’ll fall for a fake net that’s actually a push deep into the back court.

One of the first things I’ve asked myself is if my serve is not high enough in quality, and I’m also thinking that I’m anticipating too much and not reacting to where the ball is going, but I often fall behind when I try to react to the ball. If that is the reason, I’m thinking that my footwork and speed need some improvement.

Would love some feedback and advice for this, thank you!

ive been working in my smash form, and so far i think ive switched to panhandle to V grip. but the problem is that i think my racket races towards the net earlier than it should. instead of that chop first then punch motion, the racket head faces forward too early.

is there any practice i can do to fix it at home and on the court? is it beneficial to just to shadow swings to eventually get my muscle memory?