Badminton Skills for the Beginners.

 Badminton Skills: Basic Shots

Serve

The serve is arguably the most important shot in badminton and a fundamental shot in your repertoire of badminton skills. A good serve will put you in a strong position to win the point and a bad serve will put you in a vulnerable position. There are two types of serve; the forehand serve and the backhand serve. We will only be covering the forehand serve in this guide as this is the easiest and most consistent type of serve.

Clear

The clear is another basic shot in badminton. Its importance is often overlooked as it rarely scores and doesn’t look as flashy as a smash or drop shot. The main aim of a clear is to give you time to recover for your next shot. It can also be used to put your opponent in an awkward position to return. The first situation mentioned is done by sending the shuttle high and deep towards the back edge of the court, this is where you gain the time while the shuttle is in the air for as long a time as possible. To get your opponent into an awkward position you should hit the shuttle once again towards the back of the court but this time flat rather than high to decrease the amount of time span your opponent has to react.

Drop

Technically a drop shot is any shot which lands between the service line and the net. It doesn’t matter where it is taken from. The main idea behind this shot is to force your opponent to return the shuttle by hitting upwards. This makes it much less likely that they will score. The closer to the net that you can get the shuttle the more likely it is that you will score.

Drive

The drive is an aggressive shot used to pressure your opponent into making a mistake or poor return. It is a quick flat shot made at around shoulder height with the wrist, while the shuttle is still in front of you. Drives are very versatile with the range of angles which can be covered with just the fundamental grip covered by beginner badminton drills. This grip will allow you to cover backhand and forehand without having to change grip, saving time in returning a shot.

Smash

The smash is a very powerful shot. You use the energy from your whole body to perform this shot making this a great addition to your badminton skill set. Smashing is very fast, and is used to score a point by not giving your opponent enough time to react and return the shuttle. You should position yourself behind the shuttle and move into the shot as it is drops, striking it at the highest point you can reach to generate the most power. You should get the shuttle as close to the net as you can and make sure to aim at the floor as far away from your opponent as possible.

It is important not to overwhelm yourself when first learning these badminton skills. You should set realistic goals to work towards, only learning one or two shots at a time. When you can get a rally going , with a partner, using some of these shots you should check out some of these beginner badminton drills to help you to progress even further.