Coaching Badminton Drills

Coaching badminton drills are going to be one of the most important part of your badminton training if you want to be a great badminton player.

These types of drills and good instruction on how to execute them are often difficult to find. The reason they can be so hard to find is that you really need good step by step instruction for coaching badminton drills in order to do them correctly. If you are doing your training drills incorrectly you could be doing more harm than good when trying to perfect your badminton game.

One of the most important coaching badminton drills you should learn include in your practices will be to work on footwork. Footwork is one of the best drills to begin with because if you can control your foot work you will have more control of where your shuttle will eventually end up. You of course will need to work on shuttle control and swinging drills as well but we will start for now with footwork.

Footwork drills will help you to add control to your movements on the court as well as help you with control in learning and practicing with other badminton drills. The drills we will discuss here are going to be useful as we will cover the same basic footwork that is used in an actual match of badminton.

The first footwork coaching drill that you will want to practice will be moving to the baseline for a forehand swing. In this drill you will be positioned in the middle of the court in standby prepared for your shot to approach. As you see the shuttle coming you will push off with the right leg and as you do so turn your body clockwise. Skip, using both your legs, to the shuttle and follow a forehand swing through at the baseline. You will then push off with both of your legs to go to the next shot coming.

Footwork is important in all your swings and the next coaching badminton drill is going to the baseline for an around the head shot. Again here you will be positioned in the middle of the court and push off with both legs as you see the shuttle approach. Turn your body so that it is facing the oncoming shuttle, as you hit the shuttle you will then bring your right leg and right shoulder to the front and push off to prepare for the returned shuttle.

Moving to the net for a backhand and forehand are two important footwork drills that you will also need to learn. Moving to the net to use a backhand shot will require you to position yourself ready with your left leg behind your body. As you see the shuttle coming you will take a small step forward with the left leg and then lunge with the right as the final step before hitting the shuttle. Moving to the net for a forehand swing is very similar as you start in a ready stance, take a small step forward with your left leg and then lunge with your right as you swing for the shuttle.

After you have mastered the footwork for general returns you will want to learn how to position your lower body when receiving a forehand or backhand smash. Receiving a forehand smash will require you to lean your entire body to the right and lunge with your right leg, as you do this you will stretch out your racket hand and take the smash with a forehand swing. Receiving a backhand smash is for the most part the opposite. You will lean your entire body to the left as you do so you will want to turn your body and bring your right leg across as you lunge with the right leg you will stretch your racket hand out to take the backhand swing.

Side to side forehand smash footwork will require you to start with your body in the ready position. As you start the drill you will bend both your knees to jump into the air in the direction of the forehand side, be sure to jump with both your legs as far as you possibly can to the forehand side. This drill is very similar to the side to side around the head smash drill. You will start in the ready position and bend both your knees preparing to jump. You will jump in the direction of the around the head side, again making sure to jump with both your legs and as far as possible to the around the head direction.

Finally in the footwork coaching drills is the backhand footwork drill which will again require you to start in the ready position. As you follow to where the shuttle will need to be hit you will move forward with your left leg keeping the right leg stretched to the back. After you have made your swing follow through comfortably and prepare for your next shot.

All of these foot work badminton coaching drills will help you to perfect the rate at which you make it to the shuttle as well as the grace and speed you execute on the badminton courts. Practice them and you will see that the instruction here is simple and easy to follow, mostly these will be natural movements if you are an experienced badminton player, but ease does not mean that you can not improve and practice is the best way to improve your game.

Badminton Activities for Children

Badminton Activities. There are many different types of badminton activities for children. Finding the right one for you and your child will be the main challenge when looking for such a thing.

Depending on what you and your child are interested in the area of badminton will largely determine what types of activities you choose to get your child involved in.

The different types of badminton activities for children range from fun and less serious activities to activities that are specifically geared toward bettering your child's skill at the more serious game of badminton.

For younger children who are still trying to decide what type of sports they will enjoy you can get them involved in many different activities that will let you and your child know if badminton is right for them.

The first suggestion for the 4 and under age group who may not know if they would enjoy badminton you should first start with simply getting them an inexpensive badminton racket and shuttlecock to bounce around with you or in the back yard. Many children will enjoy simply hitting a shuttle mid air.

Other activities to explore are games that mimic the idea of badminton such as Balloon Badminton. Balloon Badminton is played with a homemade net, usually composed of string tied to two chairs or trees, and inflated balloons.

Use an old racket to hit the balloons across the net in the same manner you would for badminton. Explain to your child as they get acquainted with the game that they get one hit to get the balloon over the net or you score a point and vice versa.

If you see that your child enjoys either of these activities or similar ones you can be assured that they would enjoy learning the game of badminton when they are at an appropriate age. This appropriate age can vary from child to child and it is important not to overwhelm them with the technicalities of the game until they are old enough to understand it and have fun.

For older children who have already shown an interest in this type of sport there are many organized activities for badminton all over the world. Most recreation centers or gym's have badminton courts that you and your child can frequent to play games or practice.

Badminton clubs and teams are also pretty easy to find and unlike some of the other childhood competitive sport these classes often do not fill as quickly. This is a good thing as you and your child may not have to be on a waiting list in order to become a part of a team.

Other activities for older children is to simply make time to teach them drills or different shots so they can grow in their badminton game. Once your child sees that they can improve with a bit of work most children are motivated to practice and become more skilled. This sort of activity will not only help them to be a better badminton player it will also boost self esteem and teach them to use teamwork as well as be a good sport in the face of defeat.

Childhood games and competition is good and healthy for all children. It is a part of growing up that they should be allowed to experience with enough pressure to motivate them but not to discourage them. Be sure you are not applying too much pressure to your child to be "great" at any sport as part of the point is for them to get exercise and enjoy themselves.

The other positive to playing badminton on a team is you will get to see your child developing bonds with their teammates and learning from one another. Badminton is a great sport for children and getting them involved in badminton activities for children can be a healthy outlet for them.

Fun Badminton Drills

Badminton Drills. You know, practicing and learning badminton need not be necessarily boring. There are fun badminton drills by which you can learn badminton in a comfortable manner.

Fun badminton drills are the complacent, non-competitive way of improving your badminton skills. At the same time, fun badminton drills can also be used to improve camaraderie between same club members, as each drill requires co-operation between participants.

Fun drills can be utilized to improve all the badminton shots, be it clear, lift, drop or smash. Similarly, fun badminton drills can significantly improve the court covering skills from baseline to net or between right and left sidelines.

Now let us discuss some simple fun badminton drills. Remember, fun badminton drills have no rules and regulations and you can devise your own fun badminton drills depending on which shot or aspect of the game you want to improve.

Improving clearing, same side of the court

In this, players A and B, face each other on the same side of the court, standing near the doubles service line in the back of the court. Player A clears to player B, and player B in turn clears to player A. Each should practice clearing drawing an imaginary circle around them, or just within one-foot movement on all sides in practicing clearing.

Improving cross-court clearing

In this, players A and B face each other from the opposite sides of the court standing diagonally. Player A clears to player B who in turn clears it to player A. The same fun badminton drill is repeated after changing to the other same side of the court. By this, both left to right and right to left cross-court clearing can be mastered.

To make cross court clearing more effective and dynamic, both players A and B can clear the shuttle to the opponents unoccupied corner, each time running to meet the shuttle and clearing it.

By the same method, standing near the net, player A can drop to player B, Player B in turn dropping it again to player A. Initially this can be done with both players standing opposite to each other on the same side. Then it can be practiced cross-court and finally both players can proceed to running and cross-court dropping.

To master lifting, player A stands near the net and player B stands near the baseline, initially on the same side. Player B drops to player A, and player A lifts it to player B. Then the lifting and dropping is practiced cross-court and finally the running element is also included, as we have seen in clearing and dropping.

Similar fun badminton drills can be adopted to master driving and smashing skills in three stages like 1) same side 2) cross court and 3) cross court and running as explained above.

Fun badminton drills can also be in the form of mock doubles game. Here, whoever is committing a mistake makes way for another new player to participate in the game.

This is very useful when many players are there and the practicing court facilities are very limited. As players keep on changing on every point scored or lost, everyone gets an equal opportunity to participate and refine his or her skills.

Badminton Dropped in 2012 Olympics

Esnesnon City: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will begin deliberations this week on revamping the Olympic sports menu. At a pre-conference media briefing, the IOC's spokesperson for Asia Ms Y Rani Gami said that the IOC had decided to drop two sports - badminton and judo - and would review suggestions from member nations on which sports to newly present on the world's biggest sporting stage.

The spokesperson said that a majority of IOC members had recommended dropping badminton and judo to make the Olympics more attractive. These would now be replaced by two other sports which would be formally chosen from a field of five - croquet, rugby union, polo, rackets and chess. Ms Gami revealed that said croquet and chess had received the highest number of nominations and were almost certain to be picked.

Currently, the menu for the Summer and Winter Olympic Games comprises 35 sports with 53 disciplines and more than 400 events — the Summer Olympics features 28 sports with 38 disciplines, and the Winter Olympics has 7 sports with 15 disciplines. A sport or discipline is included in the Olympics if the IOC determines that it is widely practiced around the world. A sport must be played by men in at least 50 countries on three continents, and by women in at least 35 countries on three continents.

Badminton was admitted to the Olympic program in 1992 at Barcelona after its inclusion as a demonstration event in the 1972 and 1988 Summer Olympics. Judo was admitted in 1964, removed in 1968, and then re-included from 1972. Only male judoka participated until the 1988 Summer Olympics, when women participated as a demonstration sport. Women judoka were first awarded medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics. These two sports now join the list of 'discontinued Olympic sports', like polo and tug of war, which were removed either because of lack of interest or the absence of an appropriate governing body.

"Badminton and judo are known only in a few countries. Very few people elsewhere are interested in them," said Dr Latot Toidi, an international sports expert attached to the IOC.

Fans of both croquet and chess are delighted with the news from the IOC. FIDE, the highest international body for chess, said it would hold a press conference in Paris later today to explain how it had managed to win the 'inclusion' battle.

In London, staff members at the offices of the International Croquet Federation have already begun emailing the ICF's members with the good news. They have also been distributing sweets to local visitors and fans.

"Unlike judo, croquet has a distinguished and civilised history," said Laer Diputs, president of the ICF. "It's also not like badminton where you simply run around wildly, hitting back and forth. Croquet is very competitive and depends on a combination of physical skill and careful strategy. Most of all, success depends on a cool assessment of risks and probabilities, yes, much like chess."

Croquet was an Olympic sport at the 1900 Summer Olympics - and Roque, a variation on croquet, was an event at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Several variations of croquet are currently in use, differing in the scoring systems, order of shots, and the layout. Two forms of the game, Association Croquet and Golf Croquet, have rules that are agreed internationally and are played in many countries around the world. The sport has particularly strong followings in the UK, USA, New Zealand and Australia; every four years, these countries play the MacRobertson Shield tournament. Many other countries also play.

The formal inclusion of chess will make Olympic history as it will be the first instance of a mind game ever being admitted as an Olympic sport.

Other major sports still waiting for entry into the Olympic fold include rugby union, polo, rackets, golf, squash, wushu and karate. Along with croquet and chess, these sports had been proposed to the IOC at a 2007 meeting in Singapore for inclusion in the 2012 games. However, the delegates had then decided to reduce the field to just five. For croquet and chess, all that remains is the formal vote in their favour to be featured at the London Games four years from now.

Written by Oldhand
Badminton & Judo To Be Axed After Beijing
By EKAF RETROPER, AFP