How to play badminton: A step by step guide for beginners

On this post, you will know How to play badminton: A step by step guide for beginners.

One of the appealing aspects of this sport is how simple it is to learn but difficult to master. This is only true if you have a genuine mentor who can provide you with a roadmap for getting started, thus for all you beginners, I've produced this step-by-step instruction on how to play badminton.

So how do you start?

• Learn how to hold a racket
• Get knowledge about rules of badminton
• Build strength in your wrist by wall practice
• Learn different types of shots
• Build a fitness foundation
• Teach yourself footwork
• Know different tactics
• Train your mentality

Starting a new thing is always an exciting task but as you follow through that journey , you will come to realize that every thing require hard work and most importantly patience ,if your start is wrong , you are going to face problem so read these step carefully.

Master the Basics

Badminton is played indoor

Sometimes you may have seen people playing badminton in a park or in their backyard but originally badminton is an indoor sport.

It is because the shuttlecock is very light and the flight of the shuttle can be disturbed with wind that is why in international circuit badminton is played in a hall with height of ceiling up enough to avoid the shuttle touching the ceiling.

Also it is not just playing indoor but you also should be playing on proper surface like synthetic mats or wooden court, the reason for it is, in badminton a lot of pressure is exerted on your knees espically while lunges and these surfaces provides better cushion to you legs.

Basic equipment needed to play badminton

if you are just starting out in badminton then there are some basic badminton equipment that you need to play it in your garden, or in a badminton court or you are a recreational player and want to play with your family, friends, children then these are the equipments you will be needing to set up your own badminton playing environment.

answer your question quickly these are the equipment needed in badminton

• Racket
• Shoes
• Shuttle
• Net
• Badminton attire
• Socks
• Badminton court

To know more in detail about the standard of these equipment keep reading this article

Different types of category  in badminton

In badminton there are 5 types of discipline played with different rules and regulations

1. Men’s Single(1 vs 1)
2. Women Single(1 vs 1)
3. Men’s Doubles (2 vs 2)
4. Women Doubles(2 vs 2)
5. Mixed Doubles [2 vs 2 (one men and one women in a team)

How a point is scored in badminton

Now as per the latest badminton rule a point is scored by player whenever a rally ends

Different ways a rally ends in badminton

• When a player make fault
• When shuttle lands outside line which is prescribed as valid by BWF
• Hitting shuttle into the net
• Double hitting shuttle with racket to make it cross the net
• Shuttle hitting body of player
• returning shot after it hits the ground
• Scoring rules in Badminton

In badminton a simple scoring system is followed which is best of three set of 21 points.

which ever player win 2 sets in total wins the match.

The Badminton 21 points scoring system started in the Thomas / Uber cup 2006.Current scoring system in Badminton approved by bwf is Best of 3 sets where each set is of 21 points. In this scoring system point taker will make service just like in tennis except bounce is not allowed in badminton.

Which shuttle is IN and which is OUT

Badminton court

In the above diagram I have colored the area which is considered as IN for singles match it means that whichever shuttle is landing in that color area is considered as valid, some players have this confusion, what if the shuttle is landing on the line, now whether it is in the colored area or landing on the line it is considered valid according to BWF rules.

Singles service line

For service in singles shuttle landing in colored area is valid and yes ON the line shuttles are valid.

One thing to know that service are always done diagonally if you want to know more about service rules then click this link.

Doubles service line

For doubles (during rally) shuttle landing anywhere on court is valid include shuttle landing ON the line.

For service in doubles shuttle in colored area is valid as shown in picture above and service is done diagonally meaning serving person should serve to same colour area in opponent’s court.

Note:- Who will serve in doubles is a light complicated so read this article.

Some Faults in Badminton to know

Every sport has some kind of faults, In badminton there are number of faults that you should know to avoid giving away free points.

I will not be able to explain each and every fault in detail because it is not a short topic so if you want to know in more details read this article.

Badminton faults types

Service fault, when your service is not done according to rules prescribed by BWF then it is a service fault like double action of racket, delay in serve, movement of body, position of racket etc.

Receiving fault, if while receiving player moves even before his opponent has made serve then it’s a fault!.

Contact fault, when your body touches the net during a rally then it is a fault!.

Crossing net fault, when your racket cross over the net which disturb your opponent shot then it is a fault!.

How to hold a badminton racket

Forehand grip

First step in learning how to play badminton is to know how to hold a badminton racket its the basics of starting in this sport.

Below in this picture you will get the idea of how to hold a racket.

This is a forehand grip, Just hold the racket like you are doing a hand shake to a person (while keeping in mind these things):

• Always make sure that you are holding the racket in fingers not with the whole fist.
• Hold the racket(hand shake ) like it make a 90* degree angle with face of racket as shown in the above picture.

Backhand grip

In back hand grip (for underarm clears) player hold the racket by placing the thumb on racket so that it will make 180* degree angle with the face.

For executing a backhand clear , You wanna turn away from the V grip and a little bit move towards a pan handle grip now this is for the backhand from the back of the court.

Below is the picture of badminton backhand grip

backhand net shot grip

These two types of grips you need to look forward as a beginner in badminton, just practice these grip by Changing the grip quickly forehand to backhand and vice-versa.

Different types of badminton shots

If you want to know in broader sense types of badminton strokes then these are

• Overhead Forehand stroke(From back of the court)
• Overhand Backhand stroke(From back of the court)
• Underarm Forehand stroke(From net area on court)
• Underarm Backhand stroke(From net area on court)

Types of basic badminton shots

• Clears
• Smash
• Drop,Drop shots
• Dribbles
• Counter
• Parallel

Improve your Game

Wall practice to improve strokes

This exercise improve your speed of shots and increase control on the shuttlecock.

To do this exercise you need

• A plain wall
• Racket
• Shuttle

Start hitting the wall with shuttle by your racket like you are playing with someone and i can tell you A Wall is the toughest opponent you will ever face in your life .

You can make this exercise more challenging like , by making a horizontal line on the wall ( Height equal to your eye level)and start hitting shots below that line.

make this more challenging as you progress.

Don’t be practical and start saying that” It’s impossible to beat a wall” just take this as an exercise which will ultimately help in different prospects of your game, make a small target in the beginning like hitting 10 shots continuously and then start increasing the number as you progress .

Physical training in badminton

Now you have the strokes next thing is physical training in badminton .

Badminton is one of the fastest racket sports (as per area to cover) so it is very much important in badminton that you have a lean body with power, which will ultimately help you to move quickly on court .

You need to focus on strength training instead of making buff muscle.

Physical fitness is very important in badminton as you have to move constantly on court in different direction which require a lot of strength in your legs , I am not saying that you cannot join a gym to avoid a buff body , just make sure that you always focuses on increasing the strength by lifting medium weight and doing more reps of it.

Here is a basic workout that can follow to achieve minimum physical fitness required to compete in moderate:

• Running for 30 min. at medium pace
• 15 x 3 sets of sprint 50 mtr.
• Lunges 50 each leg 3 sets
• Sit ups , push up

Exercise for back strengthening and most importantly always do stretching after a physical or playing session. If your body don’t have the flexibility your gonna face many injuries and stretching also helps in increasing speed on court .

Common question people ask that how many time in a week should i workout, So my answer is that it depends on the type of work you are taking from your body . I personally take rest when my body requires  don’t force your body too much in the name of improve in physical fitness quickly.

Badminton Footwork

This is a technique to move fluently on court by doing less work ,well i will not be able to teach you how to do these footwork as it is not possible for me to teach you in text ,But you can checkout out some You Tube videos about badminton footwork and after learning the technique you can perform some exercise to make it better.

Learn how to play badminton By watching

You cannot be around court all the time or with your coach , So what can you do in your free time to improve your game?The best practice you can adopt to improve your understanding in game, is watching videos of professional player .

Believe me this will have a huge impact on your game, by watching i mean understanding the game what they doing on court to win a rally and different types of deception , you can try and implement these things on court to improve

Conclusion on How to play badminton: A step by step guide for beginners

Just start playing it and most importantly have fun while playing , that is the beauty of sports so don’t waste it by being too serious for the game(unless you want to make career in badminton) .

You can also be a good player but you have to keep practicing constantly if you want to improve , and never underestimate the importance of basics and stretching

(I know it does not relate to the topic) but i have also been in this situation that i was focusing more on strokes and techniques and less on my body ,which caused a difficult situation, i was having the skills but was not able to apply that in long term because of lack of physical training.