What makes a good badminton player ? | Intermediate - General Q&A | Discussion Forum

Hi friends,

According to what I learnt from my limited experience and from the articles of this site and many of your inputs in this forum, I was trying to look at a holistic view of what makes a good badminton player, what does he or she needs to posses to become a good player. The key parameters that I came out with are Strategy, Technique, Fitness and Tools which are listed in detail.

Would be interesting to know your thoughts on this…

1) Strategy: Ability to plan/strategize the game and utilize your assessts (skills, power and tools)

 - How good and quick you are to understand opponents strengths and weaknesses
 - Your ability to exploit opponents weakness
 - Knowing your own strength and weakness
 - Ability to stop your opponent exploiting your weakness
 - Ability to plan and drive the rallies to win points
 - Ability to take advantage of the opportunities
 
2) Technique: How perfectly you can execute a particular shot in any given situation

 - Ability to perfectly execute the shots like Drop, smash, clear, backhand, overhead, net kills, deception etc.
 - Ability to serve right to keep the game in your control
 - Right Footwork to correctly execute the shots from any area of the court
 - Correct Grip and ability to change grip in time
 - Adapting to different types of courts, synthetic or wooden
 - Ability to learn, improvise and sustain the level of expertise

3) Fitness: Two sides of fitness and both are equally important, Physical and Mental:
 
 Physical:
 - Ability to reach shuttle in time in other words covering the entire court with minimal effort
 - Degree of flexibility of your body
 - Save power/energy and utilize at the right time
 - Stamina to sustain your game level till the last point
 - Staying Injury free
  
 Mental:
 - Staying focus during difficult game situation
 - Ability to self motivate during the course of the game
 - Keeping the winning attitude alive till the last point
 - On or Off the court is always pondering on mistakes, wins, strategies etc.
 

4) Tools:

 - Racket
  - Do you have the right racket which goes with your style of the game
   - Head heavy or light
   - Medium or stiff shaft
   - Isometric head or regular
   - Grip
   - String tension
   
 - Shoes
  - Do you have correct shoe (court shoes) which helps in the following:
   - Supports your footwork pattern
   - Protects your feet from injuries

Regards

Tariq

This reads like the golden recipe for Olympic medals , (IMHO) this is one of the best analyses I've read and should be the daily menu of any trainer. But I agree with Matt, I too would change the order. If I project this on myself, I made (at least for me) a big boost in my play, but not because I bought myself a racket that suits me better, because of better strings at a slightly higher tension, because of better shoes. But because a friend of me convinced me to take training with him in a small group of enthousiasts of all kinds of levels. This training has made my footwork a lot better, and my technique. All the rest of the tools simply add a bit to the overall level that you have or achieved, but not in the same amount as footwork and technique.

Once you master these 2 (by then you'll have a good phisical condition too), then go for strategy. Allong the way, keep your eyes open for your equipment and see where you can add just a bit more to the quality of your game by changing something (grip, tension, racket, shoes, …). A good engineering rule of thumb: change one thing at a time so you know if this particular thing is for better or for worse.

All the best, ED

tariq: no doubt that a racket can add a bit to your game – but to be a top class player, the racket is far less important in my view, than the other things we have mentioned. You give lin dan a bottom of the range li ning, and he is still lin dan. Still fast. Still accurate (lets give him some nice strings). His timing may be off until he gets used to it, but thats to be expected. But he is still the tactically brilliant, mentally strong and physically phenomenal. These are the things that make lin dan, not what you put in his hand.

However, like I said, thats just my take on the situation. I have no doubts that the standard of shot production can be higher with a racket that suits you, but to be a good badminton player – get a racket, any racket, and learn to use it properly. The great morten frost was still great, even without todays racket techcnology – its everything else that matters.

Very sensible suggestion :)

Simon: Bingo you hit the bullseye. Not sure how to explain this but few months back I was just pondering how much obsessed I'm with this game and how this game is making me do things which includes sacrificing lot of social gathering, outings etc, as you mentioned, which has changed my lifestyle. If I look two years back I didn't even knew how to handle the bat and even the basic rules, it is indeed "the love of this game" that makes me excel to next level, doesn't matters what level I play today, I enjoy playing this game, PERIOD. And I'm also trying to apply the same principal to other aspect of life like work and personal life but as you mentioned it is indeed a "natural instinct which cannot be taught" even to yourself, lets see If I succeed. Thanks to Badminton !!!

Nevertheless you brought out quite a different tangent point to this dicussion. I also believe the reason we are here on this forum and talking about this game is due to "the love of the game" or "The interest" that we all have.

, did I got emotional ?  !!!

Cheers
Tariq