Badminton Tactics: Partnering A Weaker Badminton Player

Watching a number of pairings recently, it was interesting to see the tactics played in the games and how predictable they became.

Many of the games saw a complete mismatch of players. On one side there was a strong pairing, and on the other one strong player and a much weaker player. Of course, the expected tactic for the strong pair was to isolate the weaker player and wait for the opportunity to finish the rally and win the point. As the game wore on, the rallies became shorter as they picked off the weak player and hunted the easy return.

It was clear when watching the rallies that the weaker pairing had not discussed possible tactics to try to combat the onslaught against the weakest player. They weren’t making it difficult to find the weaker player and possibly play higher risk shots to find their target.

From watching this, it gave me a great idea for a video on tactics to combat this as much as possible.

Of course, if there disparity in skills is too great then the stronger pair will still win the game. However, at least the weaker pair may be able to score a few extra points and make the match more evenly balanced and more interesting for everyone.

Why not have a go next time you’re playing and let me know if it made a difference!