By Justin Ma, 7x US Junior National Badminton Champion.
Last updated January 12, 2021
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4 min read
Playing badminton more will help your consistency improve – you will be able to hit the shots more confidently, over the net and in the court more often. Your footwork should also improve, making it easier for you to get to the places you need to go on the court. At a certain point, you will feel comfortable enough to play badminton with the proper footwork and shots without having to think twice about everything you need to do. How do we take our game to the next level? How can we master each individual shot and hit them at a quality like the professionals do?
In this post, we will explore the basics of technique training. I will introduce a few simple drills for different basic badminton shots and explain what it means to improve each of these types of shots.
Technique training is the act of focusing solely on your shot quality. To improve your shot quality, we need pure repetition. To improve the effectiveness of this repetition, we want to eliminate all other possible “distractions” from these drills. For example, we want to limit how tiring the drill is by removing most of the movement. Instead of doing a full-court drill, we will instead focus on one single corner – performing the same shot over and over until our shot quality improves. I will explain more what “improving shot quality” means more below.
Net drop quality is measured by several different things. First, how “tight” to the net the shuttle is when it is crossing above the net. Second, how much “spin” the birdie has, or how many different directions it changes in mid-air before it starts dropping straight down. Finally, how fast you are able to catch the shot and return it to their court.
Training your net drop quality is simple, but requires a ton of repetition. The net drop is an extremely delicate shot that requires a large amount of practice to master the soft touch of the shot. To do the drill, simply find a partner that will help you throw birds to the same corner over and over. Repeat this exercise weekly (or as often as you need) and watch your net drops improve after each session! The video below shows this net drop technique training exercise.
Smashes are one of the most exciting shots in badminton! These shots can finish the rally and end it with a BANG! Smashes are generally characterized by their power, speed, and accuracy. Power and speed of your smash are practiced by ensuring your form is correct and doing upper body exercises off the court to improve your muscle strength. The exercise I am about to explain focuses more on your accuracy and is a good training exercise on the court.
To start, line up several tubes (2-4) on the sideline of the opposite side you are smashing from, around the area where you see most smashes land. Generally, the first tube is touching the singles or doubles sideline (depending on what you play), and the rest of the tubes will be adjacent to the first tube leading into the court. Your goal is to knock down the tubes with your smashes – this requires both accuracy and power!
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Back drops are another shot that requires a lot of touch and can benefit from technique training. To hit a high quality back drop, you need the shot either to cross the net and land on the floor quickly or have it close to the net when it crosses the net. In both scenarios, you also want the shot to land as close to the side lines as possible in the most case. We also want to avoid the bird being too floaty or slow above the net so that the opponents cannot attack the shot too easily.
Similar the the smashing drill, pick an area of the court you want to hit to. Get a partner and have them serve long serves to you and continue to hit to that spot and aim it there. Do this in sets of 20 birds until you feel comfortable enough to hit high quality shots to this spot. Here is a great general video on how to improve the quality of your drop shots.
Improving your shots does not come in one day. This requires an intense amount of patience and dedication to get your shots to the levels you want. You need to spend time day after day, week after week, to start seeing changes in your shots and improvement in your skills. Remember to be patient! If you stick on the course and are consistent with your training, the results will start to follow. The shots that I covered above are just a few variations of different shots that you should practice. You can do similar technique training for other shots as well – just remember that it takes time and patience!
If you’d like to see more drill highlights, training highlights, or more, please check out my YouTube channel and Instagram Highlight Feed, and feel free to reach out with any questions. See you guys in the next one!
