Performing some badminton drills will have a significant impact on the quality of your game.
Agility, coordination, and speed can all be improved with the right badminton drills. No doubt adding a few select badminton drills can enhance your performance. The repetition, which is at the core of all badminton drills, makes them such useful tools.
Incorporating badminton drills into your practice routines is a great way to tackle your weaknesses and strengthen your game, whether you play recreationally or competitively.
Badminton Drills to boost your game
Working on your badminton techniques by simply playing lots of matches is one of the best ways to learn and implement each of the different shots and skills of the game.
However, performing specific badminton drills will help you improve each skill much more fully. By spending time focused on specific game elements, you will grow your overall game much more effectively in the long term. Here are some of the best badminton drills you can perform to improve your badminton skills.
We have done enough research to help you understand some of the most important drills for your training.
Deciding Which Badminton Drills You Need
Badminton drills are designed to help you improve your skills. Considering that many different badminton drills are available, you need to determine which ones would benefit you the most. Here are some questions to think about as you consider adding badminton drills to your practice routine.
What are some of the drills to include in your badminton training? If you plan to improve your skills, some of the drills you need to learn to include Multiple shuttles – Overhead strokes, shadow badminton, wall rally drill, and the king of the courts.
Few Questions You Need To Ask Yourself Before Carrying Out the Drill
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Do you find yourself constantly making the same error or struggling with a certain technique?
- What strokes or moves do you admire in other players?
Most top players put a lot of effort into their training. If you hope to become one of them, you need to do the same. Take time to practice in the listed drills, and you will improve your skills in no time.
Badminton is a fun sport to play, and it may help you improve your fitness. To get good at it, you need regular practice. Consider practicing at least five drills every week, and you will notice an improvement in no time.
Even though badminton rackets are much lighter than other sports equipment, you need to have the upper body strength to excel in the game. It would help if you also had precision, speed, endurance, and balance.
Badminton Drills
With Shadow Badminton, you practice the correct movement, but you do not really hit a shuttle. You need someone to give you directions and ensure that you cover the frontcourt, midcourt, and backcourt. The key is to practice as if you are in a real game.
In Wall Rally Drills, you have to use a wall. Use a shuttle to hit the wall using your backhand and forehand. You can use this drill to improve on almost all strokes. It also helps to improve arm strength and footwork. Use a wall that is 20 feet high or more.
Multiple Shuttles-Overhead Strokes is great, especially if you have a lot of shuffles. When the feeder plays the shuttles into your backcourt, you may use your backhand or forehand to play smashes, clears, or drop shots. You have to go back to your base position after every shot. The goal of the drill is to help you improve your overhead strokes and speed.
Multiple Shuttles-Net Play drill also requires you to have a lot of shuttles. The feeder will throw the shuffles to our net area, and you may play a net shot, a net lift, or a net kill. You may use your backhand or forehand. After every shot, you have to go back to your base position. This drill will help you improve your speed and movement on the court.
Half Court Singles is great if you are trying to improve your stamina, consistency, and footwork. The rallies are long, so it may also improve your endurance. Half-court singles may improve your basic skills. From a smaller court, you get the chance to focus on what really matters in a game.
Deep Squat is an important drill since having strong legs makes high jumps and rapid moves. This simple drill will keep your legs strong and build strong support for your knees. You may use your body weight or dumbbells depending on your abilities. Stand straight and set the heels of your feet outside your hips. Bend your knees and keep your heels on the ground.
Common Badminton Drills
Fancy footwork, mastering the badminton net, and perfecting strokes usually top the list of areas players want to improve. Below are some basic badminton drills that address these areas.
Fancy footwork: One of the easiest badminton drills used to improve footwork involves placing badminton shuttlecocks in each corner of the court. Players then move as quickly as possible from corner to corner, placing shuttlecocks upright. Not only does this help with speed, but also balance.
Mastering the net: A few different badminton drills are designed to help you improve your net skills. Here’s one that’s fairly easy to execute. Players should position themselves close enough to the net so touching the top of it only requires lunging forward. A coach or another player then throws shuttlecocks directly over the badminton net, which allows the first player to work on their net shot.
Perfecting strokes: Certain strokes, such as the backhand, are particularly hard to learn. Some badminton drills recommend focusing purely on the form by placing players in front of mirrors. Other badminton drills require partnering players with one another and positioning them facing each other. One works as the feeder, throwing badminton shuttlecocks to the other player’s backhand side. You can adjust these types of badminton drills to any playing level.
The Reaction Time Drill
Having quick reaction abilities and the skill to act on them is very important in badminton. This is a great drill that works on your agility and reactions to tricky, unexpected shots. The drill requires just 1 racket per player and 1 shuttle per pair, where players are put into pairs and stand on either side of the net.
The first player starts off the drill by lying down on the floor. The second player then serves the shuttle to them in a traditional standing position, and the first player who is lying down must jump up quickly and try to return the shuttle.
When the second player serves, they must lie down too and spring up once the first player hits the shuttle over the net. This continues until the designated time for the drill is up. You’ll find this works on your badminton fitness as well as your agility, making it one of the best drills for beginners and experienced players alike.
The Accuracy Drill
Accuracy is a fundamental skill for the player to have in their arsenal, so badminton drills that improve it have a huge impact on your game. Perform this drill by placing baskets or buckets of around 1-2 feet in width on one side of the court.
The player stands on the other side of the net and is then challenged to see how many shuttles they can hit into the baskets. The player then moves both closer and further away from the baskets, and the baskets are moved around to different places on the court to make the drill harder or easier accordingly.
In performing this drill regularly, players improve their ability to land a shuttle in the desired place on the court and also train their long and short shots at the same time—a great badminton training exercise for accurate shuttle placement.
Court Drill
The ability for a badminton player to move around the court effectively is another major component of a strong game, and these types of badminton drills aim to improve just these abilities.
To perform this drill, the coach serves the shuttlecock to the player, where the player moves around the entire court like they were playing a top-class opponent.
Ensure that the player covers the front of the court, mid-court, and back, and instruct them to use overhand and underhand moves to return the shuttle. Again, this badminton exercise not only helps a player’s overall badminton fitness level but vastly improves the player’s badminton skills and awareness of moving all around the court.
Speed and Agility Drill
This is one of the best badminton drills to improve both a player’s fitness and overall skill. The drill only requires 2 people to do it easily with just a player and their coach.
The coach will need to be serving multiple shuttlecocks to the player on the other side of the net. Start by using a handful of shuttlecocks and then progress to serve more each time. The coach’s job in this badminton training session is to serve as many shuttlecocks as they can to as many different parts of the court.
The player must try to return as many of the shuttles as they can. While this might sound quite simple initially, it is actually a very difficult drill as the shots are quickly sent to all parts of the court, putting a lot of demand on the player. The drill is great for preparing players to react to difficult shots by tough opponents.
Badminton Drills Footwork
Footwork is one of the most underrated skills in badminton. If you hope to become an exceptional badminton player, you must be able to move around without expending too much of your energy. There are plenty of drills that may help you with your footwork. Some of them include:
- 6X6 direction lateral steps
- Backhand Side
- Deep squats
- Shuttle runs
- Forehand side
With these drills, you can maximize your movement and save money even if you do a 300km/hr. Smash, you may not be able to achieve much without speed and agility.
Badminton Drills Without Net
You do not need to have a net to enjoy some of the most effective badminton drills. All you need is some space. Without a net, you can do drills to work on your footwork and arm strength. If you want to improve your arm strength, consider practicing your backhand against a wall. Armchair exercises may be great for your wrist. For your footwork, consider doing deep squats and lunges. Exercises that focus on core strength may be good for your balance and agility.
Badminton Clear Drills
In badminton, there are two types of clear; backhand and forehand. The forehand clear forces your opponent to the rear court, and the backhand clear gets you close to the rear court. There are plenty of drills to help you with your clear.
Clear drills help you with your timing and ensure that you do not exert too much energy. Footwork drills may be effective in helping you improve your clear. Half-court singles are one of the most effective drills.
Diagonal Shuffles (3X4) is one of the most effective drills. It helps you place your feet in the right position to react to whatever your opponent throws your way on time. For this drill, you need to place your feet apart and bend your knees slightly.
Push through and run with your knees still bent. Your feet shouldn’t be more than three feet over the ground. Shuffle your feet for about ten seconds and then shuffle as you move towards the corners of the court. Keep repeating until you cover all the corners of the court.
Related Questions
1. What are some of the skills necessary for playing badminton?
Badminton is beginner-friendly, so you do not need to have a lot of skills to start playing. Some of the skills you need include; forehand and backhand grip, strokes, footwork, speed, and underarm backhand serve.
2. What are some of the most common badminton drills?
There are plenty of drills that may help you improve your badminton skills. There are drills for all sorts of skills, including footwork, speed, and clear. Some of the drills include; backhand side, multiple shuttles-net play drill, wall rally, and shadow badminton.
3. What is a badminton smash?
A badminton smash is the most effective shot since it is almost impossible to defend against it if it is well executed. A badminton smash is a shot hit with speed and power downwards towards the opponent’s court. If you hit it at eh right angle, it is almost impossible for your opponent to retrieve it.
4. Does footwork really matter?
When playing badminton, footwork is very important, even though it is often underrated. With the right footwork, you can reach the shuttle fast without spending a lot of your energy. The footwork is mostly about how you place yourself on the court and how you position your feet.
It helps you avoid unnecessary steps that may be wasting your energy, ensure that you have enough time and space to react to oncoming shots and improve your speed. Without the correct footwork, all other skills may be useless.
5. How can I improve my drop shot?
The drop shot is a deceptive technique commonly used in badminton. Even though there are many variations of the technique, it is mostly about wrist movement. When doing this trick, the goal is to deceive your opponent into believing that you are about to do a smash or a clear.
When they are not expecting it, execute a drop shot that will land right after the net. If you want to improve your drop shot, the secret is to catch your opponent off-guard. The chances are that they will remain to wonder what just happened. You may execute it with either the forehand or the backhand.
6. How can I perfect my strokes?
Badminton is one of the fastest racquet sports, so you need to work on your strokes. One of the most important ways to perfect your strokes is by learning to hit the shuttle fast.
To do this, you must convert the power that your opponent exerts on the shuffle and use minimal power to place it.
Do some wrist exercises to improve the strength of your wrists. Strong wrists give powerful smashes. Consider seeking the advice of a professional before you decide to do wrist exercises.
7. What are some tips to improve the power of my smash?
If you want to improve the power and preciseness of your smash, there are plenty of adjustments you can make. One of them is to focus on the footwork.
If you cannot get behind the shuttle in time to hit it, you are unlikely to get a powerful smash. It would be best to place your feet to use your body weight to make the smash more powerful. You should be far enough that the shuttle will land just a little in front of your leg.
