5 Basic Badminton Skills Every Beginner Needs to Learn

Badminton is a beginner-friendly sport as anyone can start out and try to play the game. Usually, beginners
are only focused on trying to make sure that whenever they hit the shuttle, it goes over the net and within
the bounds of the court. But even for beginners, learning these basic badminton skills can help increase
both competitiveness and also the fun in playing.

1. The Ready Stance

Always having the right stance when playing makes it a lot easier to
minimize the movements you need to make to hit a shot. The ready
stance done by putting your non-racquet leg a step forward and
about shoulder width away from your racquet leg. Slightly bend both
knees with your weight balanced between both legs. Slightly bend
forward from the hip, keeping your back straight, and lift your racquet
up with your racquet-hand in front of you slightly above your shoulder
and the head of the racquet to be right above your forehead. Raise
your non-racquet arm to help improve your balance.

2. Forehand and Backhand Grip

Badminton Forehand Having the right grip is crucial in helping new

players control their shots better and protects from possible injury from
putting too much pressure on the wrist. The simplest way to grip your
badminton racquet is by imitating a handshake. Your thumb should
press against the handle while the rest of your hand and four fingers
wrap around the racquet. This handshake should be a friendly one.
Don’t grip too tightly because you need to retain flexibility in your wrist. It
is recommended that you opt to put a wrap around your grip to make it
more comfortable and less slippery.
This grip applies to both forehand and backhand grips used for both forehand and backhand shots. The
variations lie in that for the forehand grip, it’s better to fold your thumb a bit and let your index finger control
the racquet on the stroke, while for the backhand grip, the thumb pressing against the racquet will control
the stroke. Having a loose grip and being able to quickly switch between grips is an advanced skill that
allows pros to shift from forehand to backhand easily.

3. Footwork

Footwork is basic badminton skill that a lot of new players

often overlook. But having the right footwork makes the game
so much easier as it allows you to cover more ground around
the court while using less time and energy. Lateral steps are
the best way to move around the badminton court as it allows
you to cover a lot of ground and change direction fast, while
putting less strain on your knees. By practicing the right
footwork, you’ll feel that it is easier to recover to hit shuttles
that are flying towards the other side of the court. Some basic
drills to improve your lateral movement can be very effective in
helping train yourself to move around the court better.

4. Strokes badminton Strokes

There are 4 basic strokes that every beginner needs to learn. By knowing these, beginners can create
good badminton stroke habits, which they can use in the future for more advanced shots like drops,
smashes and drives. These are:

Overhead Forehand – this is the most common stroke and most beginners are very more comfortable
using this especially for stronger strokes. Make sure to have a forehand grip, lift your racket arm up with
the racket slightly above your head, and tilt your body to the side of your racket arm with your racket arm
behind you. Widen your chest and use your non-racket hand to point at the shuttlecock to aim. Straighten
out your racket arm then swing it towards the shuttle in a downward motion while slightly rotating your
waist towards the front. Swing the racket until it’s pointing slightly downwards.

Overhead Backhand- the overhead backhand is slightly more difficult for beginners as you’ll have to face
your body backward to use this effectively. This is a slightly advanced shot that is hard to master at first but
doing so will set good foundations to how you play badminton. To start, turn your body to the back in the
direction of your non-racket arm, with your racket arm raised in front of you and pointing towards the back.
Keep your racket-arm close to your body, bent such that your elbow is pointing down. As the shuttle
approaches above your head level, slightly tilt your arm downward to gain momentum then swing up and
flick your wrist upward until the racket is pointing up and your arm is straightened out. Remember to
immediately go back to your ready stance once you’ve hit the shot.

Underarm Forehand– the underarm forehand allows you to hit low shots with a lot of strength, but it is quite
challenging to aim at first. To do this, from your ready stance, lunge forward with your racket-leg and keep
your racket arm slightly bent with the top of the racket’s head slightly below shoulder level. Straighten your
arm out to make the racket tilt backwards then flick your wrist, followed by your arm, to swing forward when
hitting the shuttle. Bend your body forward slightly to keep your balance.

Underarm Backhand– the underarm backhand is actually easier to do than the overhead counterpart since
you won’t need to turn backwards. Lunging towards your backhand area, Bend your racket arm downward
with the racket handle parallel to the floor and the racket head parallel to your body. Flick your wrist
upward, followed by your arm until your arm is extended straight and aligned with your shoulder

5. Underarm Backhand Serve

Underarm Backhand Serve The underarm backhand serve

is the most basic badminton serve that you can practice as
a beginner because it gives you easier control in terms of
how strong you’ll hit the shuttle and where you will make
the shuttle go in terms of height or placement on the court.
By learning how to utilize this serve, you can already start
to strategize where you place your serve depending on your
opponent. To start, have a ready stance with your
backhand leg slightly forward with both feet pointing
forward. Lift your racket up to so it is parallel to the floor,
with the head parallel to the net and aligned with your
shoulder. Using your non-racket hand, hold the shuttle cock
by the feather about 5-6 inches in front of the center of the racket’s face. Bend the wrist of your racket hand
downward to generate momentum and flick upwards with varying strength depending on how far or how
high you want the shuttle cock to travel. Try to play around with how strong you hit the shuttle and how
high you follow through. Try to aim for different spots in the court with this serve and you’ll immediately
have the upper hand against your opponents.
Badminton Skills And Techniques: For Beginners

Badminton Skills For Beginners

So you have decided to take up the sport, maybe to get fit or stay fit or you have dug out your old Badminton racket.  
Either way you want to play so it’s time to hone those skills needed for a game.  How good are your Badminton skills
and techniques?In this beginners tutorial/guide we will look at all the basics the beginner requires to get playing and
enjoying this great sport.

So what are the fundamental skills of you need? Badminton requires you to be able to move around the court quickly
so agilityis key, but don’t worry if you are not the most agile because playing regularly will help you to improve in
this area.  In fact Badminton along with other sports such as Squash and Tennis are ideal sports to improve not only
agility but your hand–eye coordination whilst improving fitness.

What more do you want from a sport/game?  Enjoyment?  Well Badminton in my opinion scores very highly on the
enjoyment scale, because unlike Tennis (Which I Like) is way more accessible and easier to pick up and enjoy right
from your first game or lesson.
Let’s look at some of the skills and techniques you will need to maste

Badminton Skills And Techniques: #1 How To Improve Footwork As I mentioned this is a sport that requires a lot of
agility so this is the first thing to address.  So moving around the court sounds easy but moving correctly means not
only will you be able to reach and make more shots but you will also be less likely to injury yourself, a win win
situation.

So how do you improve your footwork?  Well you will need to pratice these footwork drills which you can see in my
article on Footwork. Don’t worry there are videos from the web to demonstrate how you should be moving and how
having the right footwork will allow you to better anticipate your opponents next shot / move.  Get your footwork
right and your enjoyment playing the game will dramatically improve along with your skills and all-round
competitiveness.

Badminton Skills And Techniques: #2 The Correct Grip Technique Sounds very simple you just hold it and swing
right?  Wrong some people hold the racket too tightly which not only reduces your dexterity which
will definitely impact you game, but it can sometimes cause the skin to blister.  So if you want to improve your
Badminton skills and techniques you will need to grip your racket correctly.

I have other articles in which I go into more detail along with videos that show you exactly how you should hold your
racket.  Whether it’s your backhand grip or your forehand grip you are going to need to know the correct Badminton
grip technique.
 Techniques For The Beginner
Badminton Skills And Techniques: #3 Shots
Now it’s time to start to practice all the different shots that you will need to start and enjoy playing this great sport. 
So here are the main shots you need to work on getting right:
 

Types of shots

 Serve
 Clear Shot
 Drop Shot
 Smash Shot
 Backhand Shot