Badminton Footwork - The Engine Room of Every Great Player

I always tell people that there are 3 facets to playing Badminton...

#1  You have to move to get to the shuttle.

#2  You have to be able to hit the shuttle, and...

#3  It has to be hit where you want it to go.

Basically if you can’t get to where the shuttle is/will be (badminton footwork), then all the training and drills on shot selection, practise and tactics are utterly useless!!!!.

To be able to move from a static position, your knees must be slightly bent and your weight on the balls of your feet, ie your heels should barely be in contact with the ground.

For a right handed player, your feet should be in a ’10 to 4’ clock position, ’20 to 2’ for you lefties.

Your feet should be ‘outside’ your shoulders. To check this, assume stance, let racquet hang loosely from your hands (right and left), position feet outside the racquet (with frame front to back). Check this, I’ll bet your stance is not quite wide enough.

With only a small upper body movement you should be able to ‘fall’ in any direction.

Any movement around the court is dictated by your ability to move your feet, so readiness and balance are crucial.

In game play a different more pronounced stance may be used dependant on state of play. For example if you expect to receive a smash you will need a wide (and squat) stance in order to reach or ‘dig out’ the smash return.

In short and long play a narrower and longer front to back stance is needed as the required movement will generally be in those directions.

The next time you take to the court... look down, have a look at your feet and give some thought to your Badminton footwork.

If you want to improve your fitness for Badminton then you should follow a Badminton training program which is specifically designed for Badminton players. Find out more here - Badminton training program

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