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In a bid to make badminton more accessible to fans, BWF have entered into a strategic alliance with BlueTalk NV, the creators of the innovative social sports platform solution, TeamBlogger, to roll out a badminton app in 2012.

As the first official badminton mobile app by the BWF that synergises a variety of badminton content ranging from statistics, results, social networks to videos, this new mobile technology development aligns with the BWF’s position as a fans-focused sports federation.

“This mobile app will allow fans to access the sport on-the-go”, said Thomas Lund, COO of the BWF, “and we believe that a strong badminton fan culture is established by providing alternative new media platforms for fans to engage and interact with one another.”

“This partnership with BlueTalk allows the sport to stay on top of new technology, and this is important in creating a commercial competitive-edge for the sport,” concluded Lund.

Frederic Schroyens, CEO of BlueTalk, said, “Badminton already has a massive fan-following, especially in Asia. We are just thrilled to be presented with such a tremendous opportunity to partner with the BWF in uniting the sport’s fans on mobile, which is our core business.”

The new mobile app will be expected to launch in the first half of 2012, and will be available through a variety of mobile platforms.

It started in Hong Kong then followed in China Opens, Datuk Lee Chong Wei was not the usual champion of badminton world anymore. He missed back to back finals of the prestige events and worst was the lost to Chen Long in the Super Series semi finals last week.

BAM scrambled to find the answers and rumors flew around if Datuk Lee Chong Wei would get a third coach to enhance Datuk's psychology barriers.  The strong contender for this coaching position is Morten Frost Hansen.

Morten had coached in Malaysia.  He knows the system and probably he will blend well with the staffs and BAM's culture.  Unfortunately, if the tasks of Morten is only on the psychology aspects of Chong Wei's games, it may not show any impacts.  The reason is Morten is not a doctor or a person with such deep knowledge of human mentality.  He is merely a retired badminton player with previously championship titles in the old era. The game in that time is different.  A player must have strong physical endurance which a simple match could last an hour or more.  Now, the game is different.  A simple serving mistake will cost a point.  When there are five points separation, the psychology impacts to the players is different, compare to old time because there is no assurance of stopping points accumulation to the opponents.  In addition,player is demanded to play with precision and tactical ability, instead of merely stamina and muscles.

The good news is the current threat of Chong Wei supremacy is only from two players - Lin Dan and Chen Long.  Also, whenever Chong Wei played these two players, they mostly have to play in 3 sets and especially with Chen Long, the winning points on the third set were not too far a part.  In other words, the chance is still 50-50.  The most concern is whenever Chong Wei plays to Lin Dan.

BAM honorary-secretary Ng Chin Chai said its coaches and the National Sports Institute were constantly playing "war games" in trying to get the upper-hand against the Chinese "soldiers".

"And just when Chong Wei improves on his shortcomings against the top Chinese players, they (Chinese) come out with new strategies to beat Chong Wei. It is a cat and mouse game," he told Bernama here Monday.

Well aware of the formidable challenges that lie ahead, Ng said BAM was formulating new strategies, as the ultimate objective of the "war" was for Chong Wei to bring back the men's singles gold from next year's London Olympics.

Malaysia are banking on him to win Malaysia's first ever gold medal in the Olympics.

"Though it will not be an easy task, we will not give up and do whatever it takes to help Chong Wei secure the Olympic gold," added Ng.

Assuming the result of this coming summer Olympics is worst than finals, who is to blame in BAM?

It is probably known as home court advantages.  Yet, China is proofing itself to be the dominant and powerful badminton country.  Two finals events are all-China finalists while the rests are merely not the first ranked players or pairs to challenge the supremacy.

Lin Dan claimed the World Superseries Finals after defeating his countryman, Chen Long, in less than an hour, 21-12, 21-16.  The victory gave "Super Dan" badminton's first-ever "Super Grand Slam", who now won all nine of its premier titles.

Lin Dan passed Danish veteran Peter Hoeg Gade to set up the final with Chen Long, who created the shock of the series after beating defending champion and world number one Lee Chong Wei in the semis.

Danish duo Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen denied China a clean sweep of the men's events after the defending champions trounced their Chinese opponents Chai Biao and Guo Zhendong in the doubles final, 25-23, 21-7.

In the women's final, top seed Wang Yihan of China proved too good in the end for Saina Nehwal of India, winning 18-21, 21-13, 21-13.

Chinese women's pair Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang took just 33 minutes to beat Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung of South Korea, 21-8, 21-12.

It was an all-China affair in the mixed doubles final, with Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei claiming an easy victory over Xu Chen and Ma Jin, 21-13, 21-15.

The only bad result for China is the defeat of its number one men double pair, Cai Yun/ Fu Haifeng, who did not qualified to the next round after defeated by Korean Ko/ Yoo in the qualification round.

This event is the conclusion of badminton super series for 2011. 

The head of the Russian Defense Ministry sports directorate, Alexander Shchepelev, was demoted, apparently over an interview that was published saying the ministry planned to buy badminton equipment in a hype after President Dmitry Medvedev said he enjoyed the sport, an officer in the ministry's central apparatus said.

The officer told RIA Novosti the decision was made after the Izvestia daily reported in mid-November that the Defense Ministry planned to provide the Russian Army, including snipers, with badminton equipment - 10,000 rackets and tens of thousands of birdies – in 2012. Shchepelev was quoted in the report as saying that badminton was “an important part of sports training in military units.” “Watching a birdie,” he explained, “trains the eye muscles, strengthens the cardiovascular system and develops reaction speeds.”

The Russian Defense Ministry later denied the report, saying that “badminton is not an applied sports in the Armed Forces.”

The article was published soon after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attracted international and domestic media attention with a clip on his official blog where he spoke about his love for badminton, which he said “develops your physical form, eye coordination, accuracy and reactions.” The clip was designed to foster interest in the sport among Russian schoolchildren. The video shows Medvedev playing badminton with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.  

Shchepelev, who was appointed as head of the Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA), dismissed the allegations on Friday that his demotion was linked to the article, saying he had changed his job at his “own will.”

“My transfer to another position was motivated by personal reasons, not by the Izvestia publication,” he said.

Another ministry source said Shchepelev's demotion was a "planned shift."

“This is not about revenge or punishment - an officer cannot serve in one position more than three years," he said.

You do not have to be a fortune teller to predict Taufik's fate in competitive badminton arena.  Since the disappointing lost in 2011 US & Canada Open, Taufik had not shown any sign of competitive edge.  In fact, his performance went down further.  Following his North America tour,  Taufik could not even catch up Derrick Wong of Singapore in Yonex World Championship 2011.  He simply gave up in straight set 17-21 14-21 within 31 minutes of match.  Then within a month, he bailed out on the 1st round of 2011 Japan Open to Taiwanese rookie Tien Chen Chou.

His legacy in home court also got tarnished.  He was stopped by his own country man, Tommy Sugiarto in straight set 10-21 15-21 at Bankaltim Indonesia Open GP 2011 semi final stage.  Then the disappointing lost in 2011 Denmark Open to another Denmark rookie, Victor Axelsen and 1st round exit in French Open 2011 to Wang Zhengming, again in straight set.

Of course this trend is not a shocking news to all professional athletes.   We can refer to Tiger Woods, Mike Tyson and other legendary professional sportsmen.  The bad news is about the future of Indonesia badminton.  Up 'till this moment, there is NONE of men single players from Indonesia who are consistent and capable to maintain their progress in international tournament.  Rumbaka is probably still young, but he is not progressing to the level of serious contender.  Tommy Sugiarto is up and down, which we have not seen him beating any players from China.  Andre Tedjono just recently won the Swiss International Open, but that is a second class event, where they are not many elite players were there to challenge his talents.

So, what can Indonesia do? When Taufik is done, Indonesia badminton era is also finished?

A warm up for both training and competition should begin with some light activity to increase blood flow to the muscles. The next phase of the warm-up is to stretch the muscles and joints. This will be achieved initially by passive stretches followed by active stretches specific for the action of badminton.

Passive Stretches

Here are a selection of stretches that you can use for your badminton warm up. Hold each of the following stretches for 10-20 seconds, and remember to stretch both sides of the body. There are links to more detailed information about each stretch.

Back and Forward Neck Stretch — Tuck your chin down until it touches your chest and you can feel tension at the back of your neck. Tip your head to each side slowly until you feel the stretch.

Side to Side Neck Stretch — Tuck your chin down until it touches your chest and you can feel tension at the back of your neck. Tip your head to each side slowly until you feel the stretch.

Overhead Shoulder Stretch — Point your elbow upwards, with you hand behind your head. With you other hand grab your elbow and gently pull towards the other side until a good stretch is felt. Repeat for both sides

Posterior Shoulder Stretch — Hold you arm horizontally across the front of your body. With you other hand, grab your elbow and gently pull towards your chest. Repeat for both sides

Side Stretch — Begin with feet slightly apart, and arm pointing overhead, held by the opposite hand. Keeping your hips stable, bend your torso so that the stretch is felt along your side. Repeat for both sides.

Side Lunge Stretch — This will stretch your hip conductor muscles. With you body and feet all facing forward, and hands on hips. Shift your weight tot he side, remaining as upright as possible and keeping both feet flat on the floor. Repeat on opposite side.

Forward Lunge Stretch — This will stretch your hip flexors and hamstring muscles. With you body and feet all facing forward, place one leg back and your other leg forward, hands on the front thigh. Shift your weight forward remaining as upright as possible and keeping both feet flat on the floor. Repeat on opposite side.

Quadriceps Stretch — Support yourself with one hand while standing on one leg. Bend your free leg back and hold on to your ankle with your free hand. To increase the stretch, pull the foot higher behind the body.

Wrist Flexion — Hold out your arm with the palm facing down. Drop the fingers and palm at the wrist. Grab your fingers with the other hand and pull them towards the body. Change hands and repeat.

Wrist Extension — Hold out your arm with the palm facing down. Bend the fingers and palm at the wrist. Grab your fingers with the other hand and pull them back and towards the body. Change hands and repeat.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Badminton has announced the prospective coach and team leader nominees for the 2011 United States Pan American Games Badminton Team.  Representing the United States of America as coaches and team leader of the eight badminton athlete that will compete in the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, October 14-30, 2011 are:

Ignatius Rusli (Orange, Calif.), Men’s Head Coach

Ben Lee (San Jose, Calif.), Women’s Head Coach

Mohan Subramaniam (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Team Leader

Wendy Carter (Gig Harbor, Wash.), Replacement Coach

The coaches will be responsible for coaching the eight badminton athletes that will represent the United States of America in competition at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, October 14-30, 2011.  The athlete nominees for the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team – Badminton were originally announced in June and are as follows:

Women’s Team:

Iris Wang (Arcadia, Calif.)

Rena Wang (Arcadia, Calif.)

Eva Lee (Orange, Calif.)

Paula Obanana (Mountain View, Calif.)

 

Men’s Team:

Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif./Orange, Calif.)

Tony Gunawan (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Sattawat Pongnairat (Long Beach, Calif.)

Halim Haryanto Ho (Milpitas, Calif.)

 

All nominations to the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team are pending final approval by the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Olympic Committee.

Cee Ketpura (Orange, Calif.) had qualified for nomination to the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team – Badminton, but withdrew from the event for personal reasons.  With Ketpura’s withdrawal, Iris Wang (Arcadia, Calif.) has now been nominated to the 2011 United States Pan American Games Team – Badminton.

The 2011 United States Pan American Games Badminton Team will be an interesting mixture of experience and youth.  The team will be led by three Olympians in Bach (U.S. 2004 and 2008), Gunawan (Indonesia 2000, Olympic gold medalist in men’s doubles) and Lee (U.S. 2008).  Bach and Gunawan, the 2005 World Champions in men’s doubles are well on their way to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England with Gunawan on track to being sworn in as a U.S. citizen in September 2011.  Similarly, Ho, a native of Indonesia, will soon become an official citizen of the United States of America.  Ho and Gunawan paired up to win the 2001 World Badminton Championship in men’s doubles in 2001.  Bach, Gunawan, Lee and Ho obviously bring a plethora of international experience to Team USA.  The remaining four members of the team, the Wang sisters, Pongnairat and Obanana, will all be looking to this event to gain valuable international experience and ranking points that could propel them to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

This will be Bach’s fourth Pan American Games.  At the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil he won the gold medal in mixed doubles with Lee and silver in men’s doubles with Khan “Bob” Malaythong (Rockville, Md.).  He won gold at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in men’s doubles with Kevin Han and silver in men’s doubles at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with Mark Manha.  In 2007, Lee captured the Pan American Games triple-crown, winning gold in women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

The 2011 Pan American Games will be held, October 14-30, 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico.  The badminton competition is scheduled to take place from October 15-20th and will be held in Guadalajara’s Multipurpose Gymnasium.  Team USA will compete in women’s singles, men’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Unlike the 2007 Pan American Games, the 2011 Pan American Games will count toward an athlete’s international ranking in the Badminton World Federation.  This makes the 2011 Pan American Games a very important qualifying event on the road to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

The Badminton World Federation’s Olympic Qualification season for the 2012 Olympic Games began on May 1, 2011 and will run through April 30, 2012.  Participation in the Olympic Games is solely determined by an athlete’s international ranking.  Five badminton events will be contested at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England; men’s doubles, women’s doubles, men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles.

Though I won't explain the process in too much detail, I will be outlining the general process of what it will take to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. The reason why I'm only saying the 2012 Olympics because qualification processes have been very different in the past. I will be briefly outlining World Rankings in Badminton as well, because qualifying for the Olympics has always been based on this. Lastly, I will emphasize Doubles events (Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles) more, as that is what I'm most familiar with.
To start off, let's explain World Ranking in Badminton. World Ranking begins once you've played two tournaments. With Doubles events, you must also play with the same partner. If you play two tournaments with two people, you won't get a ranking until you've played two tournaments with the same partner. Technically, if you play two tournaments with two partners, it's possible to have two different World Rankings. World Ranking is based on points you attain in a tournament. You will gain points as long as you show up and play, even though you may lose in the first round. However, since larger tournaments have limited spots in the Main Draw, there are also qualification rounds you may have to get through should your ranking not be high enough. Tournament entries list the teams in order of their ranking (with an exception in Doubles events), so they higher the World Ranking, the more likely you can start in the Main Draw.

Generally, there are 28 spots in the main draw, leaving 4 spots for qualifiers. This makes a draw of 32. Within the qualifying draw, there are 16 teams, qualifying for 4 sports. Should you lose in the very first round of qualifications, it would be considered a 128 draw, and losing in the 2nd round of qualifications would be considered a 64 draw. The higher the prize money for the tournament, the more points you get for the tournament with the exception to World Championships and Olympics, which give you the most points but no prize money! Tournaments have a particular name now for the amount of prize money they offer (in addition to World Ranking points). From lowest to highest, we would have Future Series tournaments, International Series tournaments, International Challenge tournaments, Grand Prix tournaments, Grand Prix Gold tournaments, Super Series tournaments, and the newly formed Super Series Premier tournaments in 2011. Lastly, a BWF event tournament would count for the highest level tournament, such as World Championships, Olympic Games, and the team events of Thomas Cup (Men's team tournament), Uber Cup (Women's team tournament), and Sudirman Cup (Mixed team tournament). World Championships are held every year with the Olympic Games alternating every 4th year, while Thomas/Uber Cups rotate with Sudirman cup every other year. For a list of points, refer to the BWF Ranking Overview.
Although it looks like it's better to play more tournaments, only your best 10 tournament results count. You can play more tournaments to replace weaker scores and generally, it is in your best interest to play at least 10 tournaments. For each player/team, their top 10 tournament results are added together and the final result is used for World Ranking purposes. World Ranking updates every Thursday (North American time) so new tournament results will be added in every week. World Ranking is also cyclical, as it only counts the top 10 tournaments over a one year period. For example, if I play the Canadian International Challenge and win in April 2010, I would get 4000 points toward my ranking (International Challenge winner = 4000 World Ranking points). However, if the tournament is canceled the next year, unless there is another tournament to replace it, I would lose those 4000 points from my ranking. If the tournament is held again, I would need to win the tournament again to keep my points. Anything less than a win would result my ranking to go down. From this example, it is easy to see how World Ranking can fluctuate tremendously. However, if the tournament is held a week earlier, I would gain points for both tournaments on the nearest ranking date. But nonetheless, it is only temporary as I would lose my points once I overlap the dates from the tournament of the previous year.
A couple of miscellaneous concepts I will highlight are notional rankings for tournament entries, and team event points. Notional rankings is for seeding purposes and helping good players who form new teams have a better starting point. Although only used in tournament entry lists, if a new team were to form, they would technically have no World Ranking together as it may be their first or second tournament. However, to compensate for that, they take will take half of the points from each player and add them together to give a rough placement of where they can start in a draw. This only applies for Doubles events. The easiest way to give an example is that a new team may have less World Ranking points than another team only because they have played less tournaments. Because of that, they will divide ranking points by the number of tournaments (minimum 5) to find a team's notional ranking. Hope that isn't too complicated... o__O Team points are much easier to explain. They are only gained from team events and you can only have one team event point score per year. In the team event, as long as you play someone, even if you lose to them, you would get an average score of your top 10 tournaments. For example, if you had 30 000 points from 10 tournaments, your average will be 3000 for that team tournament. However, it can only count once, and the higher team average will be counted for that year. If your opponents have a higher average than you and you beat them, you can actually gain their average! But it can also happen the other way, if you lose to a weaker team. They will get your average and you will get your own average in the end. 
Now that I've explained most of World Ranking, to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, I would need to theoretically be within the top 16, as only the top 16 teams get to compete in Badminton at the Olympics for Doubles events. The qualification period has already begun, as it started on May 2, 2011. It will end on April 28, 2012 (with the final ranking taken on May 3, 2012) and the top teams will be announced. Though it seems pretty ominous, there are a couple of extra rules which will help some of the struggling athletes. For Doubles, since only 16 teams are allowed, a country may only have two teams participating if they are both in the top 8. For example, if China holds #1, #4, and #10, only the teams #1 and #4 would go, with team #10 being omitted. If China holds #1 and #9, then only one team gets to go, as only one team is in the top 8. However, they could choose to send #9 in place of #1, though that is highly unlikely. As a few countries will take up more than a few spots, there will be a few teams omitted, thus giving more of a chance for other countries to qualify. Lastly, there is a continental position. Since Europe and Asia generally secure positions already, there are continental spots left for Africa, Pan America (North & South), and Oceania. However, the team has to be ranked within the top 50, otherwise they will have to give up the spot. This offers a much better chance to some teams, as the draw is so small already for the Doubles. Singles is slightly different, as there are 38 spots allotted. There are some different rules, but usually it is easier to legitimately qualify for Singles, provided you are the top player in your country and are ranked high enough. There are also a couple of wild-card spots for the Host country, but I am not too familiar with those details.
Hopefully I've done a decent job explaining the Olympic Badminton qualification process. It certainly isn't easy and very often, it costs athletes a lot of money to qualify. As more tournaments mean a better chance of qualifying, sometimes Canadian athletes will go out an play 30+ tournaments during the Olympic year! That's a LOT of traveling, as each tournament is generally a week long. So 30 International tournaments means 30 weeks of traveling, and 30 weeks of expenses. Though I'm really hoping I won't have to resort to playing so many tournaments, I do anticipate probably playing at least 20 tournaments or so this season. Of course it's better to do well and play less tournaments, but with everyone trying to qualify for the Olympics, it becomes pretty tough for most people, especially most of us Canadian athletes who are funding themselves... nonetheless, we will do our best! =)

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment/question and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible! For further information about Badminton at the 2012 Olympics, please visit the BWF Website.

Article was quoted from towbsss.blogspot.com/

I’ve often talked about the short serve in badminton being the most neglected part of the game. It’s an area professional badminton players take very seriously and spend hours working on every week.

So why is it that club and league standard players spend no time at all on this critical part of the game? Why do players in clubs fail to understand the tactical importance of the short serve in badminton?

It baffled me for a while and then I truly understood the answer! You see, the short serve in badminton isn’t exciting like a smash, it’s not a full-on action shot where glory is showered on the player who serves brilliantly in a game.

Or have we all got it so wrong and missed the point?

How often have you walked off court, losing a match and then complained that your partner’s serve was rubbish “they just couldn’t get the shuttle over the net or in the court.” Or worse, every time they serve, your opponent buried it! You’ll then admit that you can’t win, if you can’t serve.

And you’d be absolutely right.

We’ve all said this quote at some time or other, whether we’re blaming our partner or ourselves. So now we’ve agreed how critically important it is to serve well, shouldn’t we at least acknowledge a player who consistently served tight in a game?

In my opinion, this player should be seen in the same light as the player with the big smash. After all, they are consistently delivering a tight serve in the most tense period of the game, when literally the match could depend on their skill to keep the shuttle low and in the court. At 20-20, you have to agree that the serve is the biggest pressure shot in the game, especially when serving to a player who is ready to pounce on anything remotely loose.

In this scenario, the serve has got to be the most exciting, the most nerve-wracking shot to deliver because it can be a game winner, a match winner, or even a tournament winner! In my book, that beats the big smash and demonstrates a high degree of skill.

So why do we still choose to dismiss its importance?

I think the key here is finding ways to practice the serve that give it an edge, a higher level of importance and severe consequences if you fail to get it right.

Here’s a couple of technical practice ideas and one tactical practice idea for you…

1)      Target serving – get your team take part and split them into 2 teams playing against each other. Each player has to serve to a designated target (e.g. a tube or shuttles or empty box) placed near the T. Each player has 6 shuttles and count how many they get in the box. The loosing team buys the drinks or some other forfeit you decide on.

2)      In your teams again – one is the attacking team, and the other the serving team. Choose one player from each team to go on court. You have 6 shuttles. Server serves from right court and must serve low serves. They can serve to anywhere along the service line but they are not allowed to flick serve. The attacking player can toe the service line. The attacking player wins a point if they can pounce on the serve and put it on the floor or the serve is out. The server wins a point when the player fails to return the serve over the net, misses it completely and it lands in and if they fail to bury the shuttle for a winner. Returns to the net or a push score points to the server. Again, have a forfeit for the losing team. Reverse the roles so each team has a go at serving and receiving.

3)      To improve your tactical awareness, work together to watch for weaknesses in a player. Work in pairs. Your teammate is the guinea pig here. They need to create 6 different scenarios which could lead to potential weakness e.g. receive on non-racket leg, racket too low (don’t make it too obvious), racket slightly wide to the right, forehand grip to name a few. Ask the server serve tactically this time. Once the serve has been struck, ask what they noticed and what they changed. If your teammate didn’t know the answer, try again. If they still don’t know, show them.

You’ve now been given three practices, two to help you improve your serve from a technical viewpoint and the final exercise from a tactical view.

If you work on these exercises on a frequent basis, then you will soon notice a huge difference in the results you are getting. Your serves will be significantly better which will lead to an improvement in confidence. Because you are now serving tactically, you’ll also recognise that you have changed and are serving to win a point and not to begin a rally.

Article was written by Paul Stewart, Badminton Coach, UK.

It wouldn’t be uncommon to find yourself a bit anxious when you walk into a gym full of badminton players. You might explore a little deeper only to find yourself stepping on the court and having a player bark at you for interrupting his game. Your initial thought might be to turn around and leave because everyone seems so caught up with their own thing. The key in this situation is to not get discouraged.

Like all sports, badminton has rules (both written and unwritten) that everyone must follow. It’s imperative to take these rules to heart, because they help ensure the safety of everyone in the gym. This guide will help you understand each detail and provide instruction on the exact way you need to act and carry yourself if you want to have a fun and friendly experience on the court.

Respect the Court

First, you must remember to always be mindful of players on other courts so you don’t interfere with their game. Badminton is often played in multi-purpose gyms with volleyball and basketball lines running rampant, so it may be difficult to pick out the correct boundaries of your playing surface. If you’re walking across the gym floor toward the badminton court and are uncertain about the boundaries, simply wait for play of the other games to stop and then stay close to the walls as you make your way past the court.

Hot Tip: The Single Life

If you’re looking to play a game of singles, you’ll be hard-pressed to find the court space or the players willing to play. Your best bet would be to go during off-peak hours so that you’re at least guaranteed the court space.

 

Use It Before You Lose It

As a general rule, four players should occupy a single court at all times. If you go to a gym with a friend and there is a court with only two people hitting around, just ask to use half of the court and they’ll be more than happy to oblige. Waiting around for a completely empty court will be nerve-wracking. The court is there for you to use, but don’t be afraid to share with others. If you arrive at a gym alone, just find someone sitting on the side to hit with, because they’re probably just as eager to play. In the event that all the courts are full, wait for the rally to end and ask the folks on the court if you can get in on the next game.

Manage Court Time

Easily the most common annoyance when playing in a crowded gym is the lack of court time. When there is limited court space, remember to play a game or rally in a timely manner. Sometimes, players on a court will rally or “hit around” for an extended period of time with no intention of playing a game. It’s a delicate science trying to coax people off a court who have overstayed their welcome. Normally, players will warm up for about five minutes and play a 10-minute set to keep the rotation of players going. If you’re planning to just hit around, try to limit your court time to 20 minutes.

Court Rotation

Typically, players on a court will have an idea of who is playing the next game. Simply wait for the rally to end and ask to play next. They’ll likely inform you if there are any teams set to play before you. Either way, you should at least get your name in the rotation. Some places insist that a team bows out after three consecutive wins, but ultimately, it is your decision.

Look Out for Others

When you’re playing on the court, you have an even greater responsibility to be mindful of other players, as serious harm can come from swinging your racket carelessly. As a new rally begins, check your opponent’s surroundings, as they will be doing the same for you – at least they should be. Sometimes a shuttle or person from a neighboring court may stray onto yours, so it’s important to clear the area before resuming play.

Communicate

When it’s your turn to serve, call out the overall team score starting with your score and following with your opponent’s score. This helps avoid confusion throughout the match. For example, if you have 14 points and your opponent has 10, say: “14-10.” Also, when serving, check to make sure your opponent is ready to receive service before you begin.

During play, you should excuse yourself for any shot that accidentally falls in your favor, like a frame shot that tumbles over the net. You don’t need to verbally apologize, but at least gesture with your hand to excuse yourself. After play stops, return the shuttle to your opponent whenever it’s appropriate. At the end of the game, players typically high-five and thank the opposition to show their appreciation.

Common Courtesy

Badminton Etiquette came about to facilitate fun, fair and pleasant play. Before beginning a match, introduce yourself to your opponent or opponents. It is usual to shake hands and smile and/or nod to acknowledge your opponent and to show that though you intend to win the match, you respect your opponent's skill, or at least presence at the game.

It is customary to bring shuttles to the court and not expect them to be provided by other players. Make sure that the shuttles are in good condition, with all feathers in excellent order before hand. No one likes to play with a shuttle with the feathers falling out or broken, causing uneven flight of the "birdie".

Be considerate and cooperate with opponents during warm-up. Make sure everyone in doubles matches are given an equal and ample opportunity to hit a variety of shots before the match begins. Warming up makes for more flexible play, with injuries, and mistakes less likely.

It is the responsibility of badminton players to call all faults on their own side of the net fairly and objectively, treating opponents justly will most often get the same response when the situation is reversed. Badminton etiquette also requires players to respect opponents calls without argument. If there is an official presiding at the match then the official's decisions should be respected.

When a player makes an illegal shot, such as slinging the shuttle, inadvertently touching the net, or any other illegal action, the player committing the act should call it immediately. Mutual respect in playing the game fairly is important in maintaining amity throughout the match.

When an opponent scores, return the shuttle with a light underhand stroke. This shows respect and acceptance of the shot; making an acknowledgement of an exceptional shot is also polite.

It is good etiquette to not talk to an opponent or to deliberately distracting him during play. Talking to spectators or coaches during play is completely unacceptable and considered very rude.

It is customary and expected for a player to announce the score before service. This is should be announced with the server's score first and the receiver's second. If there is an official he or she will usually do this.

Good badminton etiquette means keeping a calm temperament, irrespective of how cross or frustrated a player may become while facing adversity or victory on the court.

Whether a player wins or loses the match she should always shake hands with the opponent when the match is completed.

Good sportsmanship and keeping to the Badminton code of Etiquette is imperative to maintaining sportsman-like conduct throughout the match. Remember, all faults should be accepted graciously; always treat an opponent as you would like them to treat you!