Badminton String Tension relating to Power and Control
Matching string gauge and tension
In badminton, the direct contact of shuttlecocks when delivering a smash, a shooting loop or even a drop shot is the badminton string. Much of the power in a badminton shot comes from the string. Thus, it is very important to know a little on how the differences in badminton strings and its tension can affect your game. It is all about tension relating to power and control.
By adjusting the string tension, you can adjust
the amount of power or control that you get from any string, thick or
thin. There is coordination between these tension, power and control.
Tension and power are related. So are power and control.
Playing with a higher tension racket
If you applied more tension on your string, you will have a stiffer string bed. With a stiffer string bed, you will get a good control feeling as the shuttlecock bounces off the string bed instantly once in contact with the string, allowing players to control his game and adjusted its placing instantly. racket strung at high tension using thin string tends to build up speed on your drive shot and counter attack. Don’t misunderstood control as merely defense. Control is the ability to hit hard and placed the shuttle to where you want it to be. Please take note that If you strung your racket with the same high tension using a thicker string and a thinner string, you will feel that the thinner string is tighter and therefore less power when compare with the thicker string. Thinner string tends to loss its tension faster as compare with thicker string, thus thinner string is not advisable to string with tension that is too low.
In Malaysia, thinner strings like the micro-filament synthetic string are normally used to string high- tension racket. Players knew that tension would lose out certain percentage after playing for a week or two, so to get the best out of a thin string; the tension should be increased by certain percentage higher.
With higher tension on thick string, that is stretching the string closed to its elastic limits- the shuttle would not be able to reach your opponent with high speed when you smash with normal strength, as the string bed are so stiff and lack of flexibility and elasticity to help you delivered the power. Thus, you need to use more strength on your smashes and believe me with more strength and high tension, you will be able to score points on your smashes unless you don’t have the strength to play a high tension racket. With higher tension on thinner string, you would be able to get some elasticity but not the durability. In another word; if your racket was over tension and is beyond your physical ability to handle it, the best way is to slightly reduce the string tension. Do not reduce your string tension drastically, reduce it a pound or two at a time so that you can still maintain your control as well as increased your power.
Alternatively, you can string your racket with a higher elasticity strings that naturally has more power. Natural guts and micro-filament synthetic strings would be a good choice.
Either you string it with the same tension to get more power, or slightly increased the tension to a pound to get more control at the same time, more power.
I think you would like to consider the fact
before restringing your racket that high-tension string tends to snap
easier than lower tension string because stretching the string beyond
its elastic limits would definitely loses its durability. And even with
tremendous improvements in string technology, It is inevitable to
avoid the fact that a thinner string tends to snap faster than thicker
string. And if you are not those serious players who would
restring your racket frequently, try a thicker string and of
course it is no harm trying a thinner string once in awhile to see if
it snaps like what you expected.
Playing with a lower tension string
If you applied lower tension on your string, you will have a more bouncy string bed. With a bouncy string bed, you will get a good feeling as the shuttlecock stays in the string bed for a longer period before bounces off the string bed once in contact with the string, allowing players to adjust its powerful smash instantly. Upon impact, shuttlecock would landed deeper on a thinner gauge string, thus providing better power control and thinner gauge string also helps in minimizing air resistance enabling players to speed up for more power. racket strung at reasonably lower tension using thin string tends to build up power on smashes and baseline chopping. The term feeling means even though you hit the shuttle very softly or performing a drop shot, you are still able to place the shuttle to where you want it to be. Power would mean even if you smash using your normal strength, the shuttle were able to reach your opponent in high speed.
With lower string tension on a thinner string, that is stretching the string to reasonable elastic limits- there are more elasticity on the string and more rooms for string stretching resulting in a more bouncy feeling on the string bed upon impact. With the help of a bouncier string bed, the shuttle would be able to reach your opponent with high speed when you smash with normal strength, as the string bed have excellent flexibility and elasticity to help you delivered the power. But unfortunately, unlike thicker string that was able to hold its tension longer, thinner string, especially micro-filament strings tends to loss out its tension faster.
Unfortunately, It was also because of this bouncy characteristic; player would sometime find it difficult to adjust and control its stroke when delivering shooting loop and tends to send the shuttle away from court. Thus, you need to adjust your strength on your stroke and believe me you would be able to adapt to it quite well after practicing for some time.
Alternatively, to get a better control, the best way is to slightly increase the string tension. Do not increase your string tension drastically, increased it a pound or two at a time so that you can still maintain your control as well as increased your power. Take note that lower string tension on a thicker string might not provide you the elasticity needed as thick string tends to be less elastic though more durable.
Different weather condition affected string tension
Badminton strings are sensitive to changes in temperature and very much affected by climates in different region of the world. In Malaysia and other South East Asia countries, the weather is rather warm and humid, thus the tension of strings tends loose out more rapidly though more durable comparing with strings played in cold and dry weather. Traditionally, most of the players in these regions prefer high tension stringing up to 24 lbs on thin micro-filament synthetic string.
Badminton strings is rather brittle in cold and dry countries Europe, United State and Canada. Thus, rackets are sting at a very much lower tension, recommended mostly around 18lbs to get an equivalent amount of control and power while still maintain its durability
Different material in shuttlecock affected string tension
In Malaysia and other Asian Countries, feather shuttlecock is mostly used for all levels of game. The favorite speed for a shuttle used in these regions is either 76 grains (slower) for a smaller hall or 77 grains (Faster) for a larger hall. As feather shuttlecocks are more flexible and weight around 5grams to 6grams, it didn’t create any strong impact on badminton strings, resulting in more durable strings on these regions. Thus, the best resilience thin string is the favorite choice for players in these regions.
Traditionally, in Europe, United State and Canada, plastic shuttlecock had become the favorite shuttlecock used by players. Due to its plastic nature, the shuttlecock tends to be less flexible and created a hard impact on badminton string, thus causing more string to snap. A thicker string strung at lower tension would be able to solve the “snapping” problem but player should maintain at least a certain amount of tension to balance the control and power needed for a good badminton match.
Article was quoted from prospeed.com.my
Technology into Badminton Racket
The contribution of technology on badminton rackets
Players do believe that advance technology on rackets had contributed to more speed and power in badminton and had dramatically changes the playing styles. You would not be able to use a wooden racket to play a speed and power game anymore. The trend had moved towards a more considerably lighter rackets to achieve the speed required in badminton and using of hi modulus carbon fiber materials could do this. No matter how light the racket is, the manufacturer still needs to maintain certain weights on the frame to produce the power, very much needed in badminton. Thus, most of the weight has been removed from the handle and shaft. With this new construction, players now have the advantage of lighter rackets with about the same swing weight as heavier rackets.
Technology has created certain advantage features like wider and stiffer frame, which is able to add more stability when the impact is off the sweet spot due to its larger moment of inertia. Stiffer frames have more power than flexible frames since the shuttle was kicked away as soon as it landed on the string bed.
How to choose badminton racket that suits you?
No one pant fits all! That goes the same with badminton rackets. It is impossible to find a racket that is able to suit all type of players, as each individual is so unique and so different in term of physical and playing style. One of the most common concept and I would said a common mistake made by many players when selecting a racket is to use what the professional use. “Use what the champion are using and you won’t go wrong?” Many professional players succeed because of their physical attributes gathered from their hard work and tight training programs and not mainly because of their racket.
“Hey, what racket is he using? His smashes were so powerful but when I bought one and tried it, I can hardly lifted up my arm after a few lousy floating smashes and the worst is I sprained my shoulders and my wrist hurts. What happened to this racket?”
Answer: It is not the problem of racket. You are actually a lightweight boxer fighting with a heavy weight glove.
We categorized players into 3 categories: - the beginner, the intermediate and the advance group. To cater the needs and wants of each player in these groups, we have prepared some information on how to choose a racket to maximize performance on each category of players.
While choosing a racket, you must be sure of your current physical condition and you better know what you are actually looking for in a racket. Was it a power performance racket or was it a control racket with comfort feel that you are looking for?
If you want a racket for control, look for the following features:
Lighter weight – A racket, unstrung, which is weight between 85 grams to 90 grams is possibly a good control racket provided the balance point are not too high.
Recommended balance point: 275mm – 280mm
The weight and balance of a racket will be affected once the racket is strung and a replacement grip is added. The following are the changes in weight and balance of the racket once the racket is ready to go for the shot.
After strung, which mean 3 grams added on the head, the racket would weight around 88 grams to 93 grams. If the original grip (Weight around 7 grams that comes with the racket) is taken off and replaced by a replacement PU grip (approximately 12 grams), and additional of 5 more grams is added on the handle to make the racket weight around 93grams to 98 grams. The balance point would then decreased slightly to about 270mm-275mm. (with weight moved towards the handle.) This will yield a headlight feeling for better comfort feeling and control.
For those who prefer to wrap an extra PU grip without removing the original grip to make the handle larger would be adding 12 grams to the handle. For this type of player, to look for a control racket, they need to look for a higher balance point racket. 280mm – 290mm is suggested and the racket weight should be around 85 grams – 88 grams.
Lower balance point – The balance point affected a lot on the feel of your racket. If your racket has a high balance point then you will feel your racket is heavier towards the racket head and if your racket has a lower balance point then you will have this head light feeling on your racket.
The balance point is measured from the handle towards the shaft on the point where the racket stayed in balance on your finger. The balance point of a good control racket should be around 275mm – 280mm. This will yield a headlight feeling and best for control and comfort feeling. You can actually adjust your racket weight and racket balance.
If you want a racket for control and power, adjusted yourself.
(Adjusted the weight and balance of your racket)
Less stiffness - The flexibility of the racket do have an impact on the feel of your racket. In theory, the flexible shafts designed for beginner and amateur players are good for control and easier to maneuver but I have seen champions winning games after games, delivering smashes after smashes using a Prospeed mid-flex shaft racket. Thus, the term stiffness and flexible really differs a lot on each individual.
In theory, a stiffer shaft is more suitable for powerful player. Again, not only professional are powerful, some beginners and amateur players do have the strength to handle a stiff shaft and yield powerful smashes. So, to get the right stiffness, you should test play with different stiffness racket in order to get the right choice of stiffness on your racket.
In badminton, the weight and balance of a racket can be adjusted but not the stiffness. Thus, you will have to pay special attention on the stiffness of racket, the next time you purchased a new racket though all rackets will tends to lose a certain percentage of stiffness over a period of time.
If you want a racket for power, look for these features:
Heavier weight - A racket, unstrung, which is weight between 88 grams to 92 grams is possibly a good power racket provided the balance point are not too low.
A heavier weight racket would transmit less shock and less vibration when sending off shuttle, and has a larger sweet spot than lighter weight rackets.
Recommended balance point: 285mm – 295mm.
The weight and balance of a racket will be affected once the racket is strung and a replacement grip is added. The following are the changes in weight and balances of the racket once the racket is strung and are all ready to go for the shot.
After strung, which mean 3 grams added on the head, the racket would weight around 91 grams to 95 grams. If the original grip (Weight around 7 grams that comes with the racket) is taken off and replaced by a replacement PU grip (approximately 12 grams), and additional of 5 more grams is added on the handle to make the racket weight around 96grams to 100 grams. The balance point would then decreased slightly to about 280mm-290mm. (with weight moved towards the handle.) This weight and balance together with the heavier weight is good for power play.
For those who prefer to wrap an extra PU grip without removing the original grip to make the handle larger would be adding 12 grams to the handle. For this type of player, to look for a powerful racket, they need to look for a higher balance point racket. 290mm – 300mm is suggested and the racket weight should be around 88 grams – 92 grams.
Higher balance point - The balance point affected a lot on the feel of your racket. If your racket has a high balance point then you will feel your racket is heavier towards the racket head, which will be able to yield more power on your smashes and if your racket has a lower balance point then you will have this head light feeling on your racket. Bear in mind and be honest to yourself as not everybody could handle a racket with a high balance point.
The balance point is measured from the handle towards the shaft on the point where the racket stayed in balance on your finger. The balance point of a good power racket should be around 285mm – 295mm. This will yield a heavy feeling towards the head and would be able to deliver powerful smashes.
(Adjusted the weight and balance of your racket)
More stiffness - The flexibility of the racket do have an impact on the feel of your racket. In theory, the flexible shafts designed for beginner and amateur players are good for control and easier to maneuver but I have seen champions winning games after games, delivering smashes after smashes using a Prospeed mid-flex shaft racket. Thus, the term stiffness and flexible really differs a lot on each individual.
In theory, a stiffer shaft is more suitable for powerful player. Again, not only professional are powerful players; some beginners and amateur players do have the strength to handle a stiff shaft and yield powerful smashes. So, to get the right stiffness, you should test play with different stiffness racket in order to get the right choice of stiffness for your racket.
In badminton, the weight and balance of a racket can be adjusted but not the stiffness. Thus, you will have to pay special attention on the stiffness of racket, the next time you purchased a new racket though all rackets will tends to lose a certain percentage of stiffness over a period of time.
You would sometime experience certain frame shock and frame vibration if you were playing with a racket that had a very stiff frame. What is frame shock? Frame shock is the unnecessary force felt at the moment of impact when you delivered a stroke and frame vibration is the vibrated feeling when the shuttle speed away from your string (Occurred more frequently on racket that had a larger sweet spot due to the length of main strings). The most effective way to reduce these shock and vibration is to add the 5 grams grommet stripe to a frame.
There are several frame shapes of rackets in the market and you would have to know what is the best shape that suits your playing style. Do you prefer an Isometric, the Wide-bodied or the conventional frame?
The Isometric construction frame.
The Isometric construction racket has a larger sweet spot deal to its flat top and are able to transmits less shock but are more prone to vibration due to the length of the string. It is believed to be more powerful and many had shifted from the conventional frame to the Isometric lately. You can add extra tension on Isometric due to its larger sweet spot, especially the main string, where the length of string is longer than conventional racket.
Article was quoted from prospeed.com.my