It is not a foreign concept in sport that if you want to improve your game then doing drills is the only way to go but sometimes a beginner gets bored by doing the same drill over and over so for of the beginner or even an intermediate player I have written this ultimate badminton drills guide where you will find 21 practice to improve different aspect of your game
Name of badminton drills we are going to discuss
- Box Game
- Half-court vs full court
- Three corners (drop shot)
- Statics shots (for beginners)
- two corners vs full court
- Mutlishuttle(different variation)
- Smash and follow up
- Defense and net shot
- Shadow (for footwork)
- Diagonal feeding
- Half-court play (for kids and beginners)
- 2 vs 1
- Feeding ( different variation)
- Not playing in Box
- Wall practice
- Split step drills
- Defense practice
- Knock out
- Half-court feeding (for doubles)
- Service drills
- Reaction time drills
Let’s discuss these drills one by one
You should also invest in a shuttle holder for improved efficiency of practice session, this is the one i recommend Indian audience , International audience click here
Box Game badminton drills
In this drill, you are not allowed to hit shuttle outside the red area as shown in the picture below
How to perform this drill
Play rallies regularly just like a normal game but you are not allowed to hit shuttle outside the red area
If it lands outside the read box then a point will be scored
Benefits of this drill
The purpose of this drills is to improve your drive game and defensive play because you are not allowed to play net area and backcourt the only option for you will be drive and attack
This way you can improve your speed on the court
Note:- You can also perform this drill in half-court, meaning that not playing in net area and backcourt
Half-court Vs Full Court
This drill can be a lifesaver especially when you do not have any senior player in your academy
Process
As the name suggests you have to play full-court against a player who will be playing half-court
You should return all shots of your opponent to his half-court whereas he can play anywhere on your court
Play 21 points match against your opponent and after 11 points ask him to change his side of the court( from his right side to left side)
Benefit of this drill
You will be under pressure most of the time so it will help you in preparing for these situations in a real match
Also, it will help you to learn the classic tactic in singles which is playing to opponent’s one side and suddenly hitting a cross-shot
Three corners vs single corner
This is one of the classic singles drill and it can do wonders to you netplay
Process
In this exercise, you will be needing a person who will hit the shuttle to three corners in your court
But you should always hit the shuttle back to the feeder
Do 8 min of continuous practice and after that ask the feeder to stand on the left side of the side and do the same thing for 8 min
Some Benefits of doing this drill
Improve your shot accuracy and also help you to play consistent long rallies without getting tired
It will also improve your drop shots and overall netplay
Static shot hitting ( For all shots)
This drill is more suitable for a beginner because here the main focus is to improve the shot quality while being in a comfortable position
Process of performing this drill
So as the name suggests in this drill you have to hit shots while being static(not implementing footwork) with a partner
Using a proper technique to do all types of shots, one at a time
My routine
Give 5 minutes to each shot
Two corners vs Full Court badminton drills
In this drill, you will be needing two-player and a shuttle
Process
Ask two players to stand on any two points in the court and now you can only hit the shuttle to those two corners whereas those two players can hit the shuttle anywhere
‘There are various variation you can do to make it more effective
For example, if you want to improve your drop shot ask both to stand on both side of the net area or if you want to improve clears and drop simultaneously do variation no. 2
Benefits of this drill
It will help you to focus on two aspects of your game at the same time
It also helps in improving consistent shot-making quality
Tip:- Instead of doing this drill for a couple of minutes play a 21 point match with rules
- Match will start from 21 and if those two-player scores a point then one point will be deducted their goal is to make your score 0 whereas if you score a point by there mistake then one point will be added to the present score
Mutishuttle (different variation)
This is the most followed drills in the world and reason for it is there are so many variations you can do with these drills
Some example
- Only defense feeding
- Only smash feeding
- Frontcourt area feeding
- Drive feeding and so on
Process
Gather as many shuttles as you can any and tell the feeder what type of variation should be followed
In this picture I was practicing mixed variation it means that in between feeder was changing the variation
Benefits of this drill
Due to the variety it provides, you can focus on more aspects of your game at the time multi-session
Smash and follow up
This drill is beneficial to improve you’re follow up and smash power
Process
- Take 20 shuttles and ask the feeder to give you shuttle to the place in the order which is mentioned in the picture below
Your job is to hit the smash and after hitting the smash feeder will give the shuttle at point “2” and you have to do a net kill and after that go back to base position and repeat the process again
Benefits of this drill
Help you in increasing smash power and your ability to transfer body weight forward to make a net kill
Defense and net shot feeding
This drill is done with the help of a feeder
Process
Here you will be doing the footwork of two-point first is defense and after that net shot
Watch this video for more clarity
Here you can see that I am doing shadow for defense and after that feeder is giving me shuttle on the net for dribble practice
Take 20 shuttles and do this drill from both sides
Benefits of this drill
Improve your dribbles and defense footwork at the same time
It will also help you to improve endurance
Shadow (for movement )
It is one of the most essential drill to improve the footwork of a player and the best part about this drill is that you don’t need any player or shuttle
just a court and a racket and you are good to go
Process
In this exercise, you need to do the footwork for all the point in the same set (or for any particular points) with a racket in your hand
Do 24 point in a single go and do 5 sets of this
The benefit of doing shadow drill
It is the best exercise to brush up your movement and make it smoother and quick
Diagonal feeding
In this drill, you have to move diagonally on the court and have to cover only two points
Process
A player will stand near-net as shown in the picture and he will give you shuttle on point 1 and your job is to hit that shuttle back to him
After that, he will return that same shuttle to point 2 and you have to return that shuttle to the same position where the feeder stands and this process will continue for as long as someone makes a mistake
Do this exercise for 6 min and after that ask the feeder to stand on the left side of the same net area and do the same drill
Benefit of this drill
I personally felt that this drill is very effective if your diagonal footwork is slow
Half-court drill
This is another great exercise for beginners as the movement in this drill is not too complex
Process
You will be needing a shuttle and a player to feed you shuttle
Ask the feeder to give you shuttle first on point 1 and your job is to hit that shuttle back to feeder then he will give you same shuttle at point 2 and you have to hit it back to the feeder
You can do this drill for 6 min or more depending upon the stamina
Benefit of this drill
For a beginner, it can do wonder to his drop shot and straight footwork speed
2 VS 1
This one is my favorite because it always challenges you to push the limit
Process
As the name suggests you will be playing against 2 players at the same time just like a normal match
It is your choice how many points you want to play, I always play best of 3 sets (21 points)
Benefits of this exercise
- Improve speed
- Increase stamina
- Improve ability to play under pressure
- And what not
Feeding ( different variation)
I have already discussed some feeding drills but here are some more exercise in this genre
- Defense feeding
- Net shot static feeding
- Smash static feeding
- drive static feeding
Not playing in Box
Do you remember the first drill we talked about well this is just the opposite of that
Process
Just like a regular match play with an opponent but the twist is that you are only allowed to hit shuttle in the red area and any shuttle landing outside the red zone will be considered as OUT
You can play 21 points match or set timer for a single set, whichever suits the situation
Benefits of this drill
- Improve the length of your shots especially clear and lob
- It is also helpful in training long smashes because you will be hitting smash in the backcourt
- Increase accuracy in your shots
Hitting against the wall
Doing wall practice on Sunday to warm up my wrist
- This exercise may seem challenging to most, but it’s a great exercise once you overcome the odds. Start off slow and make sure your racket is in front of you. Relax your grip, so you can switch to the forehand and backhand grip.
- Remember to bend your knees (lower your body) for better reflex and anticipation. And take the shots at the earliest point.
This practice is very essential even top professional players still do this exercise.
Benefits of doing this drill.
- Increase reaction time
- quick movement of wrist
- fast change of grip
Split step drill
Split step refers to a small jump which a player makes before his opponent hits the shot
And it is very important to focus on this aspect of the game because it has a huge impact on how smooth you move on the court
Process
This video has some interesting drill on split step for beginners and kids
Defense and smash drill
Two players are required for this drill and a shuttle
Process
Player 1 will smash at player 2 and he will block then player 1 will use his footwork to lift the block
After that, it is player 2 turns to hit the smash and player 1 will block
This type of rally will continue until a player makes a mistake
Benefits of this drill
- Improve defense
- Improve speed of smash
- Brush up your straight footwork
Knock out
It is not much of a drill but a type of game which you can play to make practice more interesting
Process
Make a team of two player or more depending on the players present
After that one player from each team will play a point on the court and whoever wins the point will stay on court whereas the player who lost the point will exchange his position to his teammate
Now his teammate will play a point with the winning player
This process will continue for 15 points, whichever team scores 15 points first will win
Half-court drill for doubles
This drill focus on improving your reaction time and speed for doubles
Process
In this exercise, two players will on one side of the court and you will be standing in half court on the other side
After that, 21 point match will be played but the rule is that those two players cannot hit the shuttle outside the half-court whereas you are allowed to hit shuttle anywhere on the singles court
Benefits of this drill
- Improve defense for doubles
- Increase the ability to handle the pressure
- More awareness to find gaps during rallies for winning points
Service drill
Service is the first shot played in badminton and if you don’t have the ability to do a consistent service then it will pressure on you from the start
Process
Take a bucket and place it on one side of court near the front service line
Now try to hit you service into that bucket by you backhand serve
Reaction time drill
Badminton is the fastest racket sport where you get less than a second to react and if your reaction speed is slow then it can greatly impact your performance but these drills help you to avoid that
Process
Drill 1:- Throw a ball with one hand against the wall and catch it with the other
It helps in improving hand-eye coordination and reaction time
for more drills watch this video
Thank you for reading…
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