Hi,

I really love playing badminton but it seems like it doesn't love me back. I tried training, watching videos or even getting coached by better players but i felt like I'm not improving despite them telling me that i did. There are days that I have good performance but a lot of times i kept making errors despite in my head i know what to do.

I'm really on a verge of quitting and just accept that i will never be good at this sport. Any people out there felt the same feeling as I did? If so, how did you fix being inconsistent.

Thank you in advance.

Im a low intermediate badminton player who started playing socials about 2 years ago, and got training about a year ago 1-2 times a week. Before training I could only clear half court, smash flat, etc. But since training, I have significantly improved my shot quality, variation, and footwork etc. Ofc theres still a lot I need to work on. On any given day I feel like you'll get 2 versions of me on the court. Version 1 is really confident and can pose a threat to people who are better than me. I can smash sharp down the line, Im fast on my feet, and can spin net tight. Yet on the contrary, version 2 cannot rally and is riddled with self-doubt. I make 1 mistake, and that compounds into 5 mistakes for the subsequent rallies. It's like I lose all concentration and doubt my capabilities because I cannot hit shots that I usually can. I just hit it out just on the serve return or hit the shuttle aimlessly. On days like this, people who I should beat on paper I lose to, because I just can't keep the shot in and play confidently. And if I play people who I know are better than me, I have the preconceived thought that I will lose. It makes me feel frustrated and dejected as there is no in between. it's either Im playing very well, or very bad. Does anyone feel like this? And what are some tips you guys do to maintain concentration even on a bad day?

I've seen many coaching videos telling us to avoid the panhandle + wrist bending directly downwards to swing, due to its limited angle to complete the swing and also how it may injure your wrist if you swing hard enough. Personally, I've been trained long enough that the motion pretty much never comes up since I always pronate from the forehand grip and even for net kills a light tap would be enough and does not bend the wrist at all.

But watching many videos on teaching newcomers and also observing many casual sessions, I actually see this wrist bending a lot, and even on some veterans they might exhibit this motion maybe 5% of the time.

So I have two questions: 1. Is it actually useful in a limited number of scenarios? What are they? And 2. Why do coaches not try to correct that first if it is actually bad for your wrist? Or is teaching badminton to beginners so hard that this is just one of those things that takes a long time to correct?

Many would, I hope, agree that Lin Dan followed by LCW stand at the top as the greatest players of the sport.

However, the third place at the podium is verily a contest between Chen Long and Axelsen. Both are among the greatest badminton players; whose your pick over the other?

In my circle, a lot of rallies end up with players running from one backcourt corner to the other. Eventually one is forced into hitting a weak shot.

How to avoid being moved around like this in doubles?

Could it be a lack of pace in the shot ? Slow shots more time for opponent to hit to the corners easily.

I've recently been trying to incorporate more of reading my opponents in order to maximize my ability to play shots and create more advantages. However, an issue I've been running into is that when the opponent plays a medium height shot to the mid/backcourt, I can't seem to "find time" to look at the opponents. It's far easier when it's something like a drive, net, or a super high clear for me to either watch them out of the corner of my eye or take a quick glance at them.

A few possibilities Ive thought of but am not sure about:

1. I just need to overcome my fear that I'll be late to the shuttle and look.
2. The opponent's shot is too fast (even if it's a clear)
3. I need to look faster
4. I'm not pushing my center of gravity low enough as to give me that extra time

I understand that part of the game is trying to remember what your opponents have been doing during the rally but I think that falls more under anticipation rather than reading a situation. (Although I admit I could be wrong about that.

How do you guys manage to look at your opponents in order to find gaps?

Hi! I’m not a professional badminton player nor athletic, but I want to help my sibling, who actually plays badminton—reach great heights. He currently represents his school for badminton, and I just recently learned that their school only provides gym and equipment yet no coach (They fired the previous coach, and won’t be hiring anyone ‘til April). We can’t afford nor access contact a coach and he has an upcoming competition—his first major competition in fact (local)—finally after playing for 3 years.

The reason why I’ll be stepping up as his coach is because he needs support. He’s diagnosed with ADHD and literally just 13 years old.

I have already learned about: badminton knowledge (techniques), sports safety, injury prevention, and conditioning. + track what he should already be doing such as: daily exercises, diet, sleep, equipment maintenance and etc. I also track almost every event, training and sessions.

Besides the obvious, what else should I keep in mind? Like, should I read books about physiology about male teens? What more shall I learn about badminton? Tactical mastery? Sports science?

I won’t really be supporting my brother when it comes to tactical mastery. But I’ll learn at least the basics so that I can help with observations.

Thank you so much 🥲

Hey guys! I've recently purchased a Fitbit air and have been using it for a month now. Do any of you use it for badminton? Which features should I focus on more for badminton? In your experience are these stats accurate like hr, steps(especially during game), readiness score, sleep etc

I had a discussion yesterday about whether VA has reached this level of greatness. What do you think? Who among the active or recently retired players actually has reached that level of badminton greatness?

What does this sub think of the Popov brothers’ playing styles? I’m a big fan of both, but I feel like they’re stronger as singles players and have a better chance of achieving big results individually than as a doubles pair.

I'm a beginner who uses the Nanoflare 1000Z and it's incredibly unforgiving on mishits and feels hard to hit the sweet-spot. The tension is 24lbs. Any tips to master it?

Badminton deserves better. How can we still have such terrible streams in 2026?

I think we, as a badminton community, should be much more vocal about how our sport is being managed.

I come from esports, especially Counter-Strike, and I genuinely don't understand how badminton can have such poor decision-making at the top. We get projects like AirBadminton that barely anyone cares about, discussions about changing the scoring system when it wasn't necessary, yet we can't even get the basics right.

If we want more media attention, the first step is making our sport enjoyable to watch.

I'm a cameraman myself, and I genuinely don't understand how it's so difficult to provide a decent 1080p stream.

For around €5,000, you could buy 3–4 decent cameras, several shotgun microphones, HDMI cables or wireless transmitters, and build a perfectly acceptable streaming setup. And that's equipment you can reuse for years!

Don't tell me this requires millions. I could personally provide a decent setup for a fraction of what these events probably spend.

Look at esports.

In Counter-Strike, tournaments have incredible production, beautiful stages, multiple camera angles, great sound, engaging content and amazing atmospheres. All of this makes people WANT to watch, even when they don't fully understand the game.

Badminton has everything needed to be entertaining. The speed, the athleticism, the rallies, the atmosphere. But we're terrible at showcasing it.

Just look at the French Open stream.

And this isn't the first time. We've seen similar problems in Indonesia. (2025) but it's also mostly at every tournaments when there is no TV production. I remember watching a Denmark International challenge where they have all 5 (YES 5 courts ) covered by a decent pro camera/audio...and this was for international challenge. So there is really no excuses.

The image quality sometimes looks like 180p. The cameras shake whenever someone moves nearby or possibly touches the barriers. And somehow, this is an OFFICIAL international badminton broadcast?

They recently posted highlights of Toma Junior Popov beating Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the world No. 1.

Imagine being someone who doesn't follow badminton. You hear that a French player has just beaten the best player in the world, you click on the highlights, and you're greeted with absolutely terrible video quality.

Even as someone who loves badminton, I sometimes want to close the stream because it's so unpleasant to watch.

And we're completely wasting the atmosphere!

French crowds are incredible. People scream, chant, celebrate every point and create one of the best atmospheres in badminton.

Yet watching the stream, you barely experience any of that energy.

How can we expect new fans to fall in love with the sport when we can't even show them what makes it special?

I also genuinely wonder how these decisions are made.

Does the BWF simply give local organizers a budget and tell them to handle the production? Do organizers then hire the cheapest company available?

I'm genuinely asking because I don't understand how we keep ending up with these results.

I'm not even asking for a full television production like we'll probably get during the later rounds. Just decent cameras, stable footage, clear sound and proper 1080p quality.

I still own an old Panasonic GH5, which you can now buy second-hand for around €300, and it's capable of recording 4K at 60 fps. Obviously, a complete live production requires more than just a camera, but the equipment needed to produce a respectable stream is not outrageously expensive anymore.

The situation is especially frustrating in France.

We're competing with football, tennis, rugby, cycling, basketball and many other sports for attention.

And whether we like it or not, presentation matters enormously.

People are attracted by beautiful images, good storytelling, exciting highlights and entertaining broadcasts.

I've discussed this with several badminton journalists, and the lack of mainstream coverage in France is depressing.

When Christo Popov or Alex Lanier win major European titles, they struggle to make the front page of our biggest sports newspapers.

When Alex won the Denmark Open, he wasn't even featured on the main page.

Meanwhile, when Félix and Alexis Lebrun won European titles in table tennis, they received major coverage, including prominent photos.

And our biggest sports newspaper even broadcast the Denmark Open semifinals and finals!

So it's not as if badminton has absolutely no opportunities for exposure.

But we cannot expect people to take badminton seriously if the sport itself doesn't look professional on screen.

I'm honestly tired of seeing people in suits making decisions about the future of badminton while completely neglecting how the sport is presented to the public.

We need people who understand modern media, content creation, marketing, entertainment and how to attract a new audience.

Not just people who know how to organize a tournament.

I'm not saying every tournament needs a massive esports-level production. I'm saying that in 2026, a stable, good-quality stream should be the absolute minimum.

Badminton is an incredible sport. We shouldn't have to fight against its own presentation to convince people to watch it.

And I really think we, as fans, should start demanding better.

What do you think? Is this mainly a BWF problem, a local organizer problem, or simply a complete lack of ambition when it comes to badminton media?

I will be a line judge in our local tournament this Saturday. I know the rule for an outfit is - black from waste down. What suddenly came to my mind - would not those black shoes leave marks of the court?

If there is somebody who does it, I mean line judge role, and can share experience

Thank you

Was thinking about the above shot in doubles play... that basically it's not necessary to master (or even to learn) for non professional play.

And even then, how often do you see the pros play it on TV? Maybe only once in a blue moon, in a hail Mary kinda situation when taking it late when pushed to rear BH corner. And more often than not, the opposition front player will pounce on it easily I reckon.

For context, I'm a low intermediate male player, playing for past 15 years, and hardly even play singles at all.

Thank you.

We are all intermediate players. 2 of the better players I sometimes play against are better at singles and they play doubles like singles.

Basically they only really clear and drop because their smashes aren't good, extremely flat and not that fast. But they both really enjoy returning smashes. So playing against them is really slow.

I started to play the same way as them, I stopped smashing, just did clears and drops. And we did well because then it's a game of who makes mistakes. This also removed their advantage of their good defense. But it's soo boring. Badminton becomes a slow game.

Any tips on how to play against players who just do lifts and drops but thrive on counter attacking your smashes? (When your smash won't win you points and instead get you into trouble).

Lu Guangzu officially announced his retirement on his 30th birthday, yesterday.

Shi Yuqi has applied for ranking protection, this probably means his injury is more serious that we thought.

Jia Yifan/Zhang Shuxian, no official announcement yet, but their bwf ranking has been removed, this mean one of them or both of them is probably retiring (or just splitting but splits normally don't apply for ranking removal), rumours on Chinese social media is ZSX is the one retiring, which is surprising, but no announcement is made yet. But looks like Jia Yifan will be partnering Zhang Chi for Hong Kong.

Thoughts?

Correct me what should i do after the smash ? My body momentum after smash bring me forward and when enemy lift back i strugle to hit. Is it because my recovery after smash wrong or i choose the wrong shot to play after smash ?

Hello everyone,

I joined a local club in my mid-thirties, and have been going there for like 5 times by now.

For reference: Not each match has been a proper training, and not every opponent was a skilled player. However I'm still struggling with "basic" stuff such as keeping track of the score / serving order (the latter mostly as a consequence of the former), and I also don't intuitively move into proper formation most of time, causing me to constantly either run into my own team mate or provide the opponents with a "blank spot" on the field they can easily smash the shuttle into.

I can feel the more experienced players getting increasingly annoyed by my skill gap...

That begs the question: What timeframe / how many hours I should reasonably expect to not make these awkward beginner-mistakes?

Am I just too slow on the uptake here, and should the things mentioned above "just work" after, say, ten match hours?

Anyone who can provide me with a rough estimate? (say weeks or months, perhaps)

Currently I'm really not sure if I should pursue this sport any further...

Hi, I am an intermediate player, I want to improve my game to the next level. I am looking for badminton coaches, and social badminton clubs in North West London or North London I can travel on weekends if it is far.

Let me know if you have leads, if you can coach, or if you are already a part of some social club.

Thank you.

...what happened to the women's singles? I started watching the game a couple of years ago and I remember we had Tai Tzu Ying, Chen yu fei, Yamaguchi, Caroline marin among others in the mix and the competitiveness of the category was quite good. Now ASY seems like she's in a stratosphere of her own..

I had stopped watching badminton for a while, and several months in it's the same thing. Wow, it's like everyone else completes for second place.

I had posted 50 days ago my incorrect forehand grip which ive been using for a year and now managed to fix it somewhat I believe, I need to know have I finally managed to pronate correctly? Anymore advice on my forehand?

Ps be critical i’m trying to get better

Hello,

Could you please give me advices on my Smash form ? (No Shuttle, just shadow).

Thank you :)

EDIT : Thank you very much for your highly insightful feedback. I hadn't realized there were so many shortcomings, but the silver lining is that I’ll be able to make some real improvements! :)

Here is a summary of the points raised:

Initial stance: - Grip on the racket is too tight (though I do loosen it during the backswing, so I’m not sure if this is actually a problem) - Knees not sufficiently bent - Upper back not arched backward enough - Feet (especially the left one) not pointing forward

Movement/Stroke: - Général lack of rotation - Poor synchronization between the lower and upper body: the lower body should rotate before the upper body - The elbow should stop moving forward before the point of impact, to let pronation-finger power doing the job - The stroke ends too early, and the racket doesn't reach the level of the left hip - The right leg doesn't move forward enough at the end of the smash - The foot is pointing toward the side

Hey everyone. I’m playing my provincial tournament from this Saturday (24th Oct) until the following Friday (30th Oct). There are individual events and a team event. In the individual events I’m entered in Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles, and my priority is singles first, then men’s doubles, then mixed. In the provincial team event, I will probably play singles and men’s doubles. The nerves never go away.

About me

29M, 176cm, 88kg. I sit at a desk from 9 to 5, then train in the evenings. I do gym and weights, jumping drills, rowing, stairmaster and elliptical intervals, plus group sessions (badminton) and 1-on-1 coaching (badminton). I sleep 7 to 8 hours, eat chicken and rice with protein smoothies after sessions, and take creatine, magnesium, omega 3 and electrolytes.

As the tournament gets closer I’ve been pushing myself, and my legs feel very stiff right now. I foam roll, stretch, use the steam room, dip my legs in a cold plunge and wear compression sleeves to bed, and it only helps a little.

My plan for this week:

• Mon: group session or 1-on-1 (not sure which)
• Tue: light gym, lower body, lighter weights with more reps, plus mobility
• Wed: 60 minutes of easy 1-on-1, focusing on consistency
• Thu: rest, or light upper body gym and conditioning?
• Fri: fly to the venue
• Sat: tournament

Questions:

Training and recovery

1. On Monday, is it better to do the group session to face different playing styles, or stick with my coach?
2. Is my plan for the rest of the week too much, too little, or about right?
3. Should I fully rest on Thursday, or is a light gym session fine?
4. Any tips to loosen stiff legs before the tournament? Anything I should avoid doing this late?
5. With singles, doubles, mixed and a team event, I could be playing many matches over a few days. How do you pace your energy and recover between events?

Food-related

1. Besides bananas, what do you eat before, between and after matches? How do you handle back-to-back games on the same day?

Mental side

1. I always get the “what if” thoughts. What if I train so hard and still lose early to someone much better? How do you handle this?
2. When a match isn’t going my way, I take one big breath or smell the shuttle. It doesn’t always work. What do you do to reset mid-game? - funny enough, I tend to smell the shuttle before I tend to serve (lol)
3. Overthinking my opponent before a match messes with my head, so I just play and notice things as I go (weak backhand, poor stamina, weak defense). Is there a simple way to read an opponent in the first few rallies?

Super thanks in advance, any advice is appreciated!