No Balls Please (Badminton in General)

Member Name: ks.h

Product:	Badminton in General
Date:	12/01/02 (488 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fairley Inexpensive, Family Fun, Keeps You Fit

Disadvantages: Not Enough Media Coverage

For most people Badminton is a game they play for a short while at school and then forget about, it rarely gets any television coverage and you never read about it in the newspapers. However it can be an extremely exciting sport to both watch and participate in which incorporates accuracy, power, skill and fitness.

History

There are two versions of who first invented the game of Badminton, some people believe it was first played by the Duke of Beaufort and his family on his estate at Badminton in Gloucestershire around 1867, but another theory is the game was originally devised by a group of British army officers stationed in India and introduced to the Beaufort family by some of those returning officers. Badminton was a more sophisticated version of an old English game known as battledore and shuttlecock and a similar game had been played in China for over 2,000 years.

The game quickly became very popular and the Badminton Association was founded in Great Britain in 1893, since then the sport has flourished in Denmark, Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand and a very high proportion of champions come from Far East Asia however our own Simon Archer and Jo Goodes won the mixed doubles bonze medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, our first Olympic medal in the sport. Badminton is taught in schools in Britain and is part of our National Curriculum as a net and wall game in Key Stage one and two, in its own right in Key Stage 3 and 4 and it also features in the GCSE and A Level syllabus. The world governing body is the International Badminton Federation, which was founded in 1934 and consists of a body of 147 affiliated member nations.

Playing the Game

Either two or four players using racquets and a shuttlecock play the game on an indoor court that resembles a tennis court. The court is forty-four feet long and twenty feet wide with the net fixed so that the top edge is five feet from the flo
or at the centre and five feet one inch at the posts, the racquet is lightweight and about twenty-six inches long with a head of eight and a half inches at its broadest point, the shuttlecock consists of a cork base fitted with sixteen goose feathers to stabilise it although you can also use shuttlecocks with the feathers made of plastic or nylon.

In a game of singles the server stands in the right service court and serves into the opposite right service court, if the server wins a rally one point is scored. The next service is from the left court to the opposite left court and this process goes on as long as the server is winning points. You can only win points in Badminton on your serve, if the server loses a rally the other player does not win the point but does win the right to serve. Points are won when a player is unable to return the shuttlecock or hits it out of court and games are normally played up to fifteen points but the winners score must be two points greater than that of the opponents, most matches are played as best of three or best of five games. In a game of doubles if the server loses serve his partner takes over serve and when both players have lost serve the other team then serves.

Badminton consists of a wide variety of stroke play ranging from low, just over the net shots to extremely high shots and in power from delicate drop shots up to fierce overhead smashes and serious players need to be fit, agile and have quick reflexes. Having said that you can have tremendous fun playing non-competitive Badminton at a club or with friends and you will be surprised at how quickly your fitness levels increase.

Equipment

The cost of equipment can be relatively inexpensive with prices for a basic racquet starting at around £10 and practice shuttlecocks also at around £10 for a box of ten and like all sports equipment prices increase depending on quality and brand name. If you just want to play for fun it is not really
worth spending a lot of money on your equipment. Most Badminton courts and sports halls ask you to wear white-soled footwear while playing; black-soled trainers mark the courts.

Just for Fun

If you want to help your children improve their skills for the National Curriculum Key Stage one and two encourage them to hit the shuttlecock against the outside wall of your house, this will help with agility and concentration, they can also practice serving into a waste paper basket to improve accuracy; sets of Badminton racquets, plastic shuttlecocks and a net are widely available in shops during the summer months for around £6, these sets are designed for children and will not last long but for the price are well worth it if you just fancy a bit family fun in the garden with the added bonus of encouraging your children to participate in a sport.

For the Spectator

The most prestigious tournament in the world of Badminton is the All England Badminton Championship, the 2002 tournament will be staged at Birmingham National Indoor Arena from 6th to 10th March.

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