Can you think of a time when you ramped up for a powerful shot in badminton, only to totally miss it with your racket’s sweet spot? Maybe you hit the shuttle with your frame, or even missed it entirely!
If that scenario sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. As a beginner badminton player, it’s common to struggle with coordination on the court. The good news is that you can improve this ability (and your overall game) by adding a few simple exercises to your routine.
In this post, discover the importance of badminton coordination, four drills that can help you hone your skills, and a bonus resource at the end.
What Badminton Coordination Is (& Why It’s Important)
In a nutshell, coordination refers to the connection between your vision system and your movement. In other words, it’s your ability to move quickly and precisely in response to what you see.
In badminton, it’s easy to see why this is a critical skill — because, without solid coordination, you won’t be able to move swiftly and accurately enough to return your opponents’ shots!
Fortunately, coordination is something that can improve with time and practice. To begin, here are four badminton coordination exercises that you can try today:
1. Bouncing-Off-the-Racket Drills
Simply bouncing the shuttle on your racket is a quick and basic drill that can improve your hand-eye coordination. Here’s a short routine to help you get started:
- Simply toss the shuttle in the air and let it bounce off of the forehand side of your racket.
- Repeat this for 20 consecutive reps.
- Then, switch to your backhand and repeat for 20 more reps.
A simple bouncing exercise like this is one of the best basic drills for hand-eye coordination in badminton. But if you want to spice things up, you can also repeat this drill while bouncing the shuttle behind your back.
2. Wall Rally Drills
Wall rally drills offer a multitude of benefits for your badminton performance — and one of the things they’re best for is coordination. On top of that, these versatile drills can also help with your reflexes and agility.
To practice a wall rally drill:
- First, find a solid wall to practice on — you’ll want to make sure it won’t take any damage from getting whacked with the shuttle!
- Stand about five feet back and get into your ready stance.
- Hit the shuttle at the wall so that it bounces back towards you.
- Return it to the wall using a mixture of forehand and backhand shots. You can adjust the pace of the drill by increasing the power in each shot — so as your coordination improves, don’t be afraid to use a little more strength!
3. Dribbling Tennis Balls
Dribbling tennis balls might sound easy, but it can be a lot harder than it seems — especially if you’re new to hand-eye coordination training.
Here’s how to get started:
- Hold one tennis ball in each of your hands.
- Bounce one ball off the floor and catch it with the same hand you released it from. As you catch it, bounce the second ball with your other hand.
- As you catch the second ball, bounce the first ball with your other hand. Continue to alternate in this pattern.
- As you become more proficient with this exercise, you can speed up the pace to make it more challenging.
4. Wall Tennis Ball Drills
Wall tennis ball drills are exactly what they sound like: simply throwing a tennis ball against the wall and trying to catch it. But if you want to intensify the challenge, you can mix this drill up by:
- Increasing the speed and power of your throws
- Trying to catch the ball behind your back
- Using two balls instead of one
- Standing on one leg
- Throwing the balls at an awkward angle to catch yourself off guard (this can help both your reflexes and your coordination!)
Bonus Drills to Improve Your Coordination in Badminton
Interested in trying more badminton coordination exercises? Here’s a video covering six drills for hand-eye coordination that you can practice anywhere:
The Bottom Line
If you want to succeed in badminton, coordination is an essential skill to master — but as a beginner, it can be tricky to figure out. The good news is that by practicing the exercises covered above, you can make vast improvements in your coordination and your overall game.
For more badminton tips and tricks, be sure to visit BadmintonJustin.com today. And for regular highlight reels and video tutorials to help you level up even further, don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Justin Ma
Author
