Badminton is the fastest racket sport in the world: a hard smash sends the shuttle at over 300 km/h. For a beginner it is still one of the easiest sports to start, because a light racket and a slowly falling shuttle give you time. You can play singles or doubles. Here is what you need, how to book hall time and how to find an opponent at your level in Estonia.
What you need
- Racket. A beginner does best with a light racket with a flexible shaft. For the first time you can often borrow one from the hall or a friend. Strings wear out and break, and stronger players have them strung to their own tension.
- Shuttles. A synthetic (plastic) shuttle lasts longer and is fine for practice. A feather shuttle flies more truly and is used in competitions, but it breaks quickly. Buying a tube together with your partners makes sense.
- Indoor shoes. Hall or badminton shoes with a non-marking sole that grips the floor. Running shoes are risky when moving sideways.
The hall and the time
Badminton is played in a sports hall, usually with several courts side by side. Hall time is booked by the hour and the price is split between two or four. Many halls are taken by clubs and training sessions in the evenings, so book early or join a club.
Your first time on court
- Warm up. Hit the shuttle back and forth, high and long. That is how you get used to its flight.
- Serve underarm. At the moment of the hit the shuttle must be below 1.15 metres from the floor and fly upwards. Serve diagonally into the opponent's service court.
- Go back to the centre. After every shot move to the middle of the court, from there you reach every corner.
- Scoring. Every rally scores a point. A game goes to 21, at 20-all you play on until one side leads by two, and a game never goes past 30. A match is the best of three games.
The full rules are on the official Badminton World Federation (BWF) website. The Estonian version is on our badminton rules page.
Finding an opponent at your level
- Club nights. A club night has several courts and opponents change. You play several short games during the evening, each against someone at your level, and you can come alone. Kahur.ee club nights are on the town pages and on each club's page.
- A coach. The right grip and footwork are everything in badminton. A few lessons at the start prevent mistakes that are hard to fix later.
- Doubles. If singles is too tiring, start with doubles: the court is shared by two and rallies last longer.
How your level grows
At club nights and kahur.ee competitions your level is worked out after every game. A win against a stronger player counts for more than a win against a weaker one, and a loss to a stronger player costs little.
Questions beginners ask
Is playing outdoors the same? Wind changes everything, which is why competitive badminton is played indoors only. Outdoors it is a fine game, but a different one.
Is badminton hard? The start is easy because the shuttle flies slowly. At a good level it is one of the most physically demanding racket sports.