Tips To Help You Master The Badminton Grip
While the material used in your badminton handle is important, knowing how to properly grip the racket with your hand is even more essential to controlling the birdie. Understanding how to properly grip a badminton racket will improve both your racket speed and racket control. Here are the basics to get you on your way to mastering the two basic badminton racket grips.
Starting Your Grip
In Badminton, there are two basic grips: the forehand and backhand. Each grip has one unique feature, which is the position of the thumb.
To begin your grip, start with your primary hand. If you are right-handed, take your right hand, palm open, and place it over the racket head. Slowly slide your hand down the racket shaft to the grip, keeping your fingers open.
Close your first three fingers gently, placing your thumb just above your middle finger. With your index finger still pointing out straight, your hand should form a V-shape with the racket handle.
Think about how you extend your hand to shake someone else's hand. The concept of gripping a badminton racket is very similar, except you do not squeeze.
The Forehand Grip
There are two important aspects of the forehand badminton grip. First, you need to be sure the racket handle is placed gently in your hand.
Racket control is lost when players bury the racket too deeply into the palm of their hand. This reduces both your racket speed and racket control.
Make sure you are gripping the racket handle with the middle portion of your fingers so that you do not bury the racket too deeply. Your thumb should ride gently along the outside curved portion of the handle, while your fingers lie across the flat part.
The forehand grip allows you to position the racket for all overhead shots in front of your body, plus shots low to the ground that you need to lift the birdie over the net. A correct forehand grip will allow you the flexibility to hit a variety of shots from different places on the badminton court.
The Backhand Grip
Your backhand grip needs to be loose like your forehand grip, but the fingers rotate around to the curved portion of the racket handle, while the thumb rests on the flat part. While there is very little difference between the forehand and backhand grips, you need to remember both grips require gentle pressure with your fingers.
Switching Between Forehand and Backhand Grips
Since the badminton racket is so lightweight and easy to twirl in your hands, after some practice you will get the feel for rotating your hand. There is a simple technique to learn for a quick switch between grips.
As you rotate the racket in the palm of your hand, trade places with your thumb and index finger, pointing your thumb upwards toward the racket head on the flat part of the handle. With your thumb in the proper position, all you have to do is lightly push with your thumb to give you excellent control of short backhand shots.
Remember; be gentle when gripping your badminton handle. A tightly closed grip will limit your racket flexibility and reduce your ability to control the birdie.
Practice simple short hits back and forth with a partner, and then graduate to more difficult shots. Soon you will master both badminton grips and your ability to control the birdie will improve.
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