Badminton footwork is the foundation of your entire badminton game. After all, if you can’t get to the shuttle, you can’t play the shot! Everybody has at least some level of footwork. It’s just a case of whether the technicality of the footwork you currently possess is efficient enough to be considered good or not.
A Personal Lesson In Footwork
As a beginner who knew little about badminton, I did not think too much about how I was moving around the court. More so, I was thinking about getting to the shuttle only. I was able to cover the court fairly well simply thanks to being relatively fitter than my opponents.
Therefore from a layman’s perspective, I suppose one could have called my footwork good, simply because I appeared faster than others. However, playing someone who had a strong foundation in footwork was a completely different game. I was confused as to why I felt like I was sprinting around the court, whereas my opponent seemed to be simply strolling around the court and playing shots with very little effort. And it was even a while after that before I really understood what had happened!
What Is Good Badminton Footwork?
To conclude the lesson to my story above, good footwork is simply the ability to move around the court with good economy, efficiently and effectively. I call these the three E’s of footwork (which I stole from my Economics studies). These are the three pillars of footwork which determine the quality of your ability to move around the badminton court.
Economy
- Obtaining the right technique
Economy is the actual technique you employ to move about on the court. Good economy would be learning the correct technique for footwork by getting quality badminton coaching in order to help you achieve the two E’s below. This is perhaps the most important of the three.
Efficiency
- Traversing the court with minimal effort.
Input can be seen as energy when talking in terms of the efficiency of badminton footwork. Professional players take maybe two or three steps for the majority of their shots in any position on the court. This helps to minimise the energy required to cover the court while still producing good quality shots. Therefore, efficiency is how easily you’re able to cover the court with minimal effort.
Effectiveness
- Achieving the end result
Were you able to reach the shuttle in good time? Were you able to recover quickly? These are some important questions to ask when determining how effective your footwork is. Effective footwork basically means you are able to get to the shuttle in time to play the desired shot.
Putting It All Together
Ok so now we know the three E’s. Below I have summarised them and will demonstrate how they are interlinked. Economy (technique) is the key to maximising the other two E’s.
- Economy – The technique you use to move around the court.
- Efficiency – How easily you move around the court.
- Effectiveness – Achieving the end goal of reaching the shuttle in good time.
How Economy Affects Efficiency and Effectiveness
If you build a chair, you want to make sure the wood is good quality so whoever sits on it doesn’t fall through it! Likewise, if you’re playing badminton you want to make sure your technique is correct so that the quality of the rest of your game is raised! This is the basis of economy of footwork.
If you do not learn the correct technique, you might find yourself running all over the court trying to retrieve the shuttle. Sure, you might be successful but you’re more likely to burn out faster as you’re using more energy to play your game (therefore not using your inputs efficiently!)
As you do this, you become slower on the court and therefore not able to effectively reach the shuttle and play the shots you want to play. This will manifest itself as being late to the shuttle if you’re not too exhausted to reach it at all!
Benefits Of Good Badminton Footwork
It should be at least partially clear about the benefits of good footwork that satisfy the three E’s above! But just in case let’s highlight some important benefits of good footwork:
- Injury prevention. Employing the correct technique in your footwork will help to mitigate the risk of injuries
- Improves Speed. You will be able to cover the court much faster, allowing you to recover quicker and also providing more opportunities to dictate the pace of the rally (relative to your opponent’s speed)!
- Conserves Energy. Efficiently moving around the court helps to conserve energy. This helps to last longer in gruelling rallies and also means energy is available when you really need it when under pressure or attacking.
- Helps To Produce More Powerful Strokes. This is something we will talk about in a separate post. However, it is important to note that good badminton footwork can help to significantly increase power in your strokes.
- Keeps You More In Balance. Good footwork helps to stabilise you during movement so that you are able to produce higher-quality shots.
- Allows You To Reach The Shuttle Earlier. Not just reaching the shuttle earlier (effectiveness!) but also being in the optimum position to play the shot.
In conclusion, badminton footwork is the key to unlocking your game. While it’s easy to be sidetracked by the fast smashes and deceptive strokes, all those aspects are made possible by a strong foundation in footwork. If you invest the time and effort in improving this, all other aspects of your game will improve as well.
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