«

[Sean]

Badminton I'd say go for. Graphic design as others have said is something that you can if you want just go away and teach yourself. Like I did with photoshop, I'm nothing special and a few classes in professional PS design would be welcomed but I can still make some pretty decent images and I've never had a teacher other than the text on my screen. Badminton is immensely fun if you're good, shame I'm not.

[moogle]

Originally posted by I_Like_Bunnies@Mar 10 2006, 03:02 PM
badmiton or Computer Graphics... your a manly man aren't ya? Doesnt your school have football or at least basketball?

But if nothing else, I would go with the Badmiton just for the chicks

Yeah it does, but theyr over, winter sports, and I suck at them, so piss off.

[Eagle of Fire]

must be a European thing.

I'm from Québec, Canada. :bleh:

@eagle of fire: Is it your knee?

It's my right ankle. Nothing too serious, it just hurt like hell and I'm off for a month before even thinking about walking seriously on it again. I don't think I ever felt so much pain in all my life. At least it's less serious than the docs thought at first. At first they scared me, saying that I might have broken bones and all along with the... I don't know the words for those thing in my ankle in english. Whatever.

your a manly man aren't ya? Doesnt your school have football or at least basketball?

Football? Basketball? Soccer? Is there something more boring than those sports? :blink:

Badminton tricks would be good ^^

Well, I don't know which kind of tricks you want so I'll begin with general tricks.

First thing, you must understand that playing 1VS1 is way different than playing 2VS2. I hate playing 1VS1, so I won't have much tricks to give you. I always felt that to be a good 1VS1 player, you need to be able to clear the "birdie" (what is it called in english? :blink from your own back line to the other player back line. As soon as you are able to do this, you'll be a good 1VS1 player since most of the time the trick is to clear the "birdie" as far as you can (without getting it out) and try to take advantage of your opponent return. If he can't clear it like you do, you'll have the advantage because you will be near the net while he'll still be at the back of his side.

I always play 2VS2. IMHO, teamplay is the best part of this sport. Basically, you need to find someone which you'll both like to play with and who will "complete" you. I myself am a back player, so I always work best with a front partner. I'm able to clear the "birdie" quite far (but not far enough to be good at 1VS1) and I have incredible reflexes as long as I'm in about the middle of the course or further back. This mean that smashes rarely go pass me without my racket at least touching it. More often than not the "birdie" end up at the other side of the net.

First basic tip: always keep your racket up unless you expect a smash to the ground. By doing this, you buy yourself some time to catch the "birdie" when it come to you too fast for you to actually see it. This sport is all about the miliseconds you need or don't have to react, so taking all the chances to your side will help you react quicker and sometime give you the match points you need.

Second basic tip: mobility is 60%70% of the game. If you are very good at technical, you can still do some great plays. However, even if you're the best technical player in the whole world, if you're not there when the "birdie" land you'll never get it to the other side of the court, and thus you'll lose. Take the time to find a good pair of shoes, depending of which surface you play on. I can't really know which surface you'll play on, just keep in mind that with badminton your feet (and ankles) are your best bet most of the time. If you're not at the right place, you'll never make the play.

Third basic tip: your racket weight is very important. Don't just go to your local store and buy the cheapest racket you can find just to "try it out" like I did at first. You'll end up wondering why your shoulder ache even tough you been at it for a whole month already, simply because the weight of your racket make the hell of a difference. It's not as important than mobility as I said above, but still try to find a racket which is as light as possible with the money you have at your disposal. When you buy higher grade rackets, the wire will also be much better and you'll notice too that the pressure on the wire really make a difference. It's a matter of preference and style, but if your wires are too slack then you'll have a lot of trouble making good plays. Same if it's too tight (tough it's really a matter of preference, as I know some people who prefer a tight wire over a normal one).

After those basic tips, here comes technical.

First: never play with someone who's not playing with the same hand than you. A right handed playing with a left handed is always asking for trouble because you'll always end up wondering who's going to cover the "blind spot". Just be aware of that, and be prepared to take advantage of it if you encounter such opponents. I am myself right handed, and I hate playing with a left handed. It's about the worse thing you can do in badminton.

Second: you must learn and understand the rule of the "strong shot". This rule is simple; when the "birdie" is coming, you have only two way of receiving it; from the front (normal) strike, or the back strike. The rule state that the priority always goes to the person who have the opportunity to do a front (normal) strike. It might be tricky to understand right now, but beleive me when I say that it will become obvious when you'll be on the court.
Now, this rule is not absolute. For example, if you and your partner decide to play back and front, it's obvious that you should cover that area even if it's a back strike. On the same train of thought, if you know that your partner just can't reach the "birdie" in time, you can always try to save the point and do something yourself. If your partner is even remotely good, he'll move on the court to back you up. Remember when I said mobility is 60-70% of the game?

Third: when you serve, you should be the one covering the front to the side of your partner, while your partner should be covering the back area of the court. The point is, unless you have a strange way of serving (and I know many of them, but still), you should be at the front when serving. If your partner is remotely good, he'll move to cover the spots you can't reach, and this mean the back of the court. If the opponent do a weak return in front of the net, your partner will never have the time to catch it. So you should understand this and be ready to get the front shot if it is the case. If it is not, then just return to your normal position and continue like normal.


You want more?

[Master MC]

Nice tips. I had a badminton session today but by then I hadn't read them. I will make sure to apply them next week and practise the "birdie".
Some more tips would always be welcome!

[moogle]

Yay! Neat tips! :w00t:

Its called a birdie here too

Yeah, I like doubles a bit better than singles, just cause if it goes behin you cause of a really good smash or something like that you have someone to count on.

[Eagle of Fire]

Another tip: teamplay.

Basically, there is 3 major ways to play in double: Front/back, side/side and free for all. I will try to both explain in words and in image what I mean.

Front/back mean that, after the service, one player is dedicated to the shots which land on the front of your side of the court up to the middle, while the second player try to cover the back area of the court up to the middle. This kind of play is tricky, meaning that if your opponent knows what you are doing they will usually concentrate on either the front area or the back area of the court until the partner who cover that particular area get tired and can't run after the birdie anymore. This also have the effect of boring the second partner to death (or nearly), and this mean that he'll cold up and risk missing most of the little shots he'll have to do. If both players are both good at the front and the back, they can exchange turns when they serve and this solve the problem. You will never have a specialised player tough, so it's a tradeoff.


Side/side mean that each player play to his side of the court. Both players need to cover the front and the back of their side, so a lot of moving is involved. This is usually the best way to play badminton at first, because it teach you how to react to certain situations. For example, if your partner need to get the birdie to the back of his side, you should move slightly to the front to cover the area he just left open in front of you. If you get caught like this and the opponent send another shot to the back of the court but on your side, your partner is better able to get it than you who are in front of the net. When this happen, you should switch side and continue to play side/side (if possible) but at your partner side instead. There is the same risk of the opponent always sending the birdie at the same few places than front/back, but this risk is reduced if you master and apply the switch rule. Sometimes the opponent are just confused on who is where, and you should get your share of the birdies in due time.
Please notice the fifth case in the image, in which the blue player is taking the shot. This is a direct application of the "strong shot" I mentioned in my other post, assuming both players are right handed. In this case, both players have no clue who should get the shot because it's really in the middle of both their range. Using the rule, the player who have priority is the one who can do a normal front shot and hopefully he'll be the player who have the best chance of doing a good return (this image doesn't show a service).


Free for all is for either very creative teams, or for when nothing work right. Free for all is not by all mean a way of doing anything you want everytime. It more mean that there is no real preset of rules like front/back or side/side, but it's a blend of both of them with some extra special rules added for cohesion. Those rules state that the player who is best suited to receive the birdie should do so, and his partner should move on the court to best cover his moves. This is where it is tricky, the "back up" part. Somtimes it's obvious where you should be, while other times you have no idea of what you should do. The rule of thumb for this is to try to imagine an invisible "stick" atached to the middle of the court, between you and your partner. That stick should always point roughly toward both of you, else there will be a big blind spot on the court you will have a lot of trouble to cover if the opponent send the birdie there.
This rule is not absolute. For example, it is very hard to cover the side extremities if both players are aligned in front/back in the middle of the court. That's why it's tricky, and that I said it should "roughly" point at both of you at the same time. Free for all is the style me and my partner prefer most.

Please note the bluish "stick" in the pictures. The first picture is the start of the next 2, and the 2 last pictures are together. I wanted, with the last 2 pictures, to show how a play could evolve. First, the blue player take the birdie because he's best suited to receive it (strong shot again). He try to send it in front of the opponent net to the left, but the opponent get it and sent it in front of the blue player net but to the right (this is a great trick I love to do k and the blue player run to catch it. All that time, the green player back the blue player up knowing very well that if he doesn't then the opponent will throw the birdie there where nobody is waiting for it. But the major point is, don't forget to note that both players "switched" sides.

[Bobbin Threadbare]

Originally posted by I_Like_Bunnies@Mar 11 2006, 01:02 AM
badmiton or Computer Graphics... your a manly man aren't ya? Doesnt your school have football or at least basketball?

But if nothing else, I would go with the Badmiton just for the chicks

You're one to talk, you like bunnies. Just proving a point. Not flaming.

[moogle]

LOL OWNED.

Anyways, yeah, I know thoose Eagle I like Front n Back, seems to work the best.

Which was do you like to use?

[Eagle of Fire]

Free for all is the style me and my partner prefer most.

It would be better that you tell me in which area you want me to give trick about, as giving general tricks will always end up with you knowing about them in a certain extend.

[Fruit Pie Jones]

Front/back, side/side, free-for-all...what are we talking about again?