It is not a foreign concept in sport that if you want to improve your game then doing drills is the only way to go but sometimes a beginner gets bored by doing the same drill over and over so for of the beginner or even an intermediate player I have written this ultimate badminton drills guide where you will find 21 practice to improve different aspect of your game

Name of badminton drills we are going to discuss

Box Game

Half-court vs full court

Three corners (drop shot)

Statics shots (for beginners)

two corners vs full court

Mutlishuttle(different variation)

Smash and follow up

Defense and net shot

Shadow (for footwork)

Diagonal feeding

Half-court play (for kids and beginners)

2 vs 1

Feeding ( different variation)

Not playing in Box

Wall practice

Split step drills

Defense practice

Knock out

Half-court feeding (for doubles)

Service drills

Reaction time drills

Let’s discuss these drills one by one

Box Game badminton drills

In this drill, you are not allowed to hit shuttle outside the red area as shown in the picture below

How to perform this drill

Play rallies regularly just like a normal game but you are not allowed to hit shuttle outside the red area

If it lands outside the read box then a point will be scored

Benefits of this drill

The purpose of this drills is to improve your drive game and defensive play because you are not allowed to play net area and backcourt the only option for you will be drive and attack

This way you can improve your speed on the court

Note:- You can also perform this drill in half-court, meaning that not playing in net area and backcourt

Half-court Vs Full Court

This drill can be a lifesaver especially when you do not have any senior player in your academy

Process

As the name suggests you have to play full-court against a player who will be playing half-court

You should return all shots of your opponent to his half-court whereas he can play anywhere on your court

Play 21 points match against your opponent and after 11 points ask him to change his side of the court( from his right side to left side)

Benefit of this drill

You will be under pressure most of the time so it will help you in preparing for these situations in a real match

Also, it will help you to learn the classic tactic in singles which is playing to opponent’s one side and suddenly hitting a cross-shot

Three corners vs single corner

This is one of the classic singles drill and it can do wonders to you netplay

Process

In this exercise, you will be needing a person who will hit the shuttle to three corners in your court

But you should always hit the shuttle back to the feeder

Do 8 min of continuous practice and after that ask the feeder to stand on the left side of the side and do the same thing for 8 min

Some Benefits of doing this drill

Improve your shot accuracy and also help you to play consistent long rallies without getting tired

It will also improve your drop shots and overall netplay

Static shot hitting ( For all shots)

This drill is more suitable for a beginner because here the main focus is to improve the shot quality while being in a comfortable position

Process of performing this drill

So as the name suggests in this drill you have to hit shots while being static(not implementing footwork) with a partner

Using a proper technique to do all types of shots, one at a time

My routine

Give 5 minutes to each shot

Two corners vs Full Court badminton drills

In this drill, you will be needing two-player and a shuttle

Process

Ask two players to stand on any two points in the court and now you can only hit the shuttle to those two corners whereas those two players can hit the shuttle anywhere

‘There are various variation you can do to make it more effective

For example, if you want to improve your drop shot ask both to stand on both side of the net area or if you want to improve clears and drop simultaneously do variation no. 2

Benefits of this drill

It will help you to focus on two aspects of your game at the same time

It also helps in improving consistent shot-making quality

Tip:- Instead of doing this drill for a couple of minutes play a 21 point match with rules

Match will start from 21 and if those two-player scores a point then one point will be deducted their goal is to make your score 0 whereas if you score a point by there mistake then one point will be added to the present score

Mutishuttle (different variation)

This is the most followed drills in the world and reason for it is there are so many variations you can do with these drills

Some example

Only defense feeding

Only smash feeding

Frontcourt area feeding

Drive feeding and so on

Process

Gather as many shuttles as you can any and tell the feeder what type of variation should be followed

In this picture I was practicing mixed variation it means that in between feeder was changing the variation

Benefits of this drill

Due to the variety it provides, you can focus on more aspects of your game at the time multi-session

Smash and follow up

This drill is beneficial to improve you’re follow up and smash power

Process

Take 20 shuttles and ask the feeder to give you shuttle to the place in the order which is mentioned in the picture below

Your job is to hit the smash and after hitting the smash feeder will give the shuttle at point “2” and you have to do a net kill and after that go back to base position and repeat the process again

Benefits of this drill

Help you in increasing smash power and your ability to transfer body weight forward to make a net kill

Defense and net shot feeding

This drill is done with the help of a feeder

Process

Here you will be doing the footwork of two-point first is defense and after that net shot

Watch this video for more clarity

Here you can see that I am doing shadow for defense and after that feeder is giving me shuttle on the net for dribble practice

Take 20 shuttles and do this drill from both sides

Benefits of this drill

Improve your dribbles and defense footwork at the same time

It will also help you to improve endurance

Shadow (for movement )

It is one of the most essential drill to improve the footwork of a player and the best part about this drill is that you don’t need any player or shuttle

just a court and a racket and you are good to go

Process

In this exercise, you need to do the footwork for all the point in the same set (or for any particular points) with a racket in your hand

Do 24 point in a single go and do 5 sets of this

The benefit of doing shadow drill

It is the best exercise to brush up your movement and make it smoother and quick

Diagonal feeding

In this drill, you have to move diagonally on the court and have to cover only two points

Process

A player will stand near-net as shown in the picture and he will give you shuttle on point 1 and your job is to hit that shuttle back to him

After that, he will return that same shuttle to point 2 and you have to return that shuttle to the same position where the feeder stands and this process will continue for as long as someone makes a mistake

Do this exercise for 6 min and after that ask the feeder to stand on the left side of the same net area and do the same drill

Benefit of this drill

I personally felt that this drill is very effective if your diagonal footwork is slow

Half-court drill

This is another great exercise for beginners as the movement in this drill is not too complex

Process

You will be needing a shuttle and a player to feed you shuttle

Ask the feeder to give you shuttle first on point 1 and your job is to hit that shuttle back to feeder then he will give you same shuttle at point 2 and you have to hit it back to the feeder

You can do this drill for 6 min or more depending upon the stamina

Benefit of this drill

For a beginner, it can do wonder to his drop shot and straight footwork speed

2 VS 1

This one is my favorite because it always challenges you to push the limit

Process

As the name suggests you will be playing against 2 players at the same time just like a normal match

It is your choice how many points you want to play, I always play best of 3 sets (21 points)

Benefits of this exercise

Improve speed

Increase stamina

Improve ability to play under pressure

And what not

Feeding ( different variation)

I have already discussed some feeding drills but here are some more exercise in this genre

Defense feeding

Net shot static feeding

Smash static feeding

drive static feeding

Not playing in Box

Do you remember the first drill we talked about well this is just the opposite of that

Process

Just like a regular match play with an opponent but the twist is that you are only allowed to hit shuttle in the red area and any shuttle landing outside the red zone will be considered as OUT

You can play 21 points match or set timer for a single set, whichever suits the situation

Benefits of this drill

Improve the length of your shots especially clear and lob

It is also helpful in training long smashes because you will be hitting smash in the backcourt

Increase accuracy in your shots

Hitting against the wall

Doing wall practice on Sunday to warm up my wrist

This exercise may seem challenging to most, but it’s a great exercise once you overcome the odds. Start off slow and make sure your racket is in front of you. Relax your grip, so you can switch to the forehand and backhand grip.

Remember to bend your knees (lower your body) for better reflex and anticipation. And take the shots at the earliest point.

This practice is very essential even top professional players still do this exercise.

Benefits of doing this drill.

Increase reaction time

quick movement of wrist

fast change of grip

Split step drill

Split step refers to a small jump which a player makes before his opponent hits the shot

And it is very important to focus on this aspect of the game because it has a huge impact on how smooth you move on the court

Process

This video has some interesting drill on split step for beginners and kids

Defense and smash drill

Two players are required for this drill and a shuttle

Process

Player 1 will smash at player 2 and he will block then player 1 will use his footwork to lift the block

After that, it is player 2 turns to hit the smash and player 1 will block

This type of rally will continue until a player makes a mistake

Benefits of this drill

Improve defense

Improve speed of smash

Brush up your straight footwork

Knock out

It is not much of a drill but a type of game which you can play to make practice more interesting

Process

Make a team of two player or more depending on the players present

After that one player from each team will play a point on the court and whoever wins the point will stay on court whereas the player who lost the point will exchange his position to his teammate

Now his teammate will play a point with the winning player

This process will continue for 15 points, whichever team scores 15 points first will win

Half-court drill for doubles

This drill focus on improving your reaction time and speed for doubles

Process

In this exercise, two players will on one side of the court and you will be standing in half court on the other side

After that, 21 point match will be played but the rule is that those two players cannot hit the shuttle outside the half-court whereas you are allowed to hit shuttle anywhere on the singles court

Benefits of this drill

Improve defense for doubles

Increase the ability to handle the pressure

More awareness to find gaps during rallies for winning points

Service drill

Service is the first shot played in badminton and if you don’t have the ability to do a consistent service then it will pressure on you from the start

Process

Take a bucket and place it on one side of court near the front service line

Now try to hit you service into that bucket by you backhand serve

Reaction time drill

Badminton is the fastest racket sport where you get less than a second to react and if your reaction speed is slow then it can greatly impact your performance but these drills help you to avoid that

Process

Drill 1:- Throw a ball with one hand against the wall and catch it with the other

It helps in improving hand-eye coordination and reaction time

for more drills watch this video

Thank you for reading…