Tag Archives: player

How to Play Badminton

Posted on April 21, 2011 by

Playing a game, whether for fun or passion, requires rigorous practice and more than a will to win. You need the preparation and right attitude to win the game. Badminton is no exception to it. Badminton is a game which improves your health and it is taken up by many people as a leisure activity. For many, it is an ideal way to tone up the muscles and burn the excess calories. So, badminton is a great exercise and therefore helps improve your lifestyle. However, those who are preparing to play this game at a more competitive level and want to make a living out of it should practice the game with a winning spirit. For, this you need to be very serious about how to play badminton.

How to Play Badminton

The main aim of the game is to hit the shuttle over the net towards the opponent in such a manner that it cannot be returned. You need to be able to hit shuttle in different directions. Whether you are hitting hard or delicately, but the purpose should not be lost and that is to hit the shuttle in the opponent’s court. Now, this requires constant practice and thorough badminton training. Now, when it comes to training, you can take live training lessons at the court from a professional player or a coach.

Badminton Lessons Online

However, there are other methods which are more prevalent these days. Those are online badminton training programs. Simply put, instead of taking lessons on the court, you will be taking badminton lessons online right in front of your computer screen. There are various virtual clubs that have been formed to cater to the needs of millions of people who do not have time to go to a physical badminton club regularly. These people can learn how to play badminton through the badminton training videos available on the virtual badminton clubs.

Badminton Training Videos

Newbie players can learn a lot through these online badminton training videos of the professional players and understand the techniques adopted by the player and the forehand and the backhand grips and many more. The virtual clubs offer not only one video but several videos for teaching you different techniques. You can learn the same video over and over again and master a particular technique which you are comfortable with.

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Top 7 Tips for Badminton Players to Improve Performance

Posted on March 12, 2011 by

There are certain factors that affect a badminton player’s performance. However, there are a few things you could do to avoid bad performances during badminton games.

1. Sufficient Rest

Get enough rest. It’s essential in helping you deliver peak performance during your badminton games. It’s quite impossible to concentrate when you’re feeling drowsy and tired.

Unlike other sports, concentration and reflex action is very important in badminton – the shuttlecock is capable of flying at 300 km/h! You will need quick reflex to retrieve your opponent’s shots.

Ensure you have at least 8 hours of sleep every night in order to deliver your best performance on the court.

2. Stay Hydrated – before, during and after your sessions

Water is vital to the everyday functions of a human body. Lack of water makes you dehydrated. A mild dehydration could make you lethargic, lose concentration and might also cause a mild headache.

Make sure you drink around 8 glasses of water every day. Besides these 8 glasses, make sure you also drink more during exercise.

3. Have a Meal Before Your Game

I can’t play badminton well when I’m hungry. What about you? You need energy to move around the badminton court. The only way you’re getting energy is from the food you consume.

When your body has all the energy it needs to burn, you’ll be able to move and strike faster, delivering all you can, physically. However, make sure you eat your meal around 90 minutes before you play to allow time for digestion. If you are feeling lack of energy in the middle of your games, you could always have energy bars or sports drinks to power you up.

4. Quit bad habits

If you’re serious about badminton and if you want to perform at your peak, you should quit smoking and drinking.

Smoking in general is harmful to your lungs. In terms of sports, it affects your fitness level dramatically. If you smoke, you might experience having less stamina compared to non-smokers. Drinking on the other hand affects your reflexes.

Social drinkers will probably not experience the effects of alcohol whereas hardcore drinkers will be greatly affected. If your reflex ability is slow, you’re not going to be able to retrieve a high speed shot.

5. Stretching

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Setting Volleyball Drills

Posted on March 8, 2011 by

A good coach knows that in all likelihood, every player on his team is going to have to have the ability to set the ball. Running good volleyball drills for setting will benefit the entire team, not just the normal setters. Because setting the ball is often the best way to recover a broken play, it is important to have the entire team work on their setting skills. These are some volleyball drills that will help everyone hone their skills to be beneficial to the entire team.

One of the volleyball drills that is a good jumping off point is known as the “Set to Box”. In this drill, have a player standing on a chair, or on a wooden box with their hands in the air. The coach will then toss the ball to the setter, who will then set it to the hands of the player on the box. The object of this drill is for the setter to work on their form, and be able to visualize the play with a stationary target. This is much easier to see than when working with a moving target. To add this to your collection of advanced volleyball drills, you can rapidly toss ten balls in a row to the setter so that she gets into a good rhythm.

The next example of volleyball drills designed to help setters will help the setter watch the blocker with her peripheral vision. Have a blocker stand opposite the setter, on the other side of the net. The coach will then toss the ball to the setter. While the ball is in the air, the blocker will take one step either left or right. The setter should then set the ball in the opposite direction. Once the setter has the basics down for this set of volleyball drills, make it just a little bit harder. Toss ten balls in a row to the setter, having the blocker move with each ball. This gives the setter much less time to be ready to set, so she is forced to use her peripheral vision rather than just turning her head.

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Beginning Volleyball Drills

Posted on February 12, 2011 by

Volleyball coaches often face certain hurdles that are common to all coaches. How do you take a bunch of players who have never played before and teach them the skills necessary to become an effective force? How do you create volleyball drills to erase the bad habits learned from elsewhere and have your players perform the way you expect them to? The good news is that both of these questions can be answered in the same way. You create good beginner volleyball drills. This is not to imply that you have only beginning players on the team, this is more in the realm of the beginning technical drills in the new season. Using these drills will correct bad habits or teach new players just the same.

One of the first beginning volleyball drills you may want to work on will be for passing. A good way to get the concept down is to have the team divided into pairs of players. The first player tosses an easy ball to the second, who then correctly passes the ball back to the first. You will want to set up a set number of correct passes, then the players change out their rolls. This ensures a good rotation, and allows both players in each pair to learn the correct method. Once the basic passing drill is mastered, add some difficulty by having the players pass it back and forth to each other. You can even have contests to see which pair can keep the ball going with correct passes the longest. These volleyball drills will condition the player on the correct form to follow when passing a ball that is coming in a steady and known trajectory.

Volleyball drills that work on setting the ball are crucial to successful game play. Setting is important for players to correctly perform as they can work as a pass and also set up critical kill shots. In order to drill on the correct form required for a good set, have pairs of players stand on opposite sides of the net. The players will then volley the ball back and forth, using only sets. This will reinforce the mechanics of the set, so the performance will become an automatic thing during play. Once the players are proficient with this, you can add a challenge by having the players move around to the court into different zones while continuing to set the ball. Adding these types of variations in your volleyball drills will help ready your players for real game situations.

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What If I Were In Your Team?

Posted on August 10, 2010 by

They said I’m now one, if not the most hated player in the league.

I couldn’t care less.

If I were in your team, you wouldn’t as well.

What I bring to the game differentiates me from every other guy out there. Focus. Leadership. Pride. Passion. Extreme Intensity. You’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t you want those in your team? Don’t you dream at night having a winning record for a change, or reaching the playoffs, or the grandest stage of them all in NBA?

Maybe it’s just because I’ve taken things to another level. To a whole new level. One that others dare not attempt. For fear of what? Getting ridiculed? Mocked? Laughed at? You think I do this to please the crowd and draw the attention to me every time I act and react in every play? Every time I do my pre-game ritual, pound my fist to my chest, take a “cheap shot” on someone, or go crazy on that referee?

I don’t do it for the sake of you reading this, you watching me, or anything else… including David Stern.

I do it because that’s me.

So I may have gone overboard in my recent actuation’s… I’m raising both arms now in honesty, I’m only human – what can you expect?

Right – you’re thinking I also have animal blood in me. I don’t get it. I apologize, but hey… if I were in your team, you wouldn’t care less.

If I were in your team, you wouldn’t mind me getting in the opponent’s skin. You wouldn’t mind me hollering at every one on the court, you’d believe I was pure energy.

If I were in your team, I’d leap for every loose ball as long as I can. I’d contest every shot in every area, not just in the paint. I’m all psyched up even at my age, that most times I still feel like the new kid from the block. Yes, my trainor says to slow down, watch it, I might “break another leg”. But I know you’d love me for pouring my heart out into anything I do.

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