Consistency is one of the key ingredients to winning more badminton rallies and improving your game overall. There are two aspects of consistency you should strive to enhance: shot consistency and quality consistency.
The SEMO Agility T-Test is an established assessment tool designed to gauge agility, speed, and quickness – key characteristics needed for badminton success. Players take this test by navigating a set of cones while performing different footwork movements during an evaluation test.
1. One Back & One Front Drill
The One Back & One Front Drill is a fantastic way to improve an athlete’s ability to shift weight off their back foot quickly and accelerate quickly forward. Athletes start this drill backpedalling before, on their coach’s signal, planting their foot on the ground and taking an acceleration step at various distances on a yardline – depending on individual body type, skill level, training age and time of year.
More experienced athletes should increase the distance between the first two wickets to improve lateral movement transitions and hand-eye coordination, and increase both set length and number for greater power development.
The One Leg Front Foot Drill not only enhances response time to visual cues, but it also sharpens an athlete’s ability to decelerate quickly and change directions quickly. An athlete begins by standing between two cones set 10 yards (9 m). On their coach’s command they start chopping their feet while watching for visual signals from them which indicate when direction should change.
Think of Jaques Kallis’ on-drives or Ian Bell’s front foot drives; their late contact gives them more control to manoeuvre the ball precisely while also creating more power. Their late contacts result from shifting weight away from their back foot onto their front foot during each drive stroke, providing more precision with each swing and drive stroke.
2. Backcourt & Frontcourt Drill
This advanced-intermediate badminton drill teaches its trainees to execute both back court and front court shots effectively, requiring good endurance in order to remain on court with their training partner. This drill utilizes clears for returning rear court shots while lifts are used when returning front court ones; thus increasing endurance while simultaneously strengthening defensive play skills.
When determining whether the ball is in the backcourt or front court, several factors should be taken into account. First is who touched it last within their own frontcourt; secondly is team control in frontcourt; and finally thirdly must the ball change from FC status to BC status.
Imagine this: Player A brings the ball upcourt from their backcourt after making a shot, throws a bounce pass to Player A2, who also sits near the division line in FC near division, but ultimately the ball ends up back in the front court and secured by airborne A2. Is this a backcourt violation?
As part of this badminton training drill, trainees work alongside a trainer to complete two passes before attacking the front court with an angled serve. Students must learn how to read distance, target hand position and how best to time their serve so as to gain maximum distance and power for their lob. Furthermore, this badminton drill aims to teach learners footwork and timing techniques in order to avoid getting trapped by their opponents in backcourt situations.
Start this drill off right. A passer will throw the ball off of a back board, while its side player yells “outlet”, leaps forward, meets it as it falls, makes a V-cut away and when she feels she has her position she signals to her partner that they’re ready for attack – then both partners move opposite ways for each player to practice his or her lob and cut skills against different opponents.
3. Backcourt & Frontcourt Drill Variation
An effective way to practice front court control is through a straightforward drill in which players dribble up and down the sidelines with one player at a time while another stands in the backcourt with their back to mid court and attempts to trap or grab as soon as the ball crosses mid court. If defense can keep ball on sideline for long enough, offense gets more room to attack!
One variation of this drill involves having one player (A1) pass from their backcourt to their teammate in the front court (B2). From there, B2 takes quick passes backwards towards midcourt before taking shots from end court – with A1 aiming to ensure no teammate in either court has access to their pass! The goal here is preventing midcourt balls or those reaching backcourt teammates.
Another variation involves having one player (1) throw-in at the division line and pass to a teammate in the middle court – B2 – before making a shot at either end to score points. The goal here is for quick passes which don’t allow defense intercepts before reaching teammates in frontcourt.
This drill provides players with the opportunity to develop attacking under pressure. Players should attempt to strike body to body against their defender while staying in front of the net and can also use this time to practice various shots and releases, such as the lob, jump serve or spin serve.
For an increased challenge, have players stand in center court position and attempt to hit 50 good offensive shots, such as DTLs, CCs, pinches and WAs on both forehand and backhand sides. Any time someone misses or hits dead on any shot they will lose one point; practicing correct technique with these types of shots is essential to building muscle memory so the brain can focus more on strategy instead of execution details.
4. Backcourt & Frontcourt Drill Variation Variation
One of the key drills I employ when training point guards is this backcourt/front court variation drill. It teaches players to control their own game by attacking in the backcourt and reading opponents’ eyes to intercept down court passes. The drill begins by having a coach pass into an offensive player who is then guarded by an opposing defender on one sideline before making a backcourt pass to two teammates at mid court stationed at mid court, which in turn requires reading their eyes in order to anticipate where it goes next.
This drill also helps players learn to move without the ball and avoid traps by moving around teammates and not overreaching for loose balls. Furthermore, this drill teaches players to attack body to body in order to draw backcourt fouls; additionally it encourages using speed and agility around defenders for open shots for themselves.
Implement this drill by splitting your team into two teams. Assign numbers to all players on both sides, and each made shot counts as points; three pointers earn three, midrange two point jumpshots outside of the lane two and layups one. The first team to reach 31 wins.
Another variation of this drill involves having your players play two-on-two. This provides the perfect opportunity for them to gain practice handling pressure defenses and breaking through pressures. Just ensure your team does not over press, as otherwise it will become impossible for them to break free.
To perform this drill, have your players stand on the dotted line at the left hand side wall and hit a forehand reverse pinch that rebounds to the right side wall into mid court. Aim to hit 10 DTL shots and 5 CC or WA shots (don’t count pinches that hit back walls again); if any player is having difficulty, move closer to the front wall by about an inch or two.