Exploring Other Sports to Improve Badminton

In my opinion, badminton is one of the most beautiful sports in the world. You need to master a lot of aspects such as good skills, fast footwork, tactical knowledge, killing shots and a whole lot more to be a successful player.

Other than conventional training, you can also explore other sports to help the improvement in badminton by applying some of the aspects needed for these sports such as a high stamina, fast reflex, tough body and many more.

Playing basketball for example, can help improve your badminton game. Basketball players are normally tall and have fast reflex. You can gain a faster reflex because in the game of basketball, the ball moves from one place to another in a very fast pace. The reflex of basketball players can be applied so that you can reach the shot faster and earlier.

You can also apply the high jumping ability of basketball players so that you can produce a higher and steeper angled jumping smash. Another thing that we can learn from the game of basketball is it can make your wrist stronger because the technique of shooting involves the wrist muscles. You can gain a stronger wrist from the game of basketball and will produce more powerful shots.

Playing soccer can also help improve your game. Soccer players are known for strong legs and high stamina. You can apply the stamina of the soccer players in your game so that you will be able to stay longer in the court. You can also apply the strong legs of soccer players to improve your coverage on court.

Another thing that we can learn from the game of soccer is that they have fast reflex and quick feet. A footballer needs to have fast reflexes and quick feet in order to react to passes and dribble past players. You can apply this to your game and react to shots faster.

There are some top world class players in the past and present that use to play soccer before picking up the game of badminton such as Hafiz Hashim (All England Champion 2003), Ong Ewe Hock (Former World No.2), Taufik Hidayat (Olympic Champion 2004 and World Champion 2005) and Han Jian (World Champion 1985).

You can also learn something from the swimmers. Swimmers are known for their tough, well built and flexible body. Swimming helps build up your upper body and you can use that to produce more powerful shots especially smashes because every part of the upper body contributes to the power of the shots.

Swimmers also have one of the highest and strongest stamina among all the athletes. A fast 50 meter swim equals to 300 meter sprinting on the land. This is because our body moves much slower in the water than on land as we need to consume more energy to move fast in the water.

You can apply a swimmer's stamina to stay longer in the court. Swimmers also possess certain breathing methods in order to hold their breath underwater. This breathing method can help you control your breathing during a taxing game or while you are feeling fatigue.

You can also learn from the sports of archery because archers are known for their high concentration level. An archer needs to stay focus throughout their game because even a slightest bit of distraction can destroy their whole performance. You should apply this focus on your game as well.

You can learn a lot from boxing as well to improve your badminton. A boxer needs a fast reflex and agility to avoid attacks from the opponents. You need the agility and reflex of a boxer to go everywhere in the court to return the shots from the opponent.

Another thing that can be learned from the boxer is their hand position. Boxers need to consistently keep their hands up in order to defend their head from the punches of the opponent. Once they put their hands down, their opponent can just attack and punch the head easily in less than a second. You also should always keep your body and rackets up in order to defend or return opponents shots properly.

I would like to stress one last point about what we can learn from boxing. In boxing, one simple mistake could cost you not only the game but also potentially causing you heavy injury or even death.

In badminton, some players who make mistakes such as hitting the shuttle to the net would just laugh it off. In my humble opinion badminton players should be more serious and focus in order to improve their game.

You can try playing the sports mentioned above or any other sport and apply the things learned to your game. It will make a difference…sometimes more than you can imagine.