Effective Badminton Footwork: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Many people neglect badminton footwork because it might not seem important at all.

You might hear some people say “why care about footwork when I can do a 300km/h smash”. Are you thinking that way too?

However I would say that the footwork is THE most important skill you should master. It’s even more important than smashing!

This is because an effective and organised footwork provides superb speed and agility which enables the player to move around the badminton court swiftly and return every shuttlecock. So what if you can do a 300km/h smash when you cannot even reach the shuttlecock in time?

Playing badminton is all about speed. The shuttlecock can move extremely fast and you must move faster than the shuttlecock to be able to hit it.

Effective Movement On the Court

Always remember your base (starting point) will be at the red dot in the middle. The arrows indicates the possible movements around the court.

Every time you move away from your base to hit the shuttle, you MUST QUICKLY return to your base to prepare yourself for your opponent’s shot

For instance, you move to point A to take a shuttle and then stay there. Your opponent then returns the shuttle back to you at point B. You are less likely able to get to point B in time from point A.

Conversely, if you quickly return to your base after hitting the shuttle at point A, you will definitely be able to return the shuttle at point B.

Tips on How to Move Effectively

There are many ways of moving out there but does this mean you have to know and follow all? No, just be comfortable with your own style of moving around the court.

However, there are a few tips that I would like to share on your badminton footwork

• Take ONLY 2-3 steps when moving to the back of the court.
• Stretch ONLY 1 step towards the sides of the court.
• Take ONLY 2-3 steps to the front of the court.
• Are you a beginner? Does it seem difficult to take so few steps? No worries, the key is to stretch your legs as wide as possible while maintaining a good balance. If you are a beginner, take more steps. Then slowly reduce the amount of steps you take as you move faster while maintaining good balance.
• Maintain your balance: While one of your hands will be holding the racquet, keep the other hand wide open. Not because it looks cool, it is because it helps in balancing. This enables you to return to your base quickly.

• Good stance:. When you’re in a ready position (before your opponent serves), make sure one leg is in front and one leg behind, opened slightly wide (refer to the picture above).
• If the shuttle is served to the front, use your toes of your back leg to push your bodyweight to the front.
• If the shuttle is served to the back, use your front leg toes to push your bodyweight to the back. This enables you to move fast once the shuttle is served.

Important Advice

The idea is to quickly move to take the shuttle and then quickly return to your base.

Agility is important, but body balance is equally important. If you do not have good body balance, you’ll lose time trying to stabilise yourself — in turn this gives you less time to return to your base.

All the above is merely a guide. There are no BEST ways for badminton footwork, you should move in a way you are comfortable with and keep practising.