How to improve my height? Does it help in badminton?

Question: Height: How I improve my height in badminton?? Now my height is just 5 feet and 6 inches…

Answer:
Hi Punkh, thanks for the question.

Certain exercises and nutrition that can stimulate bone growth and height but only during teenage years.

Girls stop growing taller roughly at 16 years old, for boys it’s about 18 years old.

When you’re close to 20 years old, you are probably not going grow any much taller.

I am not in a position to advise you on how to grow taller.

I guess you must be thinking that there’s an added advantage in badminton when you’re tall. This is not entirely true!

In badminton, it’s obvious that tall people have more advantages.

They can produce steep smashes from the baseline. Tall players also can execute perfect low serves easily (compared to shorter players).

However, tall people have weaknesses too!

On the flip side, short people have their own strengths. Shorter players can perform certain badminton skills and shots much better than tall people!

If you think that you are short and you’re not able to compete with tall players, I’ll advise you on some of your strengths.

Focus more on these skills and make use of them against taller players.

The following are some of the skills that short players are good at.

Badminton Drives

Badminton drives are fast shots exchanged horizontally across the badminton net.

Short players can drive more effectively than taller players.

Powerful drives are usually performed using overhead strokes.

Tall players will need to squat down very low in order to hit an overhead stroke.

When tall players squat too low, they’ll be in an awkward position and probably won’t feel comfortable.

There is no way they can concentrate on hitting their drives when they’re in such an awkward position.

Short players on the other hand, can perform powerful drives and recover quickly after hitting shuttle. Their height are ideal for flat and horizontal exchange of shots.

When you’re facing taller opponents, execute more drives!

Drive the shuttlecock right towards their body; this forces them into an uncomfortable position when they retrieve your drives.

Smash to Tall Players’ Chest

Tall players have difficulty retrieving smashes that are targeted towards their chest area.

This is because their arms are long and it is very difficult to execute a perfect underarm stroke around their chest area.

Another alternative for tall players will be to bend down/squat down to retrieve the smash with an overhead stroke.

However, when they squat down, it makes it difficult to inject power into their shots.

Tall players will need to bend very low to the ground, hence putting themselves into an uncomfortable position — which prevents them from generating maximum power.

The Technique

In order to hit a shot to a tall player’s chest area, use Flat Smashes.

Flat smashes are smashes aimed to land on your opponent’s baseline. The picture above shows you the flight trajectory of a flat smash.

It’s simply flatter than a normal steep smash. The shuttlecock will travel across slightly higher above the net.

When you hit a flat smash towards a tall opponent’s body, the shuttlecock will be directed towards his chest area.

The Danger of Flat Smashes

Be careful not to put too much power in flat smashes… or else it will fly pass your opponent’s baseline.

The ultimate risk of flat smashes is the ability of your opponent to return your smash with a drive.

After you hit a smash, you’ll need some time to recover. When your opponent returns a strong drive to you, you might not be ready to retrieve the drive!

However, tall people are less likely to return a strong drive from flat smashes.

Make sure you don’t use flat smashes against shorter opponents. They can easily bend down and return a strong drive with an overhead stroke.

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