Badminton Basics: 3. More on the grip

The execution of the backhand itself would not have been so difficult for most players if it didn’t involve a subtle shift in grip. The shift in grip, footwork and body position for the weaker backhand side is too daunting for most amateur players, with the result that this side remains commonly exploited by opponents.

Peter Gade shows exemplary racket positioon while executing the backhand

We’ll see what Ken Davidson, author of ‘Winning Badminton’, and one of the early authorities on the technicalities of badminton, has to say:

To begin with, the shift in grip from forehand to backhand involves a rotation of the forearm. “The forearm must rotate to bring the face of the racket into a flat hitting position,” states Davidson. “Unless your forearm rotates, you would hit with the edge of the racket.”

Wrist cocking:

A rigid or tensed wrist provides no impetus to the racket head. Players who play with a rigid wrist use a punching action with the arm, wrist and racket kept in one straight line from the elbow. The novice must learn to cock the wrist back as far as possible for forehand or backhand strokes.

Find out whether or not you are getting your wrist ‘into’ the stroke. Take a full swing at an imaginary shuttle – if you keep your wrist locked there will not be much sound, but if the wrist is cocked and then released midway through the swing, there will be a distinct swishing sound. The faster the racket head can be swung, with control, the more power you can put into your strokes – an important factor in shots from the base line.

For shots of fine touch near the net, the wrist must remain firm and supple and not dangle loosely, thereby ‘babying’ the shot. Many players fail on such strokes, after they have positioned the body and extended the arm perfectly, because they hold their wrist still (not necessarily rigid) and offer a ‘dead’ racket to the shuttle.

Peter Gade's wrist is cocked and ready for the racket to strike in the hitting range

Hitting range:

The last three feet of the racket’s forward motion to strike the shuttle holds the final determining factor over hitting power, speed, control and deception.

It is called the ‘hitting range’.

At the end of the backswing, the wrist must be fully cocked back and the face of the racket lies open.

Then, when the arm comes forward, the forearm rotates and the wrist whips the racket head forward to meet the shuttle squarely.

The forward snap of the wrist is delayed until the last possible moment before contact. This wrist action is a movement within a movement and is not sufficient, in itself, to hit the shuttle from one end of the court to the other. The wrist so times its release that the arm and racket form a straight line at contact.

The amount of cocking will vary according to the speed and power of the stroke; some cocking is present even on the most delicate of net shots – the wrist must be cocked back for all shots.

Other articles in this series:

1. The grip

2. Backhand grip