Is it a challenge to choose a Badminton Racquet?

by BadmintonScholar

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Posted on Mon Dec 28 2020

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Players are different in experience, age, power, techniques and type of game. And more, racquets are available from different sport equipment manufactures like Yonex, lining, Victor, Kawasaki, Fleet, ad more with range of prices.

It is really a challenge for a players to choose a racquet and change racquet when players improve their performance. Racquets are classified in terms of Weight, Flex, Balance, Grip size, and Sting tension.  The decision can be narrowed down to two key questions; i. What type of balance the racket has?, and ii. How flexible the shaft is ?

Let us discuss the significance of the above two points.

Balance

Badminton racquets are categorized based on their balance, or where the full weight of the racket is located. Three categories are: Head-Heavy, Even-Balance and Head-Light.

Head-Heavy racquets have the major weights towards the head, producing a Heavy head and  Head-Light racquets have total weight towards the handle, resulting in a lighter head. Even-Balance rackets have the weight distributed evenly throughout the racquet.

Head-Heavy  racquets

Head-Light racquets

Even-Balance racquets

Shaft flexibility

Shaft flexibility is vital factor when choosing a badminton racquet, and it dependents on player’s wrist/arm speed. Based on shaft flexibility, Manufacturers have racquet categories as ‘Flexible’, ‘Medium Stiff’ and ‘Stiff’ and ‘Extra Stiff’.

• Quicker and more explosive wrist/arm speed (swing speed) benefit from a stiffer shaft – Advanced Players are benefit from extra stiff racquets which yields higher accuracy with the cost of wrist power
• Slower and smoother wrist/arm speed (swing speed) benefit from a flexible shaft – Beginners are benefit from flexible shaft rackets which requires less wrist power with the cost of accuracy
• A stiffer shaft will not bend and unbend quickly – Player requires more power on wrist – Racquet gives better accuracy and control
• A flexible shaft will bend and unbend quickly – Player requires less power on wrist – Racquet gives less accuracy and control
• If player is unsure about his play, can choose medium stiff racquet.

Racquet Weight

Un-Stung racquet weight is categorized as 2U = 90-95g; 3U = 85-89g; 4U = 81-84g; and 5U = 75-80g.

Heavier racquets are suitable for advanced players who has wrist power can extract power from heavy racquet which is controllable too. 3U suits well for advanced singles players.

Lighter rackets are suitable for beginners who may not require much power on arm/wrist but racket delivers less power, but with speed. 4U suits well for advanced doubles players

Grip Size

Most racket manufacturers provide four grip sizes, from G2, G3, G4 to G5 where G2 is the biggest size and G5 is the smallest size.

Choose a grip size that you feel comfortable with. Attacking players prefer bigger grips as they need to hold the racquet more tightly to generate power. Players who like to rally and make use of deception usually prefer a smaller grip so that the racquet is easier to turn in their hands.

Sting Tension

The racquet tension is denoted by “x lb to y lb”; the minimum to the maximum stringing tension recommended. Generally beginners are recommended with a lower tension , as this will provide additional power for them.

Valuable Tips:

• Buy a head-cover with your racquet, and use it whenever you are not playing.
• Remember not to store your racquet close to the central heating radiators, or leave it exposed to sunlight or inside a car.
• The lower priced heavier rackets are made of cheaper material. Player tend to use more arm movements than wrist to hit the shuttle if your wrist is not strong enough. This will lead you to develop bad habits with beginner players.
• Treat your Badminton racquet with respect at all times…

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