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JEDBURGH BADMINTON CLUB - ESTABLISHED 12TH DECEMBER 1974

COACHING CHILDREN / BEGINNERS / TIPS ETC

JBC have an opportunity to teach children the fundamentals of badminton from an early age and they should be taught the correct technique from the start. Grips, footwork and strokes are the basics in badminton and we try to combine learning these techniques with fun games and routines geared to actions and movements akin to playing badminton.

At JBC, we aim to teach the rules of badminton, promote honesty, sportsmanship, and a sense of fair play. Players should be coached according to their ability and personal goals in badminton - coaching should not be defined by their age, size, or gender.

Those with skill and potential will have the option for more intensive training at our performance sessions, preparing them for competitive badminton. JBC will also respect the wishes of juniors who have no interest in competing at a higher level.

Above all, learning and participation should be FUN and should be SAFE!

GUIDELINES

The following information might be useful to anyone coaching/assisting with coaching, especially the first article if working with children. There are useful tips too if you simply want to play badminton. There's a wealth of information open to us all and the following text has been extracted and adapted for inclusion here.

COACHING YOUNG CHILDREN

COACHING BEGINNERS

COACHING - OBSERVATION / WHAT TO DEVELOP:

SPLITTING UP LARGE NUMBERS / ABILITIES

FOR THE PLAYER - KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

WHEN COACHING, REMIND YOURSELF AND STUDENTS COACHING YOUNG CHILDREN Coaching young children can be a rich and satisfying experience. It is also a tremendous responsibility. The children being coached are the next generation of sports men and women. The attitudes they learn from coaching can affect every aspect of their lives. Coaching can help to give them confidence. If not done correctly, it can also undermine what little confidence they do have. Above all, it is important to remember the following: Children come first, winning comes second Sport should be fun Reward effort as well as achievement Some people expect too much physically from youngsters. It is important to realise the following when dealing with children in sport: children do not tolerate exercise as well as adults and are much less aware of their own limits because children breathe more quickly than adults, they dehydrate more quickly, so children doing sport need to make sure they drink plenty of water

In general, some younger players have problems in the following skill areas:

Under 9 players and beginners - co-ordination between shuttle and racket can be a problem. Start with bouncing games, shuttles or soft balls, short rackets, just aiming to make contact. The quality of feeding to younger players is critical and in many cases, will require the coach to hand feed or racket feed slowly and accurately.

Under 12 players - strength from the back of the court. Work on correct grip, contact point, side on position and follow through.

Under 14 players - weak backhands. Teach them 'round the head, good footwork, position on court or a backhand drop shot (less power required).

Under 16 players - weak movement to the rear forehand corner. Developing a bit of power so perhaps they begin to get lazy and rely on their strength. No substitute for good footwork and being in the correct position to make a stroke.

Under 18 players - poor forecourt coverage, both defending against fast drops and taking the shuttle high at the net and doing something useful with it. Perhaps they need a reminder on stroke technique, base position on court and attack, attack, attack.

COACHING BEGINNERS When Coaching new players, one approach to work on is getting them to make clears. The clear is the most fundamental shot in badminton. This shot consists of the basic over head movement and most importantly it consists of footwork and of course the correct grip. The clear is the building block for all the major movements in badminton i.e. wrist movement, arm rotation, shifting body weight and footwork. From the clear moving to playing drops and smashes is then an easy progression and beginners then have the ability to move opponents around the court and have fun playing a game! Polishing the strokes can come later, what is very important to beginners is that they can have a rally. If at the end of the first coaching session you have 2 people who can play a clear to each other and have a very basic rally, their is a sense of achievement on their part which will only encourage them to continue in badminton. FOOTWORK Many say that you can't play badminton if you don't have good footwork and in an ideal world footwork and fitness training should be introduced at an early stage. Pushing fitness and footwork too early may deter some from continuing to play Badminton. Footwork training is necessary but try and vary it and make it fun and interesting if possible, make it into a game with points or something to achieve within the routine. At JBC we make use of mini hurdles, ladders and other apparatus to spice up our footwork routines and this allows us to vary the exercises and keep the players interested. How important is good footwork - in my opinion it separates the very good player from the good player. The ability to move around the court, front to back, side to side and to do this effortlessly will give many players an edge. Footwork routines often raise a frown or two at coaching sessions and I counter this with " What is the point of being able to play a stroke perfectly if you cannot reach the correct position on court to play the stroke". You have to be on time, on balance, and ready to move to the new base after completing the stroke. COACHING - OBSERVATION / WHAT TO DEVELOP: checking that correct grips are used working through existing strokes to achieve consistency and better performance add in new strokes correct footwork improve tactics advise on positioning condition games add deception to strokes Observation is one of the coaches main assets and through time you learn to watch from all angles. Putting a player under pressure often highlights weaknesses in movement, stroke play or technique and the coach can then build on this for improvement. SPLITTING UP LARGE NUMBERS / ABILITIES   What happened is that everyone warms up together as a group. Once the warm up is over, the coach utilises the most experienced players / coaches into teaching the new kids how to hold their rackets, how to hit the shuttle properly, introduction to different strokes, backhands, forehands, all the basic shots in the game. This way the most experienced players get a chance to actually coach themselves. Helps them build confidence, share their skills and gain some responsibility. But this is always done under the watchful eye of the assistant coach. In the meantime the coach has some time to concentrate on a few of the intermediate players, possibly teaching them footwork, court positioning for doubles, tactics and strategy etc. All intermediates would take part in the same training. With the intermediates set with their own training program the coach sets up the program for the most experienced, mainly focussing on individuals, usually they would play games and the coach would watch, take note and give advice on what they needed work on and so forth. The assistant by this time would be watching over the young newbies play little games. All experienced players would be playing their own games at this point and no longer assisting the newbies. So you have three groups be taught at the same time but on different levels. The only time you would have any group mix with the other is when the coach decides to use the more experienced player to assist in teaching the newcomers. For players to progress, it is definitely better to split them into different groups by ability. This benefits the beginners as well as the more experienced players but do allow them all to mix together for certain activities - this is important too. FOR THE PLAYER - KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER Warm up - Always warm up and stretch before starting to play. Badminton is a very hard sport on the joints and muscles and long term injuries can be easily gained if the body is not prepared. Knock up with a purpose - When knocking up before playing a match you should use this time to practice your shots rather than tiring yourself out with some frantic singles. Get into a routine of clears, smash/blocks, slow drops, fast drops, drives, net kills and serves with your partner before playing. The serve - The serve is the most important shot in badminton. This is often the most under practiced shot in badminton! Work on your tight short serve and you will win more games than you ever imagined. Maintain attack - The most effective way to play badminton is to be on the attack. This means hitting the shuttle downwards so it's below the height of the net when the opponent hits their return. This gives them less time to get to the shuttle and less opportunity to win the point from their return. Maintain the attack and you will win far more points than you lose. Racket carriage - As you move around the court have your racket held up and away from your body. This means you are ready to hit the shuttle early as you do not have to lift it from around your feet. You will also be able to react to fast shots coming towards you as your racket will already be up in preparation. Prepare for your shots - It is only possible to consistently hit good shots if you are in a good position to do so. Move to your shot quickly and maintain good balance as you strike the shuttle. Hit the shuttle early - If you strike the shuttle early you will give your opponents less time to recover from their previous shot. By striking early you will also give yourself a better chance to attack the shuttle downwards and win the point earlier. Recovery - After every shot return to your base position in preparation for all the possible shots by the opposition. Think to yourself 'do I know where they might return the shuttle?' and 'Can I get there easily and with balance to play my next shot?' WHEN COACHING, REMIND YOURSELF AND STUDENTS . . . when playing sides, the forehand player takes the middle court shots. never look behind to your partner when they are about to hit the bird in your direction call their shot so the racquets do not contact use protective eye wear if needed always stretch and warm up properly prior to practice, cool down later never walk onto another badminton court while a match is in progress while lunging for the bird, they need to land with their toe pointing in the direction of the lunge keep their racquet up in front of their face while they play the net in doubles and don't stand too close to the net

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