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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.

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COACHING YOUNG
CHILDREN |
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COACHING
BEGINNERS |
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COACHING - OBSERVATION / WHAT TO DEVELOP: |
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SPLITTING UP LARGE NUMBERS / ABILITIES |
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FOR THE PLAYER - KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER |
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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:
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Children
come first, winning comes second
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Sport should
be fun
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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:
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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
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In general, some younger players
have problems in the following skill areas: |
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Under 9 players and beginners
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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. |
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Under 12 players
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strength from the back of the court. Work on
correct grip, contact point, side on position and follow
through. |
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Under 14 players -
weak
backhands.
Teach them 'round the head,
good footwork, position on court or a backhand drop shot (less
power required). |
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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. |
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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. |
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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
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working through existing strokes to achieve
consistency and better performance
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add in new strokes
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correct footwork
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improve tactics
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advise on positioning
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condition games
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?'
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WHEN COACHING, REMIND YOURSELF AND STUDENTS . . .
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when playing sides, the
forehand player takes the middle court shots.
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never look behind to your
partner when they are about to hit the bird in your direction
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call their shot so the racquets
do not contact
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use protective eye wear if
needed
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always stretch and warm up
properly prior to practice, cool down later
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never walk onto another
badminton court while a match is in progress
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while lunging for the bird,
they need to land with their toe pointing in the direction of the
lunge
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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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