Badminton MANY NEW PLAYERS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 105, 20 May 1937, Page 12

Badminton MANY NEW PLAYERS

"Drop-Shot.")

Visiting ProfessionaF* Adyiee OUTDOQR PLAY

(By

In Several of the local Badminton cltibs the hUiaber Of tiew meanbers is surprising} quite a lot of the original players, possibly disappoinfed at their laek Of progress, have resigned. Although it is easy to leam the rudiments of the game, imprbvement beyond a certain standard is very difficult. For the benefit of the new members, most of whom have U6t previOUSly played Badminto'n, there follow a feW of the hints gdven last winter by J. F. Devlin, the famous -professionaL PootwOrk. Most beginners fin.d. that they canhot hit the shuttle far enough; for this weakness faulty footwork is partly re* sponsible. The same principles apply at both Badminton an.d tennis. For a forehand stroke, UndCfhand or overhead, the left foot should be nearef to the net than the right, with the left shoiflder thus tumed tOwardS ihe ijCt. For a backhand sroke the ppsitioii is roversed, the right shoxilder pointing towards the net. When. the feet are eorreetly placed, the players' body ^ tumed sideways to the net, and tlie .weight can be swung forward, as the stroke is made, from one foot to. the other. This adds much power to the stroke. The habit of moving quickly into position for the next stroke ds tho first step tOWUrds suceesa in any game played with a racquet, The Tfse of the Wrist. As the Badminton racquet and shuttle are 'so light, sufiieieilt power cannot be given to a full stroke uniess the Wrist is used to accelerate the natural swing. To a tennis player who uses a chopped forehand, the use of the Wrist for a foreeful Badminton stroke comes nattifally • in such a stroke the swing of a tennis player 's drive and the WriSty 1 flick of a chop stroke should be combined. As ihe forward swing begins for a full Badminton shot, the Wrist should be) ifurne'd "back, with the racqueit head as far as possible from the cdtixing shuttle. As the player 's arm conies forward, the suddexi Straighteiling of the wrist, which brings the faCqUOt into line with !the arm, adds a pOwerftil snap to the Stroke. Two Xnteresting Shots. Apart from the serve, the two most impor-tant shots for the beginner are the high clear to the baseline hnd the smash. As both of these are strokes which need ali the power at a player 's command, these hints on the use of the feet and wrists should help learners td lay a sound foundatdon for their game. Out-door Practice. In support of suggestions made last week on the matter of out-door Badminton practice, the foilowing extract is quoted from a deseription of the game in Malaya: "The fact that Badminton is played out doors has resulted in a hard-hitting type of game, aS a slight bfeeze may affect hdgh shots: yet despite the wind factor control has been mastered by the best players in Malaya, and 3. F. Devlin has testified to the high standard of play he saw durifig his visit. ' ' The question whether Badminton should be played in the open or Under eover depehdg entirely On the climate of the cduutfy concerned; for New Zealand playets out-door practice, wlxen possible, is far better than ixone.