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An understanding of Badminton begins with learning the rules of the game. The emergent complexity and beauty of the game exists as a consequence of the structures laid down by those rules.
All players, coaches and spectators should familiarise themselves with the rules. The IBF maintains the rules internationally and regionally/local variations are based on these. They can be viewed or downloaded here
To describe what happens during Badminton we will break it down into different time segments. A suitable base unit of time is ‘the rally’ as it results in a point being won, and points determine victory. This time unit can be subdivided (e.g. shots and movement) and grouped together (e.g. games, matches and tournaments).
The rally
A rally in Badminton is a series of shots. A shot is the process of hitting the shuttle with a racket to change its velocity (velocity is a measurement that combines direction and speed). Each rally begins with a special shot called ‘the service’ and continues with each side hitting the shuttle in turn until the end of the rally. Each side may consist of one or two players (singles and doubles respectively). The shots alternate between each side with a side only allowed one shot until the opposition has returned the shuttle.
The rally ends with either an outright win, the shuttle hitting the opponent’s floor within the court boundaries via a legal trajectory, or a fault. A fault is committed by breaking one of the rules such as the shuttle going under the net, falling out of bounds or the player or player’s racket hitting the net. Faults are often classified as forced or unforced. Forced faults (often referred to as forced errors) occur because the opponent has produced a shot that places a significant amount of pressure on the player when producing their replying shot. The pressure results from increased shot difficulty. The classification of forced or unforced is affected by the standard of the players. More skilful players can sustain more pressure before a fault could be considered forced.
To score a point a side can produce an outright win, force a fault or simply wait until the oponent(s) commits an unforced fault. The approach that a side takes can be labelled as positive/attacking if they are trying to produce the outright win or force the fault. Waiting for the opponent to commit a fault can be labelled negative/defensive. Such labels potentially carry value judgements and we shall later examine the justification for these labels and the consequences they have.
The player within the rally
All players on court must at some point execute shots to play rallies. Shot execution is a physical movement process and is an example of ‘motor performance’. A ‘motor skill’ is the capability of producing a particular motor performance. Motor performance requires a physical capability (especially muscular) but more importantly, a mental capability. The nervous system is responsible for initiating and controlling muscle actions and therefore motor performance. We shall begin our framework of player action by looking at how our brains perform during a rally.
Based on the motor performance model outlined in [1] we present a simple cycle that the brain goes through repeatedly during a rally:
Stimuli acquisition is the process of gathering relevant information that the player needs to perform correctly. Sources of information can be summarised as follows:
The most important piece of information is the velocity of the shuttle just after it is hit by the opponent. If properly processed this information can be used to predict the trajectory of the shuttle, what shots are possible, and what needs to be done in order to execute those shots. Clues to (or deceptions away from) the trajectory may be obtained by seeing the shot execution of the opponent leading up to the shuttle leaving the racket. Final decisions on what shot to execute may depend on a mental map of player positions and movements on court.
There are two time periods between a player making successive shots. The first is between the player executing the shot and the opponent executing their shot. During this period, the player does not know exactly what shot the opponent will play. They can make an intelligent guess or even prepare for a range of possibilities but they cannot know for sure what will happen. The second phase is between the opponent executing a shot and the player executing theirs. During this period, the environment is providing all the information the player needs. Now they just have to process that information correctly, make correct decisions and execute their shots (motor control) correctly. Easy!
Shot execution can be broken down into two, somewhat independent, tasks – court positing and body shaping, and shot. During court positing and body shaping the player can still take in information such as movement by the opponent(s). This information can be used to form a final decision about the type of shot to execute. During the first period in the above paragraph, court positioning and body shaping can also be used to prepare for a range of possibilities until the opponent’s shot is know. We can now form a motor performance cycle that is repeated through a rally:
References:
1) ‘Motor Learning and Performance’, Richard A. Schmidt, Craig A. Wrisberg, ISBN: 073604566X