Time and space

Watch one rally with that question in mind. The badge under the court shows where your player stands after each shot: attacking, neutral or defending.

The smash (Smash) at the end gets the applause, but the point was decided earlier. After a low serve (Aufschlag) the opponent’s lift (Lift) was deep and safe, so your player did not smash from the back: they played a drop (Drop), the opponent had to come forward, and could only lift short. The smash from midcourt was met by a block (Block), but the tight net shot (Netzdrop) that followed forced a second short lift, and this time the smash found open space. The last shot only collected what the earlier ones had built. Nine shots is also longer than usual: in one small study, 14-year-old boys averaged about 5.6 shots per rally^[S11].

The shuttle is a brake

A shuttle (Federball) is not a ball. Its feathers act like a parachute: dropped from high enough, it never falls faster than about 24 km/h, its terminal speed (Endgeschwindigkeit)^[S8]. That drag is enormous at speed. In the physics model used on this page, a smash (Smash) that leaves the racket at 400 km/h is down to about 60 km/h nine metres later, and measurements on real smashes show a similar loss^[S9]. (That measurement study is a preprint, so treat its exact figures with care.)

Two things follow, and coaches build a lot on them. First, distance is time: a smash from deep in the court arrives slowly, which is why players try to attack from the middle of the court, not from the baseline Coaching opinion. Second, height is time: a high shot floats down almost vertically, giving whoever hit it more than a second to get back into position.

Eight shots, three jobs

There are only a handful of basic shots. What matters is the job each one does. Pick a shot to see it from the side. Each dot on the path is a twentieth of a second apart, so widely spaced dots mean fast and bunched dots mean the shuttle is braking. The German words in brackets are the ones German coaches use^[S13][S14]; the glossary says which of them the federation’s own material confirms.

Every shot does one of three jobs:

• Take time away from the opponent: the smash (Smash), the attacking clear (Angriffs-Clear) and the drive (Drive). They are fast, so the opponent has little time to reach them.
• Move the opponent, or reset the rally: the drop (Drop), the net shot (Netzdrop) and the block (Block). These soft shots land near the net, drag the opponent forward and often force a lift.
• Buy time for the hitter: the high clear (Clear) and the lift (Lift). High and deep, they hang in the air long enough for the hitter to get back to base, and they push the opponent as far back as possible. They give the opponent time too, so a short lift is the most punished shot in badminton Coaching opinion.

Up or down: who is attacking?

You can judge any moment of a rally with one test: is the player hitting the shuttle down, or up? If they meet it above the height of the net tape (Netzkante), they can hit downward and the opponent has to hit up. If they let it drop below the tape, they have to lift (Lift) it, and the roles flip. The tape is 1.55 m high at the posts and 1.524 m at the centre^[S1].

That is why coaches endlessly repeat “take it early” Coaching opinion. Half a step faster to the net means meeting the shuttle at the tape instead of at the ankles, which is the difference between a tight net shot (Netzdrop) that forces a lift and a lift you are forced to give. It is also why the deep overhead corner counts only as neutral: the player can hit down from there, but everything slows down before it crosses.

Home base, and why corners hurt

After every shot a singles player goes back toward a base (Grundposition) near the middle of their half. The base is not a fixed spot: it is the centre of the opponent’s options, so it shifts a little forward when the opponent is stuck deep, because a drop (Drop) is likely, and a little back when the opponent is at the net. Coaching opinion Coaches teach a small hop, the split step (Split-Step), timed to land just as the opponent hits, so the player lands balanced and can push off in any direction. Coaching opinion After a smash or a drop they also step in, ready for the reply. Coaching opinion

Strategy, at its simplest, is sending the shuttle where the opponent cannot get to in time. Try it below. Your player hits from midcourt: tap anywhere on the opponent’s side, or move the target with the arrow keys and press Enter. The colours show where the opponent would be under pressure.

Notice three things. The corners and sidelines are the hottest, because they are furthest from base, and in this model the back corners are worse than they look: moving backwards is slow and an overhead needs a moment to set up. The middle is almost never worth hitting to. Coaching opinion And when the opponent is caught out of position, the space behind them lights up. A lot of singles tactics (Part 2) is about creating exactly that: dragging someone forward, then going over their head.

What to watch from the stands

• Count the lifts (Lift). Over a game, the player lifting more is usually the one losing the rallies. Coaching opinion If your player lifts a lot, the question is why: slow to the net, or pushed there by the opponent’s shots?
• Watch their contact height at the net. Are they meeting the shuttle near the tape, or is it dropping to knee height before they get there?
• Watch their feet when the opponent hits. Are they back near base (Grundposition) and doing the split step (Split-Step), or still moving? Late recovery shows up as lots of shots played off balance. Coaching opinion
• Look at the depth of their lifts and clears (Clear). A lift that lands at midcourt is a gift to a good smasher. Depth matters more than power. Coaching opinion
• Look at the opponent’s base, too. Some players recover slowly from the net, others hang back. Coaches spot this in the first few rallies and build the game plan around it.

These are things to notice from the stands and remember, not to call out during a rally. Bring them up at the interval, between games or after the match; how to do that well is covered in Part 5.

Where this goes next

Part 2 turns these ideas into singles tactics: patterns, tempo, deception and reading an opponent. Doubles and mixed (Part 3), the mental game (Part 4) and your role as a parent (Part 5) follow. The overview lists all five parts.