Plastic and Feathers

As all us badminton players know, there are two types of shuttles; plastic and feather. But what are the are the real advantages and drawbacks between them?

Most beginners and casual players use plastic shuttles. They're cheap, durable and widely available. Go to a local sports shop and you most likely to find a tube of plastics. But also to a casual player, the lower price of the plastics will be more appealing, because to them, they might find all shuttles the same or similar. Plastics are durable and easy to hit, which means newer players can mishit it and it won't suffer much damage at all and you dont have to have precise technique to hit it.

But as you become a better player, you start to feel that feathers are the way to go. Feather shuttles are seen as the more 'superior' type of shuttle, because of the quality of the flight and the preferred feel when it is hit. Once you hit a plastic shuttle afterwards, it feels rather 'dead' or 'numb' and it seems you dont get the same control on certain shots such as drops and nets. The sound a quality feather shuttle makes is sometimes really second to none.

Where the extra quality comes in, there obviously has to be a price to pay. First, the durability is ususally dramatically less. Feather shuttles can still be played if it has suffered a little damage, but once several feather has broken off, the flight becomes inconsistent and it renders it unplayable. Secondly, there's th increased price. Premium feather shuttles such as the Yonex Aerosensa 40/50's, can cost anywhere up to £20, even £25 a dozen in some places. Ridiculous prices many would say. Whereas a dozen of high standard plastics such as the Yonex Mavis 300's, only cost around £10 a dozen. Unless you're a serious, competitive badminton player, you'd never really consider paying that kind of money to play high end plastics.

Although if you play in tournaments, you will have to play and train using feathers, because arguably, plastics will ruin your game and technique. But when all is said and done, there is no better feeling than hitting a clean, game-winning jump smash with a speedy, quality feather shuttle.

Arcsaber Z Slash Is Released!

It's finally here. The long awaited Arcsaber Z Slash is available and in stock on many online badminton shops. The colours do look a bit dull and the colour scheme is a little reminiscent of the low-end Muscle Power racquets. But as for performance, there hasn't been any reputed, extensive reviews of the racquet as yet, but a review is to be posted on Badminton Central in a few days time. However, the inital reviews seem to say that the Z Slash posseses great power, because of its head-heavy balance and the shaft is extra stiff. On the other hand, the poor choice of colour scheme is a bit of a put-off for some users. The racquet also claims a hefty price tag; around $240 from badminton alley (see below) which equates to around £150 in the UK.

The Arcsaber Z slash is available in these stores: (more to come)

http://www.badmintonalley.com/Yonex_ArcSaber_Z_Slash_Arc_Z_Badminton_Racket_p/racket-yonex-arc-saber-z-slash.htm

Why Use Trick Shots?

There's only a certain amount of basic shots you can play in badminton. Clear, drop, smash, net. Once you get to an advanced level, you're going to have to learn something a bit special. Shots that are different to the routines ones. A shot that can win you a rally. If you're gonna just play with the basic shots, then sometimes the opponent can read your game. But if you play some trick shots, you can add variety to your game, forcing your opponent to think and move around the court. Deception is key to trick shots. Without deception, you won't be able to pull off your shot effectively and your opponent can intercept. Most importantly, most trick shots require practice, so don't expect to pull of an amazing, crowd mind blowing trick shot, without practising it in training first. ;)

Taufik Hidayat is considered one of the best players in the world today, when it comes to trick shots (especially at the net) and overall deceptive play. He is arguably most famous for his backhand smash, which has been recorded at over 200 km/h and can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEsARpxuYTM (It's truly amazing!)

Here's also a video displaying some of the trick shots played by some of the world's best professionals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8IFeLHz-eQ

Arcsaber Z Slash Available For Pre-Order

Yonex's soon-to-be-released racquet the Arcsaber Z Slash. has finally been made available for pre order on www.mybadmintonstore.com. The price is a hefty US$245, approximately £150, putting the Arcsaber Z Slash firmly in the "higher end" series of racquets along with the Nanospeed 9900.

At this price tag, it would be wise to wait until the racquet is released before purchasing the racquet, because you might want to base your decision on the racquet on some reviews of the racquet, which should come nearer to the release of the racquet. However, if you know you desperately want this racquet or have deep lined pockets, then here is your oppurtunity to preorder one!

Badminton Video........with MUSIC! =]

First time I tried to put music and badminton in the same video! :)




Comments in the shoutbox please! =]

Badminton Online Flash Games Review

We all like to play a few online flash games once in a while. Even in the sports genre, there are many free games available to play. Football? loads. Tennis? plently. Cricket? surprisingly, lots. So when I went to search for badminton games, I found 2 that were unique. Not much variety, but here are the ones I found anyway:

Badminton-Information.com Badminton Game

Play this game at: http://www.badminton-information.com/online-badminton-game.html

This is quite an enjoyable game to play, because it allows you to use a variety of different shots, such as smash, clear and drop shots. The controls are simple as well, the arrow keys for movement, the Z key to clear, X key to drop and the C key to smash. All the shots will be very precise (and never seem to go out!) so the game isn't frustrating and quite easy to play. As long as the character is near the shuttle when the shot is played, the shuttle would usually fly to wherever you hit it. Although sometimes, a net shot will hit the net, instead of going over. There is some tactics involved, as the opponent will usually return the shuttle. Therefore you will have to move the opponent around the court quite a bit. For example, drop, lift, drop, lift ect. Just use your real life badminton tactics! The smash in my opinion isn't very effective, because it is too slow and a drop seems to work better. But you might find a use for it! Overall, apart from the shots being so accurate, a very fun and realistic online badminton game!

Revoke.ca Badminton Game






Play this game at: http://revoke.ca/badminton2/

This badminton game is more 'fluid' than the other game, because you can roam around the court (you can actually run off the court unlike the other game) and you can even jump! This allows you to play a jump smash! ^_^ However, there isn't a designated button for different shots, but rather the shot depends on how much more you hit the shuttle with and that is controlled by how hard/how long you press the X key for. But then again, this does kinda emulate real life. As well as many other factors, a clear and a drop is played is played differently, becuase you put different amounts of power into the shot. The controls are very simple and straightforward for this game. Arrow keys to move, Z key to jump and X key to hit the shuttle. Easy. If you play football games, then it's like the first game being like FIFA and this game being Pro Evo. Somehow theres probably a small comparison there, but you would have to try both games to find out your favourite, and I recommend you do so! =P

Have fun! :) And don't forget to leave a message in the shoutbox!! ;)

Yehlex Birmingham Badminton Bonanza 2009

The Yehlex Birmingham Badminton Bonanza was held in the National Indoor Arena on the 8th and 9th of August. The National Indoor Arena is a massive venue, which hosts the annual prestigous event, the All-England Open since 1994. There were 28 courts set up for matches, with 1 court occupied by Yehlex coach Lee Jae Bok to provide some free coaching drills and tips. As a player Lee won three Korean National Titles between 1979 and 1981, he has a wealth of coaching experience including, Korean Nation Team (1986 -1987), British Olympic Team (1990-92), English National Team (1990-92), English National Team Coaching Adviser (1993) and England team men's singles coach (2005-2007). Lee has also delivered many keynote speeches at several World and European coaching conferences over the past 20 years.

A smashing competition was held on an adjacent court, each participant was fed 3 shuttles and tried to smash the shuttle as fast as they could over the net. A machine was used to measure the speed of the smash, but to be honest, it wasn't too accurate if you ask me. The winning smash speed was 137mph - still quite a bit off of the fastest recorded smash of 206mph by China's Fu Haifeng.

The playing surface wasn't ideal for badminton. Concrete certainly isn't the most ideal surface to be diving on! Initially, things weren't going great for me. In a group game, I was playing a backhand block, then as I put my racquet in front of me to play a net shot, I saw this:

Certainly shocking to say the least, as I didn't hear any sort of clashing. Luckily, I bring a few racquets with me and I continued the match with my trusty Armortec 900 Technique. But in the final match, the strings snapped. Great. I was left to endure the final match with my admittedly very under-used Armortec 250, which has probably been collecting dust for the past year. Playing with factory strings isn't favourbale either. However I managed to scrape the game 21-18 and collected a little glass cube, which was to be my prize.

Meanwhile, Sam 'The Muel' McKune smashed his way into the finals, where he unluckily lost 21-20. Apparently, in the last point of the game, the shuttle was going out but he hit it. Clever ^_^. Anyways here are some pics of Sam McKyoone in action:

Hopefully next time I will remember to ask the photographer to take photos of ME. =]

Pictures are only used for reference purposes. No copyright infringement intended, all rights go to owners. :)