Limit games
Ready when: The flat game and drives (a1) and Move them: the backhand and the back (i8) done.
What you are learning
To keep a game close between a stronger and a weaker player. The stronger player plays with one limit, a rule only they keep, such as "backhand only". The stronger player has to think about shot choice; the weaker player gets real rallies.
Words on this card Shuttle, Rally, Serve, Backhand, Smash, Service line, Fault, Limit
- Shuttle
- The "ball" in badminton: a cork with feathers or a plastic skirt. It flies fast, slows down quickly and falls almost straight down. A foam shuttle is softer and good for learning.
- Rally
- The shuttle going back and forth over the net until someone misses. One rally wins one point.
- Serve
- The hit that starts every rally. In badminton it is hit underarm, low, across to the other side.
- Backhand
- A shot on the other side of the body, with the back of the hand facing where the shuttle goes.
- Smash
- A fast hit from above the head that sends the shuttle steeply down.
- Service line
- The line near the net that a serve must pass. On the home strip it is 2 m from the rope.
- Fault
- A broken rule in a rally: into the net, out, a double hit or a net touch. The other side wins the point.
- Limit
- A rule that only the stronger player plays by, such as "no smash", to make a game close.
Set up
A court; paper and a pen at the post. A racket each, shuttles.
Weather: no wind
Show it first for the one teaching
- Write four limits on the paper: backhand only; no smash; every shot past the service line; serves only short.
- Pick one for yourself.
- Play a few rallies keeping it.
Your part while they practise
Agree a limit for the stronger player before each game, and later let the players invent one.
Step by step
- Choose a limit for the stronger player.
- Play a game to 11.
- After the game, choose a new limit.
- 4 games, a new limit each time.
How much: 4 games to 11, a new limit each 20 min a session 1 day a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Invent a limit
After each game, the loser sets the next limit for the winner.
Who plays: two players, the stronger one with a limit.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Play a normal game to 11, with the usual faults
- The player with the limit must keep it on every shot
- After the game, the loser chooses the next limit for the winner
- Fair play
- The limit itself is the fair play: make it stronger if one player still wins easily.
- Points
- 1 point for each rally won.
- Fouls
- The other player wins the rally
- The limited player breaks the limit
- Into the net or out
- A net touch or a double hit
- Winning
- The first to 11 points. Play 4 games.
- 2 games with the limit kept for 1 star
- 3 games with the limit kept for 2 stars
- 4 games with the limit kept for 3 stars
Easier or harder
A light limit.
Two limits at once.
What you will see, and what to say
- the limit is broken under pressure
Stick to the limit
Slow down and choose a shot inside the limit. - the weaker player only waits
Move them, then attack
Send them to a corner first.
Self-check
In 3 of 4 games the limited player keeps the limit for the whole game.
Stop and get a coach when
The player wants to compete and needs a match plan from someone who has watched them play.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains tactics, shot choice.
awiseathlete.com/sports/badminton/badminton-a5