Drop and get back
Ready when: Overhead clear (i2) done.
What you are learning
The drop shot. It starts exactly like a clear, so the other player expects it to go deep, but it goes softly and falls just over the net. Then you get back to the middle before the next shot.
Words on this card Shuttle, Grip, Back to the middle, Clear, Drop shot, Feed, Side-on, Follow-through
- 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.
- Grip
- The way the hand holds the racket handle.
- Back to the middle
- The spot in the centre of your side. After every shot you go back there, so you can reach the next one.
- Clear
- A high, deep shot hit overhead from the back of your side to the back of theirs.
- Drop shot
- An overhead shot that looks like a clear but goes softly and falls just over the net.
- Feed
- To throw or hit the shuttle to the player so they can practise one shot. The feeder is the person doing it.
- Side-on
- Standing with one shoulder, not the chest, pointing at where you aim.
- Follow-through
- The racket keeps moving after the hit, toward where you aim.
Set up
A net or rope; a chalk box 1 m deep just behind the net on the far side. A racket and shuttles.
Weather: no wind
Show it first for the one teaching
- Start as for the clear: side-on, racket up behind the head.
- Swing as if to clear, but slow the racket just before you hit.
- Stop the racket soon after, with very little follow-through. The shuttle falls just over the net.
Your part while they practise
Send the shuttle high and deep, one after another, and wait each time until the player is back in the middle.
Step by step
- The player waits in the middle.
- You send a high shuttle.
- The player gets behind it, side-on, and swings as for a clear.
- Just before contact the racket slows; the shuttle drops into the box.
- The player goes back to the middle at once.
- 10 shuttles a round.
How much: 4 rounds of 10 drop shots 10 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Drop and get back
A point for each drop shot that lands in the box and a point for being back at the middle before the next feed.
Who plays: the player hits and you send the shuttles; swap after each round.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Each turn is 10 shuttles
- You send one high; the player plays a drop shot
- Send the next one as soon as the player reaches the middle, but no sooner
- Fair play
- Make the box twice as big for a younger player.
- Points
- 1 point for a drop shot in the box, and 1 point for being back at the middle before your next feed. Up to 2 points a shuttle.
- Fouls
- No points for that shuttle
- It goes into the net
- It rises above head height after crossing the net (easy to hit down)
- The player stays to watch it instead of going back
- Winning
- After one turn each, the player with more points wins.
- 8 points for 1 star
- 12 points for 2 stars
- 16 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
A bigger box.
Alternate drop shot and clear without telling the player which.
What you will see, and what to say
- the drop shot floats up above the net
Same swing, softer hands
Swing the same way, but grip loosely and slow the racket at contact. - the player stays at the net
Back to the middle
As soon as the shuttle is hit, go back.
Self-check
5 of 10 drop shots land in the box and the player is back at the middle each time.
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 touch, deception, recovery.
awiseathlete.com/sports/badminton/badminton-i3