As with every sport or activity, much greater enjoyment is gained once the participants have invested in the right equipment and bought the correct kit. The essential basics include a lightweight racket weighing no more than between 70 amd 95g with shuttlecocks – can be either nylon or feather. Also very important are non marking indoor court shoes. At the beginning just comfortasble athletic clothing in the form of sports tee shirt is required. A badminton bag is needed – this will hold the rackets, spare grips, water bottle and towels. The requirement for proper shoes is to prevent serious injuries caused to players slipping and falling and also, critically, to prevent damage to the court surface.
Badminton rackets are very lightwieght, 70-95 gms (between 2.5 and 3.4 ounces). These need carefully looking after because it is easy to put them down just where someone bigger and clumsier could be about to sit – and heavy bodies sitting or standing on lightweight gear never ends well. A good racket bag will protect them and after all, apart from the body playing with them, the rackets will be the most important items in a player’s list. Learning how to handle your equipment is critical from the word ‘go’. Whatever the team or club coach suggests will be good advice; and perhaps try looking at how the senior, most experienced players pick up rackets and fill their bags. Do the very successful players use certain makes of shuttlecocks , grips and strings – if you get a chance to quiz anyone, perhaps they can say why they make these choices. Watch out though for anyone who suddenly seems to be sporting hefty gold watches or similar!