How To Choose A Badminton Racket
As a recreational player, not much thought is given while buying/choosing a brand new racket but as you begin practicing you came to understand that racket can play a big role in your performance. A badminton racket is further divided into 3 parts a head, shaft and handle. What you should look at while buying a brand new racket is given within the article below-
WEIGHT OF RACKET
Typically, the majority of standard badminton rackets weigh between 85 to 92 g (without including the string & grip). A heavy racket is actually considered a power racket, while a light-weight racket gives better control. Therefore, exactly how much weight is good for a racket? Well it all simply depends on what kind of skill you’re having & exactly how much command you have on your technique. This is because if you opt for a heavy racket but your arm pronation isn’t perfect then there are high chances that you may injure your shoulder. So we’d recommend, choose a lightweight racket if you’re a beginner first work on your technique and then once you start to gain confidence in your stroke buy a heavy racket. Now that you have learned what weight you must use according to your technique let’s discuss the advantage of buying a heavy or light racket.
- Heavy Racket
- Good for smashes because it provides extra force in your swing.
- Need less control in a stroke.
- More durable
- Light Racket
Good for the fast action of racket especially in defense and that’s the real reason majority of Doubles player use lightweight racket Need more control in your Stroke. The weight of a racket is classified into some categories like 5U, 4U, 3U, 2U, etc.
SHAFT FLEXIBILITY
There is so much false information on the web about this particular part of racket. Majority of people believe that if your racket shaft is really flexible then it’s good for smash. On the other hand a stiff racket is much more useful in defense. However this is often completely wrong. The shaft of a badminton racket may be flexible or stiff. However it’s particularly the area between the handle and also the strong area of the frame that needs attentions. For a beginner, the flexible racket is more suitable as they don’t need to exert extra power to play strong shots since energy is required, whereas stiff shaft is more helpful for players that are in intermediate to an advanced level.
Flex Shaft
Advantages
A flexible shaft is one that will give the player a much easy accessibility to power without exerting much strength. Good for beginners as they’ll use this to practice on their technique since they don’t need to focus on generating enough power for their short. It can easily defend smashes since you’ve got little time to put strength into your shots.
Disadvantages
Since the shaft is easily bent, you have less control of shutter placements which, further results in uncertainty within the flight direction of the shuttlecock. The shuttle stays on the spring bed for a long time because of flex of the shaft low potential for power, and thus the return of shot is a particularly slow process.
Stiff Shaft
Advantages
Return of shots much faster since the shuttle doesn’t stay on the bed as long anymore because of stiff flex of the shaft. As the shaft is stiff, you get more control of shuttle placements and this will give instant rebound of the shuttle. High potential power.
Disadvantages
A stiff racket would require a much stronger swing and good technique so as to generate power. Require good use of wrist action. Most suitable for intermediate to advanced players.
THE MATERIAL OF THE BADMINTON RACKET
Badminton racket are often made from wooden, Steel, Carbon fiber, aluminum, graphite, etc. but we at Sports Galaxy would never recommend steel and Aluminium racket for beginners. They might be available at a cheap cost but trust me you can not do much with these rackets instead save some money and buy racket which is at least made from carbon fiber so that you’ll get your racket string with a stringing machine. The material of your racket frame decides exactly how much tension your racket can hold and survive those hits along with your partner’s racket when you are playing doubles.
TENSILE STRENGTH OF FRAME
It refers to the capacity of your frame to hold wires at a specific tension.In a badminton racquet wire tension can range from 18 lbs to 32 lbs, now before going for higher tension take a look at the specification of your racket, how much tension is usually recommended by the manufacturer. Low wire tension, is quite good for beginners as they do not put much pressure on your frame, automatically keeping your racket save from breakage, also low tension wire has more durability. High wire tension good for the intermediate and advanced players because now you know exactly how to control shuttle. In High tension strings, the shuttle will spend less time on racket bed so your stroke are going to be much faster but also it’ll keep your racket frame will be under quite a lot of stress so before going for high tension string look at the quality of your frame in order to avoid any sort of breakage.
LENGTH OF HANDLE
Most badminton rackets include a standard grip of G4 this is often found in almost all badminton racket G5 grip size is specially designed for the player with small size hand while G1/G2 grip size is meant for the player with relatively large size hand. Furthermore, smaller grip size will actually allow for more finger power or wrist action to be used as compared to a bigger grip size which will utilize more of the arm. There are different ways you’ll be able to grip yours depending on your style of play.
BALANCE
Completely based on balance Badminton racquets are divided into three categories given below:- Head-Heavy Balance, which is ideal for smash & powerful play Head-Light Balance, is a really good choice for defensive & safe play. It is known for the perfect control Even Balance, it provides good between control & power. Most of the item balance of the racket is mentioned in the description when you buy online, but while you’re buying from a store then you can ask the store manager or the staff present.
HEAD SHAPE OF THE RACKET
In the market there are mainly two types of racket head shapes available which are isometric and oval. Isometric This particular frame of racket is squarish as the area is larger in this racket. It has a very large sweet spot to play more effectively for beginners. It’s large sweet spot makes it easier to hit a short without exerting too much energy.
Oval
It’s an egg-like shape so you can easily conclude that it has a smaller sweet spot. It actually delivers much more power if that spot is hit all records. It also provides better control giving the ability to place the shuttle in any new location you desire. This racket is usually recommended for advanced players.