I'm interested in whether others have experience or know about badminton improving ability in other sports. Note that I am excluding fitness related improvement. The only guy in both my local table tennis and badminton clubs told me that badminton would improve my table tennis. Since he went from badminton to table tennis rather than the reverse I assumed he didn't know what he was talking about. I've barely played table tennis for over half a year, and while I'd normally expect to be quite rusty I'm definitely playing a lot better than I did when practicing regularly. There's no way this could be a coincidence. It's not just that my forehand and backhand are better, but all of my serves are better, which is curious since table tennis and badminton serves are nothing alike. I feel like I have more time when shots are coming to me now in table tennis. I read an article about the benefits of playing badminton which says: 'With great power comes great responsibility and with badminton, you will develop lightening quick reflexes. Badminton is the fastest sport and hence, you need to respond quick. You need to be physically swift to reach the shuttle and mentally agile to work out where to move to return it, and how to hit it to win. The combined agility of mind and body will advance your ability to process thoughts and accurately develop a plan of action, both on and off the court. The fact that one needs to respond quickly, requires high levels of concentration. It builds on its own and helps with concentration in other avenues as well.' I have ADHD and slow processing speed, so this all sounds right to me. I found a question answered by a former national table tennis coach who was asked about whether taking up badminton would hurt table tennis ability. He responded 'I don't think it will hamper your game. I think it will give you some aerobic fitness and also perhaps some more court awareness.' I also found an article in which Roger Federer credits sports he played when he was young including badminton for developing his hand-eye coordination.
I have been learning squash recently and had some coaching. I have been told I'm picking it up really fast , like lunging.. I said I learnt it from learning lunging in badminton.. The squash coach said some people just run at the ball and into the wall. I said I learnt from badminton to stop and hit and not lean forward, so that way my momentum doesn't make me lose balance... Playing badminton badly would not have helped. But playing it decently at intermediate level has helped me in picking up squash footwork. There is cross-over. There are stupid things that beginners of badminton or rubbish badminton players do that many beginner or rubbish squash players do. Also the awareness of what you are doing that you can develop in badminton is useful in squash. And the conversations to have to improve. And both build cardio.
I've played tennis once in my life. When I was in school they took us to an indoor tennis hall. My experience has been that badminton and tennis are completely different. My muscle memory wants to play badminton, except you're holding a tennis racket and hitting a ball. Which means with every shot I feel like someone is hammering my wrist, elbow and shoulder. Though surprisingly (at least for me at the time), my serve was the best in the hall, better even than the few tennis players that we had. Coming from badminton, that overhead motion just feels really natural and the impact on your arm is less, because the ball isn't coming at you with speed when you get to throw it up yourself. Footwork translates pretty well, except you have to adjust where you go. As a badminton player, you usually want to hit it as early as possible, but that isn't always the best strategy in tennis. The court is too big to cover if you're too far forward, so going forward to hit a high backhand that gets returned to the other side of the court, makes less sense than waiting for the ball to come to you and maintain a better position.
