Modified Games for Grade 5 kids, Emphasizing Clears

just tell them don't worry about the length, but focus on pronation and stroke. tell them the length will come later. that's what my coach told me and it helped a lot. a mini game you can play for starters is one person at the back(playing half-court) and he hits it to anywhere he likes on that half of the court, drop or clear and the other person always clears it back. rotate.

 

just tell them to concentrate on hitting it first. after they get the hang of it and can get some decent rallies going, then tell them to concentrate on pronation and stroke. they might not get used to hitting it above them, so remind them if they let it drop past them then hit it

 

Its important to emphasize early on the need to get the upper arms up. Many beginners dont "open" their shoulders properly to throw, keeping their elbow close in. This fact forces them to contact the shuttle usually too far in front, this then leads onto another bad habit of adjusting the grip to panhandle, which then also leads onto not pivoting the body to have the racquet foot behind, and so on.

A good drill hear is to introduce a high clap above their head. (ie without a racquet). Upper arms up, non-racquet had still, now through your racquet hand to hit the other with a nice thwacking clap!! painfull yes after a time but they soon realise how easy the power is with the correct tehnique.
You will also notice that the non racquet hand naturally pulls into the clap as well making a crisp sound.

 

How about the old "around the world" game? Pretty much, you get the kids to line up behind the court on one side, while you stand on the opposite side. The first kid clears the bird to you then runs around the entire court and eventually to the back of the line. You clear back, and the next kid in line steps in to hit the shot. If you form two or more groups, you can have a contest to see how many consecutive shots can be hit. If you only have one group, you can do an elimination game where the player who mishits is eliminated until only one player remains.

What the kids will realize is that if they clear it high and deep, they'll have more time to get around the court between shots.

 

hand feeding should be done near the front of the court, usually for net practise. or for smash defense if you got a good throw, done on top of the tap. otherwise racquet feeding is generally better for rear court stuff

 

yeah, best to use racquet. i reckon you should just use racquet, if they tell you to stop, give them your reason. every coach teaches differently, so there's no hard and fast rule

 

Assuming that they are all new to badminton, why not start them off without the relatively heavy racket (unless you have a modified version), but just using their arms initially.

1. Line them up in a straight line with ample room for them to move their arms and body.

2. Since you have to start the clear with a "throwing action" as in throwing a ball, let them have a number of used shuttles in their "non-racket" hand or on the floor beside them.

3. To demonstrate first, with a shuttle in your "racket" hand (most will likely be right handed), throw it forward as far as you can, as though you are hitting the shuttle with a racket to do the attacking clear. Do not use the net yet.

Points to note:

a) Hold the shuttle at the cork (base).

b) Bring your arm up and behind your head and make sure your elbow is not pointing down.

c) Turn your body at the trunk/waist with head looking up front at imaginary target as you bring the shuttle backwards.

d) Your lower limbs, feet about shoulder width apart, left leg forward (opposite racket hand) for good balance, should move accordingly when you bring your hand behind your head (or thereabouts).

e) Then release the shuttle by throwing your hand forward as fast as possible. Your elbow should be as straight as possible (not bent) when your arm is about slightly forward your body. (Imagine you are hitting the shuttle with your racket as high as possible.)

Your arm should be closer to your body not away from it. When it comes down it should be across your body, ie from right to left. The other non-shuttle hand should be used to act as a balancer to steady both the backward and foreward movement actions.

f) Weight Transfer: The lower limbs, especially the legs, must provide the "transfer" of the body weight from backwards to forewards as the swing is completed. The right leg can go forward to complete the follow through.

The above could take 5 min.

Then introduce the net as the barrier.

The kids will do the same routine of throwing the shuttle in proper movements, but this time they have to throw it across the net as far as possible. You may make it more enjoyable by dividing them into 3 groups of 2 players each (you form one of the groups) with the groups facing each other on the opposite side of the net. The distance between them could be adjusted accordingly, the more difficult being placing the groups farther apart to induce them to throw at each other as target.

The above could take another 5 min.

Playing with the Racket

*Acquaint the kids with the racket by teaching them the common grip.

*Allow them to hit the shuttle by boucing it on the strings, just to get the feel first.

*Then allow them to hit the shuttle harder towards the ceiling.

*Once they are quite confident, allow them to hit to their partners without the net yet, with the throwing/clearing action.

*Then bring the net into play.

This should take another 10 min. Lesson completed.

Good Luck