How to Grip the Racket in Badminton

Video Transcript

"I'm going to describe how one handles how to grip a badminton racket. The handle is about four inches long and has a octagonal shape with some larger flat pieces on the side of the racket. One handles a racket by putting the hand on the side like that but not holding it like a hammer. You have to stretch the hand out on the handle. Ideally you want the pommel of the racket to sit at the edge of the hand here and the top finger here slowly to wrap around the racket. The angle at which you hold the racket is also important. You want the thumb to be on one of these large flat parts here and the index resting on the opposite flat part here. Essentially your thumb and index have to make a V on one of the smaller side of the handle here. When one grips the racket, it doesn't need to be extremely tight during the movement of the player. It needs to be gripped firmly during the impact of the shot. You can see that the racket is fairly light and I can hold a racket with just my thumb and my index. I just wrap the finger here for comfort and strength on the handle. This is the basic universal gripping of the racket. There are more specific ways to hold the racket for a backhand swing. In this case, one moves, shifts the racket a little bit in angle and the thumb now rests flat on one of the large flat side pieces of the racket for a backhand movement. There are is a more specific way to hold a racket for a rush shot at the shot where one turns the racket in his hand again and now your back fingers are flat on one of the large backside pieces here."