How to Hit an Overhead Clear Shot in Badminton

Video Transcript

"A clear shot is one of the basic shots in the game of badminton. It consists of striking the shuttle from one end of the court to the other end of the court using the full length of the court. It is essentially a defensive shot. If the shot is made high it allows you to position yourself to the ready position but it can also be an attack shot if the trajectory is flatter in order to push your opponent in one of the corners of the far end of the court. As for all shots the best way to start is from the ready position. In order to do a clear shot I will need to move from the ready position to the back end of the court. I will side step, push on the opposite leg of my racket, shuffle back and land on my racket leg. This is the starting position for the clear shot. The clear shot starts with pushing up the leg and generating an impulse that will push your body into the shot. I will push on my leg and at the same time lift my elbow in order to ready the racket for the shot, rotate my forearm and move towards the shot. The ideal movement to strike the shuttle is when the back leg passes the front leg. You want to hit the shuttle over your head in a position which is as high as possible in order to get the maximum impulse of the shot. You finish the shot by passing your racket leg in front and finishing the shot with the swing of your arm. This allows you to easily reposition yourself into the ready position by just shuffling back with a couple of steps to the ready position. Again from a side view arrival on the racket leg lifting the elbow, opening the forearm, pushing on the leg, hitting the shuttle as the leg passes and finishing the shot and reposition. One of the goals of the clear shot is really to drive the shuttle with all of your power to the other side of the court. In order to do that when you strike the shot you do not want to over rotate. You really want to stay in a flat plane as much as possible, driving all of your racket power in that plane in a straight effort so when you shoot and you impulse you want to stay in that plain as much as possible. You do not want to over rotate. This is going to take some power from the shot and it is going to prevent you from smoothly repositioning yourself to the ready position."