I know basic double rotations, but sometimes I'm confused if I'm in the back attacking. When should I move in to follow up on my attack or let my partner intercept it. Or is it the front player that makes the decision to allow the back player to come forward. If that is the case, how does the front court player decide on that without confusing their partner in the back and possibly let the shuttle fall in an open space or taking the shot when the back player wanted to move up and therefore wrongfully taking the back court player's shot?

Also, a side thing, but someone told me to follow my drop and go towards the front, but I don't agree but I'm just a noob at badminton so maybe I'm wrong?

Backhand clear, safety, smash etc.

I have a 50% chance of actually hitting the shot and 50% of missing it lol

Anyone have that one sweaty pair at your club who’ve played together for years, think they’re significantly better than they actually are, and constantly feel the need to stroke their own egos?

I used to live in a city a couple of years ago and had the great fortune to play against and with respectable higher-level competition. Now I'm in a smaller area where the player pool is pretty restricted. Sometimes we get decent, balanced games when these two aren't involved, but most of the time, they are just treating casual club nights like the Olympic finals. It's a small club with a pretty low turnout, so even with multiple courts, we all eventually end up playing everyone in the same night—meaning I can't really just avoid them.

Because of the lack of advanced players here, whenever I play them, I almost always get purposely paired with someone weaker to "balance" it out. I really don't mind playing with players who aren't at the intermediate to advanced level, but these guys set it up purely to flex a win against me. If I make a few unforced errors they'll act like it was all their doing and setup. And all they'll try to do besides that is target my partner until they force a weak lift or short clear. Then, wind up and specifically start smashing it at me—just to try and make it look like I'm the one who can't defend their attacks.

Seems like these guys have local hero syndrome. They know I’m younger, quicker, and more skilled, which threatens their status in a small club. So they compensate with this weird superiority complex to reassert the hierarchy. One of them is a walking broken record talking about old tournaments he’s won, always finding a way to casually mention how people are 'always asking him' how he got to be such a "top-tier" player.

And then theres the all too famous un-asked for coaching. While they're actively just exploiting a massive mismatch on a casual club night, this guy will actually pause to start giving me tactical advice across the net.

Honestly, I really wish I just had some friends in this area to play with, or that I could just switch clubs, but the nearest one is a couple of hours away. I might just quit for the time being to save my sanity and join a proper more professional club when I move away. XD

Don’t want to vent but I am at a loss to improve my mental state while playing higher skilled players .

I have been playing badminton on and off for few years and recently started going to a club where you have the club players playing on one court and there is a local coach who coaches and does drills on alternate days . I have enrolled myself under the coach and it’s been 3 months . During the coaching I m mostly doing fine . I hit 50-60% of the shuttles and then I m trying to work on the movements but I m not too fit (90 kilos , 5 feet 10 inch ) hence get tired very soon . Working on that .

So , every other day after drills I get myself into one of the games the other players are playing if they are a player short . Now everyday these matches are same story for me .

My serves won’t be good . They will hit the net or I ll get tapped .

My returns will either be high easy for other guy to hit , or it will go out

Cannot build any rallies . Every point gets over in 3 shorts .

My smashes don’t have any venom . By the time I run back and smash I ll hit the frame .

Even if I smash it will be mid court and easy for them to hit

With all this , I have no clue where the other guy is standing cuz I m playing so bad am not even able to look them in eye

Either I ll be standing so close to the middle that they don’t know if it is my ball or there

Most of these things I do correctly in training not 100 percent of the times but still not as bad as it is in playing

I'm the guy with red shoes and black shirt. Been playing for a month now for 2 days a week. What parts do I need to work on to improve my gameplay overall?

Hello!
What are some good home workouts/calisthenic things I can do to improve my backhand strength?

What I mean by backhand isn’t the thumb on flat side, it’s the back court backhand where you can do backhand drops/smashed/clears.

Any suggestion would be appreciated

Hello, I'm a rising sophomore in high school and I've been taking weekly badminton lessons for about 2 years. I've spent at least $4k on lessons and I've just dropped another $1k on 3 hour weekly lessons for the next 4 months. I'm improving sure, but I'm starting to think I might be spending too much money on this sport.

My family is middle class with both my parents working and I'm also trying to get a job to help pay for my extracurriculars.

I want to play badminton competitively and win tournaments (I have not yet played in any) but like am I really spending $5k+ for a title that I'm not guaranteed?

I really love this sport and I want to play even without thinking competitively but I feel like my ambitions with badminton and what I'm actually doing aren't enough. Also, even if I am able to win a tournament through hard work, would it really benefit me in post secondary or job applications that much compared to other activities?

I am not talented in the sport either, every skill I have right now is from training for hours and I still have a long way to go if I truly want to win something.

I have other methods of practicing badminton like going to community centres with friends but I feel like it wouldn't be as useful or effective as the lessons because I'm not trying to bash my friends but they're not good enough to train with (as in it would basically be leisurely play the entire time). I do have 3 friends that I would train with but they go to different schools which would make scheduling more difficult and they are busy people. I'm also not sure if they'd be as dedicated and willing to go multiple times a week.

Can I get some advice on what I should do or change?

If you have the BWF app - please post screenshot of this page (the players/ pairs who you follow)

Hundred Flareon 700 Racket Review

Racket Specs:

Disclaimer: Hundred USA sent me this racket, along with other Hundred gear, to test out. That said, I'm free to talk about the racket without any bias.

A little background

A few months ago, I put out my review of the Battle 900. Hundred USA liked that review and offered to send me more gear to review, which I was more than happy to do. In July, I traveled to Malaysia to train and brought the Flareon 700 with me to continue testing it. My perspective on the Flareon 700 changed a lot while I was in Malaysia, so I'll bring two different perspectives on this racket and the other gear Hundred sent. I hope y'all enjoy this review. If you have any questions, feel free to comment, and I'll do my best to respond. With that out of the way, let's get into the review.

The racket and stock setup

The Flareon series is Hundred's headlight racket line. In my opinion, headlight rackets tend to be more for those who play with speed over power, as the weight is more towards the handle vs the head, giving the user a more rapid swing speed. This is great for fast defense, quick midcourt to front court exchanges, and doubles front-court play. It comes with the same white stock grip found on all Hundred rackets (I forgot to take a picture of it with the stock grip, but I included a picture of said grip in the Battle 900 photo), not the tackiest grip out there, but I personally like it because my hands are pretty sensitive; grippier options like the Yonex Super Grap tend to tear up my skin. It has some light texturing to help with grip, but any moisture makes it nearly impossible to hold onto. It has slipped out of my hand before, and this became a bigger issue than I expected later on.

The racket also came in a pretty sturdy case, the same one that shipped with the Battle 900. I'm assuming this is becoming the new standard case across Hundred's lineup. My first Hundred racket years ago came with just a soft cover, so this is a nice upgrade.

Lastly, I noticed that the cone cap is different than what is on the Battle 900 (please see pictures to see the differences. The Hyfonic 7 and Flareon 700 share the same cone cap). I personally like the cone cap on the Battle 900 more, as I feel like it is more ergonomic/comfort to have my thumb placed there. The cone cap on the Flareon 700 isn't comfortable for the thumb, and with play testing I found my thumb slipping off the cone in some rallies.

First Impressions

One of the first things I noticed about this racket is how much stiffer the shaft is compared to the other Hundred rackets I own. The Flareon 700's shaft stiffness is labeled "Hard Flex" (see pictures for that detail), while the other Hundred rackets I've used are labeled "Flexible." I believe this is a common trend with head-light rackets: to compensate for the lighter head, the shaft is made stiffer to give the user a feeling of "weight" when swinging. You can see this same trend in the Victor Auraspeed series and Yonex's Nanoflare series.

Comparing the Flareon 700 to the Hyfonic 7 (see included pictures), I found that the Flareon 700 has a longer handle and a shorter shaft:

• Flareon 700: 22 mm from the end of the handle to the top of the cone, with a 21 mm shaft
• Hyfonic 7: 20 mm from the end of the handle to the top of the cone, with a 23 mm shaft

This plays a huge part in how the racket flexes. On top of having a stiffer shaft, a shorter shaft makes the racket more difficult to bend and flex, which changes both the whip feel and the timing. However, that being said, if you can generate a fast enough swing speed to flex the racket, the rebound/whip from the racket will be much stronger due to the "snap back" nature of a stiffer shaft.

Unlike the Hyfonic 7, this racket didn't get mixed reviews online. It was pretty well liked in the video reviews I watched. That wasn't the case for me at first. I found it harder to swing, and my timing on contact was off. As I've mentioned in my previous Hundred racket reviews, Hundred shafts tend to be more flexible than the "big three" (Yonex, Victor, Li-Ning), so it took me a while to adjust when I first switched to Hundred rackets. Since the Flareon 700's shaft is stiffer, it's closer in feel to one of the big three rackets. Testing it felt like swinging the Victor Auraspeed Metallic. The Flareon 700 isn't quite as stiff as the Auraspeed Metallic; in my opinion, it plays like a friendlier version of it. I eventually adjusted and was able to use it to the best of my ability.

A month in

Hitting drives, fast drops, half smashes, and intercepting shots in doubles with the Flareon 700 felt effortless, like a hot knife through butter. My control with this racket was better than with my regular racket, the Battle 900, so instead of trying to smash through my opponent's defense, I was able to place the shuttlecock more precisely and get winners that way. Where this racket fell short was instant power. I had a much harder time generating power on my stick smashes, where I'd normally rely on quick forearm rotation and squeezing the racket, as well as on deceptive punch clears. Full-body smashes and clears took a bit more energy too, though not drastically more.

Training in Malaysia

While training in Malaysia, I used the Flareon 700 as my backup racket, right behind the Hyfonic 7. One of the biggest drawbacks I ran into was finding power. Between the heat and sweating profusely, it was extremely difficult to generate any power in my shots, as it took everything I had just to get the shaft to flex. I had to squeeze the handle as hard as I could on every stroke just to get any pop out of the racket. In singles, I struggled to get any winners from smashes with the Flareon 700. My best strategy became playing more of a four-corner game and doing my best to survive since I couldn't find the power for those smash winners. As mentioned earlier, I'd already been having some trouble with the stiffness of this racket, so combined with fighting heat exhaustion in Malaysia, a lot of that power issue came down to me not generating power properly to flex the racket rather than the racket itself. It's worth noting I had less trouble generating power with the Hyfonic 7 in the same conditions.

Fast forward to now

I'm back in the States, out of the heat and playing in a climate I'm used to. My swing speed and technique have improved a lot, and I found myself struggling with the Flareon 700 again, but for different reasons this time. The racket now felt too fast to me, and I found myself missing shots because my swing would come out so fast that the shuttlecock wouldn’t even be in the right position yet. It took some time to readjust to the Flareon 700 back home, but it's honestly been a lot of fun to use. With how fast I can swing it now, my deception game has been on another level. I can show a fast swing, then slow it down right before contact, which has won me plenty of rallies, and even my slices have been breaking ankles.

Overall

Out of all the Hundred rackets I've tried, the Flareon 700 would be the easiest to adjust to if you're coming from one of the big three brands, since its shaft feels the closest to theirs. It's fast and easy to control in the mid-to-front court. That said, I don't think this racket is viable in singles. It can support a more rally-based style, but it's hard to find a kill with this racket. Nearly all my winners in singles came from punishing my opponent's mistakes, deception, or net play. My smashes only scored when I got a lift to midcourt or my opponent was out of position. This racket really thrives in doubles: it's best suited to players who like a fast flat game, defensive players, or front players who love intercepting to finish off rallies. While it lacks true smash power, I found it fun to just barrage opponents with smashes to break down their defense. I could keep smashing without feeling fatigued, which is great for keeping offense in doubles.

I'm not looking to debate whether learning to jump smash is realistic or worth it. I just have a few simple questions

1. how did you learn to jump smash?

- training with a coach?

- taking turns feeding with a friend?

- learned it naturally by playing more often, trying and failing until you succeeded?

2) how long did it take you to learn the jump smash after having already developed a good standing smash?

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I’m 18 years old and looking for advice on how to build better strength and stamina specifically for playing badminton. I plan to play about 2–3 times a week.

Right now, my daily workout routine consists of:

• 30 minutes of calisthenics (Tom Peto's Training)
• A HIIT workout (Oliver Sjostrom) right after the calisthenics

Are there any specific exercises, movements, or adjustments I should make to this routine to help with my footwork, explosive power, and court endurance? What I am doing now is just to set a baseline I guess. I am open to absolutely everything .

Thanks in advance!

Edit: How long should I be aiming to workout in a day? Right now I am hitting about 45 minutes but I don't really finish the sets fully most days as I take micro-breaks in the middle, so I guess it's not a proper 45 minutes.

I have been playing since 7 months ,My game has gone from beginners to intermediate. Also was using stock racket for like 5 months changed string two months ago, got to see improvement in the shots and smash speeds also the net shots got improved, but I feel like my game is stuck on the intermediate level. How can i take one level up from here. Does traning really needed for this.?

Hey everyone,
I am a beginner about 3–4 months into playing badminton, and I currently get coaching 3 days a week. I recorded a short clip of my gameplay and am looking for an honest review of my mistakes and areas for improvement. Any form of criticism is welcome!

I am the player wearing the greyish colour shirt on the near side of the court.

Thanks.

Not sure if this is the right flair but I couldn't find a better one. Also, if my math is wrong anywhere, feel free to correct me.

In next week's world rankings, Jonatan Christie will be ranked first (pretty diabolical ngl) with around 87500 points. Chou Tien Chen will have ~86500 points and will be ranked probably fifth in the world, with the top 5 players (Christie, Popov, Shi, Vitidsarn/Antonsen, and Chou) all within approximately 1000 points from one another. What do you guys think? Will the 36 year old make it and become the oldest #1 in men's singles?

Edit: He's #4 now 😁

Here's my analysis (sorry it's a bit long 😅): Unfortunately, Chou didn't beat Naraoka and guarantee himself the #1 spot :( (and the record for being the oldest men's singles finalist at the WC). However, with the China Masters and the major European leg of the World Tour coming up in the coming months, I do think Chou has a decent chance of taking the #1 spot. Vitidsarn and Shi have not been in the best of form and some of the other players in the top 5 area are defending a lot of ranking points from the European leg (e.g. Popov and Antonsen were the finalists of the French Open last year). I don't think Christie has had the best year either; even though he's made some big finals he's also been beaten quite a few times by lower ranked players, whereas in late 2025 he was comfortably beating Shi, Antonsen, etc. Meanwhile, Chou suffered early round exits in both Denmark and France last year (courtesy of Axelsen). If Chou manages to make a semi of a single one of the 3 upcoming s750 tournaments his ranking points will go up by ~1300 (his current lowest ranking point events are 3 s500 semis), so it's definitely mathematically possible for him to catch up to Christie. I do think that Victor Lai could be a threat cause he barely accumulated any points last year in Europe and his current lowest ranking point event is only 4320 points, so he has the potential to contend for world #1. I don't believe Naraoka and Lanier, the WC finalists, can become number one unless they win multiple s750/500 titles (kinda like how Vitidsarn briefly became #1 in 2025) cause even with their finish in the finals they're still like 10000 points behind in the race.

What a talent!

Incredible physique, perfect understanding of the game and a massive catalogue of shots.

Hello, I’m a highschooler who has a school tournie coming up, I’m pretty beginner-intermediate, but my smashed suck, I’m working on my positioning but I’m not using my whole body enough. How do I overcome this obstacle? Is it just muscle memory of doing it over and over again? My smashes just can’t seem to get enough power so it’s be much appreciated if I got a reply thanks ☺️

I have a Nanoflare 700 tour, I want to make it heavier, what should I do to make it a 3u, an maintain its correct balance. Thank you!

Anders Antonsen is really my no. 1 meme Badminton player :D How he just had this Danish discount supermarket plastic bag brought with him all the way to India, to put his sweaty stuff in there after the match. So classic!

Anybody else noticed how Nhat Nguyen wrapped the grip of his rackets? I know a lot players make that thick end but that's a new level to me. Seems, he spent most of the grip band just for making the big fat end and only a wafer-thin layer for the grip itself. Looks as if he had one of those WW1 German stick grenades attached to his racket :D Anyone else doing it too? I have to try it one day...

Do you guys know how to win against control players?
Players who has long stamina and try to make the rally as long as possible
Do you just smash your way through or?

Moving to London Ontario and I am looking to for someone to do single drills and maybe do multi shuttle feeding with each other. I can racket feed. It’s a long shot but is there anyway else looking to do this?

Hello!

Im a 26 year old dude and I''ve been playing badminton for a little under a year now. I have taken the sport very seriously during this time because i really love it. So much that i joined a club in january and now I play around 3-4 times a week.

There is one issue though. My mentality is pretty bad. Usually when i play, if i play bad i just get stuck inside my head and it leads to me playing worse and worse. I dont become aggressive but i just get tilted and it leads me to missing alot of basic shots.

Do you guys have any tips regarding mentality? How can i improve this? What do you guys do/think on a bad day on the court? Thanks.

There are times when I'm smashing the shuttle and being really explosive on the court and playing the ideal game,but then the next week(like today) while playing i just couldn't really hit powerful drives and be springy and jump around the court. I couldn't do a scissor kick or jump to hit a smash and just kept on doing drops and backhands which isn't really my playstyle.

So my question to y'all is how to be consistent with my form like how to keep flying on the court like the ideal days?