Guide in buying a Badminton Racket

Tips in buying badminton rackets

                Badminton fanatics search for the best badminton racket as part of their passion on this said sport. Aiming that this would add good skills their performance in the game, and that is somewhat correct. But the proper idea for badminton fanatics is to invest your time, effort, and money in training. It’s not the equipment that leads you to the victory it is you, you are the one that is controlling the game and those equipments is just our aid in playing the game. In buying good equipment we need to consider some important factors (shape, stiffness, weight, balance) especially in choosing the right badminton racket for us.

Ø  Balance Point: The balance point for a typical badminton racket lies on the shaft. The point is usually shifted towards the head on models that are designed for offense, due to the heavier head of these rackets. To obtain the balance point, just try to balance the racket on one of your index fingers. Hold your finger out straight and place the shaft of the racket on to the finger. Move the racket left and right until the racket balances or almost balances on your finger. (Note that the gripping material on the handle can shift the balance point.)

Ø  Head Shape: Badminton rackets comes in two major head shapes: Isometric/square and Oval. Oval is the traditional racket shape, it is a slightly bottom heavy oval, almost the shape of an egg. Oval rackets in general have a small but more concentrated sweet spot. Oval fans like the concentration of power around the “sweetspot” of the racket. The shape is the Isometric or square which became more popular after the early 1990. The Isometric head has a wider and more squared top half of the racket head. The advantage of the isometric is an enlarged “sweetspot” which give off-centered hit a better response.

Ø  Stiffness: This refers to string tension the stiffer the racket the higher tension can be applied on to it.

Ø  Weight: Normally the racket alone weighs between 80-95g.  A rackets weight determines how fast one can swing a racket; the lighter a racket, the faster one can swing it with the same force. In general, a lighter racket is more maneuverable than a heavy one. However, before everybody goes out and buy the lightest racket, I also want to point out that lighter is not always better. A light racket is less stable than a heavier racket, more force is necessary to keep its path; furthermore, a heavier racket has a larger momentum and thus more effective in transferring its speed and power to the shuttle.