Leisure Kicks - The essencial sport and leisure guide

Badminton is the fastest racket sport in the world and can be played all year round. It is an excellent way to improve cardiovascular fitness, increase reaction speeds, improve coordination, strengthen muscles and improve agility. 

It can be played as singles, doubles and mixed doubles and can be played by all ages as long as you have a racket, a shuttlecock and a net! Players score points by hitting a shuttlecock (a cone-shaped projectile also called a birdie) with a racket and having it successfully land in the opposing player’s(s’) half of the court. Players can only hit the shuttlecock once while it is in their half of the court and a rally ends when the shuttlecock has it the floor. The game can be played both inside and outside, but with issues that wind can cause on the game, competitive badminton is always played indoors. 

Badminton is the 6th most participated sport in England, the country’s number one racket sport and has more than 4 million people playing each year. It is extremely popular in schools and is a fantastic leisure activity between friends. In fact, there are more people playing badminton than play cricket, rugby union, rugby league AND hockey combined!

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An introduction to badminton shots and grip