Badminton Rules - The Badminton Court

So now you have learnt the rules of Badminton scoring with my previous post The Basics of Badminton Scoring , you are now ready for a lesson on understanding the Badminton Court

Here is a simple diagram of the badminton court, I am sure many of you will recognise it:-




Now I will run through the simple rules surrounding the Badminton court:-

Match Types

Singles

Many of you out there will be playing singles Badminton (1 on 1) and you need to understand the parts of the court you should be using.

For a singles match the serving boxes are from the centre line wide to the first sideline and back to the furthest rear line. If the shuttlecock lands within this section on serve then a point is won.

For the rest of the singles match (non serving general play) the same rules apply. The court is known as “long and thin” and runs from the short service line out to the first sideline and back to the furthest rear line.

If you want to get technical with your friends then refer to these as “tramlines”

Doubles

So for those of you out there that are more friendly and gather a group of 4 to play doubles, the sections of the court are different.

For a doubles Badminton match the serving boxes are from the centre line wide to the furthest sideline (remember “tramline”) and back to the first rear line. If the shuttlecock lands within this section on serve then a point is won.

For the rest of the doubles Badminton match (non serving general play) the same rules apply. The badminton court is known as “short and fat” and runs from the short service line out to the furthest tramline and back to the first rear line.

Create your own Badminton Court

Measurements

The full width of the court must be 6.1 (20ft) metres wide and the full length must be 13.4 metres long (44ft). The next tramlines must be marked 0.76 (2.4ft) metres in from the longest line and must run full width of the court.

Next you must mark the short service line, this is 3.96metres from the second rear tramline you have marked and must run full width of the court. Please repeat both actions on both ends of the full court.

Finally you must mark out the second sidelines. These must be marked from the short service line back to the furthest length line and should be 0.46m (1.5ft) wide. Again repeat this on both sides of both ends of the court.

Once finished your court should look like the diagram above. Now all you need is a net:-

The Badminton Net

There are very few rules governing the positioning of the badminton net:-

The net must be 1.55metres (5ft1) at the edges and 1.524metres (5ft) high in the centre.

The net posts must be placed over the doubles sideline even when singles is being played.

There are no strict guidelines on how far the net must be from the ceiling, however if you are likely to hit the ceiling regularly the venue is not appropriate

Ok so there is your lesson on the Badminton Court, I will be back soon with a lesson on Rackets and a brief introduction to serving

Enjoy!!

Badminton Rules - The Basics of Scoring

OK So for all you guys out there who love to have a good game of Badminton yet always find yourself not sure exactly what you are doing or why you are doing it, here is lesson 1 – The Basic Rules of Badminton Scoring

Scoring:-

This must be the first thing you guys are unsure about when it comes to Badminton. How on earth you score points and more importantly record them. Well there are 2 current methods in operation and I explain in brief below:-

Method 1

This method is now considered the “old” method of Badminton scoring however, is still in use in many clubs and leagues across the world.

Both pairs / singles will start at 0-0 (Love All). The shuttlecock must be tossed in the air and able to land cleanly on the ground. Once the shuttlecock has finished spinning the direction in which the cork end is pointing will serve first. (If the shuttlecock lay straight, repeat above process)

The team who won the serve will start. They will serve from the right hand box of the court, over the net (hopefully) and must land in the opposite diagonal box on the other side of the net. Continue to play this point, hitting the shuttle back and forth over the net, until the shuttle hits the floor:-

If the shuttlecock hits the floor on the non – serving team’s side then the serving team will gain a point. This would be 1-0. The same person who served first must now serve from the left hand box of the court again aiming at the opposite diagonal box. Once served play the point as above

If the shuttlecock hits the floor on the serving team’s side then that team will lose the serve. Pass the shuttlecock to the opposing team who will serve as above. The score will remain at 0-0.

Once the first round of serving is out of the way, (its complicated I know), we can let the badminton game flow. There are several points to remember when playing badminton:-

The serve will always pass around clockwise
You can only score points when you have served
If the shuttle hits the floor on your side after you have served, the serve must pass to
the next clockwise person
If you win the point on your serve, you must move to the next clockwise box and serve from there

Please use the above method and remember, the badminton game must be played to 15 points. If the score becomes 14-14, the non serving team has a choice:-

Play 1 point, whoever wins, wins the badminton match
Play 3 points, first to three wins the badminton match

The Choice Is Yours


Method 2

This badminton scoring method is the “new” method and has only been in action for a few years. This was developed to make games more interesting, and yes you have guessed it more entertaining for TV.

Well you will be pleased to know that there are no changes to the above method apart from you can score points on every point, it does not just have to be your serve.

With this new “accelerated” badminton game in place, you now must play the game up to 21 points


Right – I will be back in the next few days with my next article explaining the Badminton court and the Badminton racket and how to use them properly and to your advantage

I hope you enjoy

Rules of Badminton - The Intro

Welcome to The Rules of Badminton Blog. This site shows you the basic and advanced rules of badminton and how you can use those rules in your games. The main point is to increase awareness of the rules of Badminton and how the games should be played. If you have questions not covered in The Rules of Badminton please feel free to email your question to tim.gulliver@live.com