BASIC EQUIPMENTS TO PLAY BADMINTON

Basic necessary equipment:

1. Badminton court (Preferably indoors) with a Badminton net
2. Badminton grips and strings
3. Badminton Racket
4. Shuttlecocks                   
5. Badminton Shoes

Badminton Court and Net

Official Badminton Court

The badminton court is rectangular and divided into halves by a badminton net. The width of the court is 6.1 meters and the length of the court is 13.4 meters. Divided into half, a net is tied to 2 posts that is 1.55 meters in height from the surface of the court but 1.524 meters high in the center of the court. The net is dark-colored and the thickness of the mesh must not be less than 15mm and more than 20mm. The net shall be 7.6cm in depth and at least 6.1 meters wide(since the width of the court is 6.1 meters.) . The top of the net is edged with a 75mm white cloth. The posts that the net is tied to must be placed outside of the court.

Badminton Rackets

Wilson Badminton Racket

There are many different brands of Badminton equipment like Yonex, Li-ning and Victor. Badminton rackets are light-weight and better quality rackets weigh between 70grams to 95grams not including the grips or strings. Badminton rackets nowadays are made from carbon fibers composite, solid steels, carbon nano tubes and fullerene in order to make better rackets. In the past, badminton rackets were made from light metals such as aluminium and even earlier, they were made from wood. Cheap rackets are often made from steel and it will feel heavier than better quality rackets. Wooden rackets are no longer manufactured in the market. There are a wide variety of badminton rackets designs that customers can choose from and different rackets have playing characteristics that appeal to different players.(For example. One of the newest racquet Voltric Z-Force ll is made for one of the best players in the world, Lee Chong Wei, and this racket is suitable for players that attack(smash) a lot when playing.) .

Shuttlecocks

Shuttlecocks

The badminton shuttlecocks are often called in short form, a shuttle or it can also be called a birdie. The birdie is an open conical shape; and each badminton shuttlecock is made up of 16 feathers overlapping one another and embedded into a round cork base. The cork is covered with a thin leather or synthetic material. There is also another type of shuttlecock that is made from nylon. It is constructed with either natural cork or synthetic foam base and a plastic skirt. The reason people uses nylon shuttlecocks is to save cost as feathered shuttlecocks breaks easily. The best shuttlecocks are made from the feathers from the left wing of a goose. The length of the shuttlecock is between 62mm and 70mm, weighing between 4.74grams and 5.50grams. Shuttlecocks are graded by their speed, and their speed will be affected by the weather, altitude and the temperature of surroundings. The birdie will fly faster in a hot environment, and slower in a cooler environment. A badminton tube(used to place the shuttlecocks), normally consists of 12 birdies, or more or less, depending on the size of the tube.

Badminton Shoes

Badminton shoe

Badminton shoes are light-weight with soles of rubber or similar high-grip, non-marking material. Badminton shoes have little lateral support as compared to general running shoes. The reason is because badminton players often play with explosive movements and a highly built-up lateral support won't be able to protect the foot while playing badminton and instead, it will encourage catastrophic collapse at the point the shoe's support fails and since the player's ankles are not ready for sudden loading, sprains may occur. Proper badminton shoes will have very thin sole, lower a person's center of gravity and thus resulting lesser injuries. So Badminton players are encouraged to choose a badminton shoes over a running shoes while playing badminton.

Badminton grips and strings

Ashaway Grips

Different type of badminton grip materials(towel and PU synthetic) and badminton strings.

There are two types of badminton grips, replacement grips and over grips. Replacement grips are often thicker and used to increase the size of badminton racket handles. Over grips are much thinner (less than 1mm), and are often used as a final layer. The two different materials of the grips are towel grips and PU synthetic grips. Choosing the grip material is a player's preference as often, sweat becomes a problem for players, thus, players would choose towel grips over PU synthetic ones. For players who does not mind the sweat would often use PU synthetic grip. Me personally would prefer to use the towel grips as I have sweaty palms and towel grips enable me to hold firmly to the handle without slipping it.

Badminton strings are thin, high-performing strings in the range of thickness between 0.62 to 0.73mm thick. Thicker strings are more durable than thinner ones. String tensions are normally in the range of between 18pounds to 36pounds. Similarly to the badminton grips, to choose the right string tension for a player, they must first try different tensions in order to find one that they think it is suitable for them. There are different kind of brands of badminton strings and the thickness of the strings will vary depending on the brand or the type. For example, the Yonex BG-66 string have a high-repulsion power and a medium feeling with thickness of 0.66mm but the Yonex BG-65 string is durable and have a soft feeling with thickness of 0.70mm.

Credits :

http://www.yonex.com/products/badminton/string/strings/bg65/
http://www.yonex.com/products/badminton/string/strings/bg66/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton
http://www.badminton-information.com/shuttlecock.html
http://www.badminton-information.com/badminton-court.html