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Badminton Grips

The purpose of this guide is to help beginner and intermediate players learn how to hold the racket. Even at good club levels of play, there is much confusion about the subject of grips. A player's forehand side is the same side as his playing hand: for a right-handed player, the forehand side is his right side and the backhand side is his left side. Forehand strokes are hit with the front of the hand leading (like hitting with the palm), whereas backhand strokes are hit with the back of the hand leading (like hitting with the knuckles).

I will mention the two most common grips below (Forehand and Backhand), and an optional grip that can be used.

Forehand Grip

How you should hold a the forehand grip is like shaking hand with a friend. This should be a firm but relaxed grip that there must be no feeling of tension in the wrist. You should feel that the control is mainly with the thumb, index finger and little finger. The paramount importance is to get the racket out of the palm of you hand and into your fingers. This grip is used to hit overhead shots and shots on the right side of the body.

Some points to check on this grip are:

• Is the V formed by the thumb and index finger on the top edge of the racket handle?
• Are the fingers slightly spread along the handle and not bunched together like a fist?
• Is the index finger higher up the handle than the thumb?

Backhand Grip

This grip is used to hit shots on the left side of the body. As with the forehand, the racket rests loosely in the fingers and not in the palm. The major difference between this and the forehand grip is the positioning of the thumb. The thumb is placed on one of the main bevels on the handle and is used to create leverage that can be used by the backhand face of the racket.

Some points to check on this grip are:

• Your thumb should be resting on the flat side of the handle of the racket and it should be higher up the handle than the index finger.
• Press hard with the thumb and you will feel the tremendous amount of power you can now exert against the handle and therefore against the backhand face of the racket.

Panhandle Grip

The third grip frequently used in badminton is usually referred to as the 'frying-pan' grip. This grip is achieved by turning the racket from the forehand grip through 90 degrees so that the face of the racket is horizontal to the floor. The V of the thumb and index finger runs down the back, flat edge of the handle. The advantages of this grip are that as the face of the racket is always facing the net. This grip enable player to execute very sharp dabbing shots at the net.