The Science of Badminton: Game Characteristics, Anthropometry, Physiology, Visual Fitness and Biomechanics

Abstract

Badminton is a racket sport for two or four people, with a temporal structure characterized by actions of short duration and high intensity. This sport has five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, each requiring specific preparation in terms of technique, control and physical fitness. Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world, with 200 million adherents. The decision to include badminton in the 1992 Olympics Game increased participation in the game. This review focuses on the game characteristics, anthropometry, physiology, visual attributes and biomechanics of badminton. Players are generally tall and lean, with an ectomesomorphic body type suited to the high physiological demands of a match. Indeed, a typical match characteristic is a rally time of 7 s and a resting time of 15 s, with an effective playing time of 31%. This sport is highly demanding, with an average heart rate (HR) of over 90% of the player's maximal HR. The intermittent actions during a game are demanding on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems: 60-70% on the aerobic system and approximately 30% on the anaerobic system, with greater demand on the alactic metabolism with respect to the lactic anaerobic metabolism. The shuttlecock has an atypical trajectory, and the players perform specific movements such as lunging and jumping, and powerful strokes using a specific pattern of movement. Lastly, badminton players are visually fit, picking up accurate visual information in a short time. Knowledge of badminton can help to improve coaching and badminton skills.

A Study of Youth Badminton Players’ Participation Motivation and Relate Elements*

“…In terms of the features of badminton competition, researchers and scholars described as: the shuttlecock has an nonconforming path and the players perform particular movements such as lunging, jumping and powerful hits using a precise pattern of movement [5]. During a match, player is required to consume up to 90% of his or her maximal heart rate.…”

“…During a match, player is required to consume up to 90% of his or her maximal heart rate. The intermittent actions during a badminton match are required the works from both the aerobic and anaerobic systems: about 30% on the anaerobic system, and 60-70% on the aerobic system with respect to the lactic anaerobic metabolism; moreover, badminton sport can best fit and beneficial players' eye-hand, eye-feet cooperation, and agility finesses in a short time [5].…”

“…In 1992, badminton was introduced to the Summer Olympics as a full medal sport [3]. Recently badminton has become the second most popular sport worldwide in participation with more than 200 million adherents [4] [1].In terms of the features of badminton competition, researchers and scholars described as: the shuttlecock has an nonconforming path and the players perform particular movements such as lunging, jumping and powerful hits using a precise pattern of movement [5]. During a match, player is required to consume up to 90% of his or her maximal heart rate.…”

“…To reach professional level for everyone that is an incredible challenge, because badminton game requires extremely well developed agility and hand-eye coordination. Its winning strategies demand deft touch skills, such as: make a power smash to the placement you want; make a drop shot into a precise area of the opposite court; in an elite level, players can strike the shuttle in speeds of 140 to 160 mph [5]. Additionally, due to the height of the net and the dimensions of the court, taller or bigger / stronger athletes should be possess advantage in the sport of badminton, however, the Olympics badminton gold medal winners and recent champions at world badminton championships have been dominated by the players came from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Korean, because of their genetic traits, such as: slighter body and dexterity which are more suitable to the game of badminton [1].…”

“…Furthermore, badminton scientific literatures mainly focus on the sports dimension and all that affects the outcome of its competition, such as: techniques or tactics, movement patterns of players [6]; game characteristics, anthropometry, physiology, visual fitness and biomechanics [5]; call for the expansion of badminton as a collegiate sport [7] (Feng, 2014). Research studies reflected players' participation motivations in badminton, however, are extremely limited.…”