Are you a badminton beginner?

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Badminton is the fastest racket sport in the world, with shuttles travelling at speeds faster than a Formula One car (that’s 421kph)!

Suitable for people of all ages and abilities, the benefits of playing badminton are huge – by playing regularly you can improve your aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed and precision.

Although the benefits speak for themselves, the speed, agility and fitness required for badminton is often underrated, as are the advantages of getting involved. For example, did you know that badminton players can cover four miles on court verses the same time in tennis where you only cover two?

So, with London 2012 fast approaching, BADMINTON England has made it even easier for you to take part in the fastest racket sport on the planet.

They’ve developed a revolutionary PlayBadminton online portal which enables those interested in getting fitter and healthier to quickly search for a nearby badminton court, club or activity, providing easy access to the game anywhere in the country.

There are currently over 23,700 courts in England but awareness of where they are and how to access them is relatively low. The PlayBadminton portal is designed to address this issue by offering an easy route to get on court.

The full version of the portal is hosted at www.PlayBadminton.co.uk and with a widget already produced and a mobile site on the way, it’s this multi-entry functionality that makes the PlayBadminton portal much more accessible than a traditional website.

Olympic Silver medallist, Gail Emms MBE, says: “The PlayBadminton portal is great as it’s so simple to use. It’s never been easier to find a court, a club or a badminton activity in your local area.

“PlayBadminton is all about letting people know how convenient it is to play the sport and pointing them in the right direction. We hope that the PlayBadminton portal will help get more people on court ahead of the Olympics and maybe even encourage future World and Olympic champions to start playing.”

So you’ve found your court easily enough – but now what do you do? We asked Gabby White (pictured above) for her top five tips for beginners…

- Wear suitable court shoes – you’ll be running around lots so it’s important to wear comfortable footwear

- Always practice your weaknesses

- Be active and keep your feet moving – this will help put you in the best position to move to play the next shot

- Keep your eye on the shuttle at all times!

- Have fun and enjoy playing

Jessica Whittington, Sportsister

The Women’s Sports Magazine

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