If you are reading this article, probably you are one of us, a passionate badminton player who loves playing this amazing game and wanting to become a better player. Learning some proper badminton skills is surely a good idea.
Forehand Long Serve, also known as high serve, is a commonly used serving technique in singles, especially common in women and kids game. With forehand long and high serve, you are pushing your opponent to the back of the badminton court, followed with a net shot, your opponent is gonna waste a lot of energy.
Table of Contents
Who Should Learn this?
Anyone who loves badminton and is wanting to enjoy some good games with their friends would find this article useful. You need to know how to serve even you are just planning to enjoy some fun with your family and friends with a badminton set in your garden.
If you happen to play singles, this is a skill you want to master well, you will find it especially useful in women or kids matches.
Badminton Skills – How to Serve (Forehand Long Serve)
To make it easier for your to understand, our Chief Consultant Instructor TSE, Bun, together with WONG, Wai Keung, the founder of the largest badminton club in Hong Kong, has created a youtube video talking about some useful tips about how to serve.
However, you will find more information and detailed steps about serving in this article.
Step 1: Grip
- Use a Forehand Grip
- For right-hand players, hold the racket with your left hand like you are chopping a carrot.
- Place the palm of your hand on the strings, slide down to the racket
- Make a V-shape with your thumb and index fingers, relax and hold the racket
- Leave a 1 finger wide gap in between your index finger and middle finger for more mobility
Step 2: Where to stand
Stand inside a service court, preferably at the corner of the center line and short service line, make sure you are not touching any boundary lines. Serve from left to right if your score is a single number, and vice versa
Step 3: Stances
For a right-hand player, standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, form a nice L shape with your right foot at the back and left foot at the front
Step 4: Hold the shuttlecock correctly
Hold the shuttlecock (shuttles, birdies) like you are holding a cup, don’t hold the feathers part because when you drop the shuttle, the shuttles may rotate and affect your serve.
Imaging the direction facing your opponent is 12 o’clock, you should lift out your left hand to the 2 o’clock position. Relax your wrist and elbow.
Step 5: Preparing the racket
Lift out your right arm, place your right hand with the racket at 4 o’clock position, the palm of your hand facing downward, the back of your hand facing upward. Use your wrist to point the racket a bit upward
Step 6: Starting to Serve
- When you are ready to serve, lift the toe of your left leg and shift the balance to your right leg
- Release the shuttle, pull out your left arm naturally for a better body balance after dropping the birdies
- Step down your left foot
- Swing your right arm, imaging you are drawing a big circle, hit the shuttle when it reaches the thigh, just a bit upper then your knee
Step 7: Finish Position
When you finish, you should find your body balance has shifted to the left leg, at this moment, your left leg should be stepping on the floor, with only your right toe touching the floor, your right hand should be next to your left ear, and the racket should be on top of your left shoulder too.
Badminton Skills – How to Serve (Important Rules)
Make sure you understand all these rules so you are doing everything right.
- Not standing or stepping on any boundary lines
- Once you start to serve, you cannot stop in the middle of your swing
- You must hit the shuttle below the lowest part of your ribcage, probably you can consider as your waist
- When you serve, you should keep both feet (or at least part of it) on the floor
- Both you and your racket cannot touch the net in the middle of a rally
Additional Tips and Information
- Do warm-ups before start playing, you could hurt your back with just a serve
- Pull up your socks, tight up against your shoes and check the court is cleared before you start. A lot of injuries happened because of loose footwear
- Bring along a spare badminton racket if you have, so you can play with a familiar racket even the strings break
Final Words
I hope you find this article useful for improving your serving skill, a good serve is way more than a good start of the game because it helps you to control the pulse of the game.
What do you think about this article? What skills do you want us to talk about? Leave us a comment here!