Choose The Right Badminton Racquet For Intermediate & Advanced Badminton Players

What's The Best Badminton Racket For Intermediate & Advanced Badminton Players?

Choose The Right Badminton Bat - Transcript

Hey there, Jeff and Henry here from Volant & The Badminton Podcast. 

Okay so you’re here because: 

1. You’re an intermediate or advance player
2. You’re about to choose your next racket

AND

1. You don’t want to choose the wrong racket

If you’re a beginner or a badminton newbie, don’t worry - we’ve got you. Check out the article first, then read on: How to choose the right badminton racket for beginners. 

Now, you probably already know the difference between Head Light Badminton Rackets, Head Heavy Badminton Rackets and Even Balance Badminton Rackets - but if you need a refresher, make sure you check out the difference between head balance points for badminton racquets.

As a quick recap of the general differences, a head light badminton racket is often better for speed and easier to manoeuvre but doesn’t generate as much power. A head heavy badminton racket is usually better for power but is a bit slower and harder to manoeuvre. And an even balanced badminton racket is somewhere in between and is often referred to as an 'all-rounder' badminton racket. 

There are TWO main questions we want to ask you, that will help you in choosing your next racket. 

1. What type of player are you? What’s your playing style?
2. Do you want to enhance your strengths or compensate for your weaknesses?

So, question 1:What Type of Badminton Player Are you? 

Are you offensive or a defensive badminton player? Or a bit of both?

Once you have an idea of what type of playing style you’re good at, now for the 2nd question…

Do you want to enhance your strengths or compensate for your weaknesses?  

Based on what you’ve decided about the player you are, you can either:

1. Choose a racket that will enhance your strengths
2. Choose a racket that will compensate for your weaknesses
3. Choose a racket that’s suitable for all playing styles

Let’s say you’ve decided:

For Attacking Players
Do you have a strong attack that wins you a lot of points?

If you want to enhance your attack to make your shots even harder and more powerful, the type of badminton racquet you're probably looking for is a head-heavy badminton racquet where the balance of weight is heavier towards the head. These racquets carry more momentum when swinging, hence producing more powerful shots. 

Is this you? This is Volant's Head Heavy Badminton Racquet designed for power and attacking play. 

The downside to this is that it might make you a bit sluggish during those fast or defensive rallies where you're not able to generate a powerful swing. 

So if you feel that your fast, driving or defensive game isn’t quite up to par, you might choose an even-balanced or head-light badminton racquet instead, to compensate for this. In doing this you may not have as much power in your smashes - but if that’s your strength already, then that may be fine for you. 

For Defensive/Control-based Players

Do you feel like the great wall of China on court? Do you love fast, flat exchanges or dominate the net in doubles? If you naturally fall into this type of player then getting a head-light racket could enhance your playing style because it will be easy and fast to maneuver. You’ll be defending like a boss and playing drives at lightning speeds!

This badminton bat suit you better? Here's Volant's head light badminton racquet built for speed - the Volant Flight S1.

The downside for this is that it may turn your smash from a bazooka into a water pistol as it can be hard to generate a lot of power from a head-light racket. 

So if you do need more power in your smash, and are willing to sacrifice some speed for it, then you may actually go for a head-heavy or even-balanced racquet to compensate for this weakness. Hopefully your defensive and flat/fast play can still hold up with a heavier racket.

All-Rounders:

If you're a pretty balanced player or have no idea whether you have a tendency towards playing offensively or defensively, the type of racquet you're probably looking for is an even balanced racquet. 

These rackets are designed to provide the middle ground between a head-heavy racquet and a light-frame/head-light racquet. So if you're unsure of your playing style or you're an all-rounder, this type of racquet will allow you to easily transition between attack and defense throughout your rallies. 

The Rogue S1 is Volant's most popular badminton racquet - which allows for both attacking and defensive play.

In terms of compensating for weaknesses, let’s say you want to generate more power - you could trial a head-heavy racket. Or let’s say you struggle with defence or driving - you might want to try a head-light racket too.

The downside of even-balanced rackets is that if you do have a strength in attacking or defending, this racket probably won’t reinforce that particular style.

All that being said, if you’re going to switch up your racket type, we’d recommend taking baby steps. What do we mean by that? 

• We probably wouldn’t encourage you to jump from a head heavy straight to a head light racket or vice versa. Baby steps! 

So tell us in the comments, what type of racket will you be going for next time?

If it’s a head light racket, check out the Volant Flight S1 badminton racket.

Or if you’re thinking you’re an all-rounder, then the Volant Rogue S1 badminton racquet is for you.

Lastly, for those players with a big attacking game, the Volant Havoc S1 racquet will give you the firepower you need.

STILL NOT SURE WHICH RACKET TO GET? Then do our 30-second badminton racquet quiz that will help you choose the badminton racquet that best suits you!

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