Even if you are a doubles-only badminton player, you need to learn singles footwork. The footwork patterns used for singles movement are also essential for doubles movement.
Once you have good singles footwork, you can easily adapt it for doubles too.
This section will teach you how to move from a central singles base to each of the four corners:
- Footwork to the front corners
- Footwork to the forehand rear corner
- Footwork to the backhand rear corner
Your starting position
When practising these footwork patterns, you should start in a typical singles base position: in the middle of the court, but one small step closer to the back line than the net.
A challenge!
Practise reaching all four corners with the fewest steps you can.
Many players add unnecessary steps, because they are not confident of their footwork patterns. This wastes time; it’s better to take fewer, longer steps.
From a typical central singles base, you should be able to reach any corner in only two movements. For example: a step and a lunge, or a chassé and a jump.