Badminton - General

Badminton is a great sport for all ages and abilities. Courts are widely available at most sports centres and are relatively inexpensive. Badminton gives a good level of exercise in a fairly short period of time and is a very enjoyable sport to play.

Equipment for badminton is easy to buy or can be rented from most sports centres. Shuttlecocks (sometimes referred to as the "birdy") are cheap to purchase and last beginners a long time. Rackets can also be bought for low prices However, at the higher levels of the game, rackets become much more expensive and shuttles last much shorter periods of time. This means that, along with the costs of courts, badminton can become quite expensive to play if you become a club player or higher.

Badminton can be played by all ages, young and old as the game is played at all levels. However, I feel that young children may be unable to construct long rallies or play at a very high level because high levels of co-ordination are required. Also, badminton is not ideally suited to more mature players due to the large level of fast movement that is required. However, none of this should stop anyone playing - not everyone wants to play for their county or country and badminton is enjoyable whatever level it is played at.