Racquet Sports

Racquet sports are becoming an increasingly popular pastime. They combine good competitive fun with exceptional fitness rewards. Whether you play badminton, squash or tennis you can ensure an energetic workout whilst learning new skills and having a great time in the process. There are an ever increasing number of courts dedicated to racquet sports, with numerous clubs offering training, teams you can get involved with or, for the very confident, tournaments.

Improving Fitness

To play racquet sports at almost any level requires a good level of fitness. Games can be long and extremely fast-paced, so to keep up with the play requires a certain athleticism. As with all sports that involve a good deal of running, racquet sports can be very high impact, which can put a strain on your joints. The pressure on joints is further heightened by sudden changes in pace and direction that occur frequently throughout matches.

Preventing Unnecessary Strains

As well as legs, arms also come under a great deal. Creating power for the ball or shuttlecock requires upper-body strength stemming from your torso, through your shoulder and then right through the arm to the wrists and fingers. Shoulders, backs, elbows and wrists often bear the brunt of the excursions of any racquet sport. You can help prevent damage or cradle previously inflicted injuries using a number of joint supports and ensuring you warm up properly. Using the right equipment be it shoes, racquets or clothing can also prevent injuries as well as keeping you comfortable on court.

Basic Equipment

As the title suggests, the most fundamental piece of equipment required to play racquet sports is a racquet of some description. The racquets vary for each of the sports. A badminton racquet is extremely lightweight with a small head, in stark contrast tennis and squash racquets are a little sturdier and have larger heads to help generate the extra power required. There are numerous intricacies in all of the equipment, from lighter materials through to extra 'sweet spot' areas, but in essence there is a basic blueprint for all items.

The only major difference in the sports is the ball used, or in the case of badminton the shuttlecock. Squash uses a heavy rubber ball, with the weight and bounce judged on a coloured dot system, two yellow dots being the slowest and a single blue having the highest bounce. The tennis ball is one of the most widely recognised pieces of sporting apparatus; it is a hollow rubber ball with a yellow coarse felt-like layer.

In badminton a shuttlecock is used, which is very different to the make up of a ball. Traditionally produced with a small leather-covered cork ball tipping feathers in a conical shape, feathers can be replaced by a plastic substitute which creates a similar effect, but is a little cheaper. The shuttlecock doesn't fly in the same way as a standard ball due to its shape; it can be struck with great speed, but decelerates rapidly compared to other racquet sport balls. It can also loop far quicker than balls due to its extreme weight distribution, this allows it to be chipped up and fall rapidly in a relatively short space.

Clothing

The clothing in racquet sports is fairly uniform throughout. There are usually no set guidelines, but you should try and wear clothing that won't inhibit your playing style, i.e. avoid long-sleeves and baggy clothing. Certain clubs may require you to adhere to a dress-code, so it is usually worth checking beforehand, however if you stick to white or neutrally coloured clothing you should be safely within most place's requirements.

It can often get fairly heated on the court, so ensure that clothing is not too thick and allows you to play even in the hottest conditions. Footwear is also vitally important, like your clothing it shouldn't be too inhibiting, but it should also provide good support to your feet and cushion your joints when moving around the court.

The Basics of Squash

Squash is one of the more demanding racquet sports, requiring excellent levels of fitness, exceptional court awareness and good shot selection. It is a high-tempo game, so expect to be run ragged when starting out. It is usually played by two players (although it can also be played in teams of doubles), on an enclosed indoor court. To win points in squash the opposition player must either allow the ball to bounce twice or hit it outside the court of play (marked by a line that runs around the circumference of the court), during your service game.

Understanding Badminton

Badminton arguably doesn't require the same brute force as squash, but it does still requires a great deal of fitness and to truly master it, a good deal of skill too. Played with a light shuttlecock rather than a ball and using a racquet with a much smaller head, it is a distinctly contrasting sport to other racquet based sports. The court is very similar to that used in tennis but is significantly shorter. The net used to divide the players halves is also different to that in tennis, rather than touching the ground it is elevated to a height of 5 feet.

There is a greater emphasis on finesse, agility and judgement, but power and accuracy are still intrinsically linked with the sport. Badminton doesn't require the same physicality as squash or tennis, which makes it far more suitable for people with less upper-body strength.

Getting To Grips With Tennis

Tennis is probably the most universally popular racquet sport, both in terms of watching and playing. Like in badminton, it can easily be played either in singles or in pairs due to the larger surface area. But, unlike squash and badminton, tennis can be played on a number of surfaces both indoors and outdoors. The main three types of court are hard court which is usually a concrete surface, grass court and clay. Each one requires a different type of skill, be it sliding or adding extra pace. This makes tennis one of the most varied sports around and is just one of the reasons why it enjoys such enduring popularity.