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Once an Elite Sport But Now Played Worldwide

Nov 16, 2009 Robin Anderson

Croquet Set

One of the game of croquet’s main attractions was that both ladies and gentlemen could play, together or separately. It was neither too strenuous for women nor too difficult for children, an activity for the whole family. But flirtations, fights with mallets swinging and the risqué showing of women’s ankles resulted in croquet at one time being denounced from the church pulpit, its pleasures banned as immoral.

A man by the name of John Jacques is credited with popularizing the sport, printing editions of his Laws and Regulations in 1857, 1860, and 1864. As rules were established and national competitions organized, croquet grew to become a major sport of the times . The Wimbledon All England Croquet Club became the sport’s first national headquarters. And the company begun by John Jacques, Jacques of London, is still one of the largest manufacturers of croquet equipment in the world.

By the 1870s, a sport called tennis began to overshadow croquet,. But the ball and mallet game was still popular enough to be included as an event at the 1900 summer Olympics, and a variation of croquet, called roque, was featured at the 1904 Olympics. As the game of tennis continued to eclipse croquet in popularity, most croquet fields were converted to tennis courts.

Internationally, croquet or versions similar are played in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and the United Kingdom as well as in Japan, Egypt, Russia and China. This year’s World Croquet Championship was held in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Badminton racquets

Racquets

Badminton racquets are light, with top quality racquets weighing between 79 and 91 grams including the strings.^[10][11] They are composed of many different materials ranging from carbon fibre composite (graphite reinforced plastic) to solid steel, which may be augmented by a variety of materials. Carbon fibre has an excellent strength to weight ratio, is stiff, and gives excellent kinetic energy transfer. Before the adoption of carbon fibre composite, racquets were made of light metals such as aluminium. Earlier still, racquets were made of wood. Cheap racquets are still often made of metals such as steel, but wooden racquets are no longer manufactured for the ordinary market, due to their excessive mass and cost.

There is a wide variety of racquet designs, although the Laws limit the racquet size and shape. Different racquets have playing characteristics that appeal to different players. The traditional oval head shape is still available, but an isometric head shape is increasingly common in new racquets.

Strings

Badminton strings are thin, high performing strings in the range of about 0.65 to 0.73 mm thickness. Thicker strings are more durable, but many players prefer the feel of thinner strings. String tension is normally in the range of 80 to 130 N (18 to 36 lbf). Recreational players generally string at lower tensions than professionals, typically between 18 and 25 lbf (110 N). Professionals string between about 25 and 36 lbf (160 N).

It is often argued that high string tensions improve control, whereas low string tensions increase power.^[12] The arguments for this generally rely on crude mechanical reasoning, such as claiming that a lower tension string bed is more bouncy and therefore provides more power. This is in fact incorrect, for a higher string tension can cause the shuttle to slide off the racquet and hence make it harder to hit a shot accurately. An alternative view suggests that the optimum tension for power depends on the player:^[10] the faster and more accurately a player can swing their racquet, the higher the tension for maximum power. Neither view has been subjected to a rigorous mechanical analysis, nor is there clear evidence in favour of one or the other. The most effective way for a player to find a good string tension is to experiment.

Grip

The choice of grip allows a player to increase the thickness of his racquet handle and choose a comfortable surface to hold. A player may build up the handle with one or several grips before applying the final layer.

Players may choose between a variety of grip materials. The most common choices are PU synthetic grips or towelling grips. Grip choice is a matter of personal preference. Players often find that sweat becomes a problem; in this case, a drying agent may be applied to the grip or hands, sweatbands may be used, the player may choose another grip material or change his grip more frequently.

There are two main types of grip: replacement grips and overgrips. Replacement grips are thicker, and are often used to increase the size of the handle. Overgrips are thinner (less than 1 mm), and are often used as the final layer. Many players, however, prefer to use replacement grips as the final layer. Towelling grips are always replacement grips. Replacement grips have an adhesive backing, whereas overgrips have only a small patch of adhesive at the start of the tape and must be applied under tension; overgrips are more convenient for players who change grips frequently, because they may be removed more rapidly without damaging the underlying material.

Shuttlecocks with feathers

A shuttlecock with a plastic skirt

Shuttlecock

A shuttlecock (often abbreviated to shuttle and also commonly known as a bird) is a high-drag projectile, with an open conical shape: the cone is formed from sixteen overlapping goose feathers embedded into a rounded cork base. The cork is covered with thin leather or synthetic material.

Synthetic shuttles are often used by recreational players to reduce their costs as feathered shuttles break easily. These nylon shuttles may be constructed with either natural cork or synthetic foam base, and a plastic skirt.

Additionally, nylon shuttlecocks come in three varieties, each variety for a different range of temperatures. These three varieties are known as green (slow speed), blue (middle speed), and red (fast speed). The colours, and therefore speeds, are indicated by coloured strips fastened around the cork. In colder temperatures, a faster shuttle is used, and in hotter climates, a slower one is chosen.

Shoes

Badminton shoes are lightweight with soles of rubber or similar high-grip, non-marking materials.

Compared to running shoes, badminton shoes have little lateral support. High levels of lateral support are useful for activities where lateral motion is undesirable and unexpected. Badminton, however, requires powerful lateral movements. A highly built-up lateral support will not be able to protect the foot in badminton; instead, it will encourage catastrophic collapse at the point where the shoe’s support fails, and the player’s ankles are not ready for the sudden loading, which can cause sprains. For this reason, players should choose badminton shoes rather than general trainers or running shoes, because proper badminton shoes will have a very thin sole, lower a person’s centre of gravity, and therefore result in fewer injuries. Players should also ensure that they learn safe and proper footwork, with the knee and foot in alignment on all lunges. This is not only a safety concern, as proper footwork is critical in order to move effectively around the court.

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Each game is played with 21 points, with players scoring a point whenever they win a rally (this differs from the old system, where players could only win a point on their serve). A match is the best of three games.

At the start of the rally, the server and receiver stand in diagonally opposite service courts The server hits the shuttlecock so that it would land in the receiver’s service court. This is similar to tennis, except that a badminton serve must be hit below waist height and with the racquet head below the server’s wrist, the shuttlecock is not allowed to bounce and in badminton, the players stand inside their service courts unlike tennis.

When the serving side loses a rally, the serve passes to their opponent(s) (unlike the old system, there is no “second serve” in doubles).

In singles, the server stands in his right service court when his score is even, and in his left service court when his score is odd.

In doubles, if the serving side wins a rally, the same player continues to serve, but he changes service courts so that he serves to each opponent in turn. If the opponents win the rally and their new score is even, the player in the right service court serves; if odd, the player in the left service court serves. The players’ service courts are determined by their positions at the start of the previous rally, not by where they were standing at the end of the rally. A consequence of this system is that, each time a side regains the service, the server will be the player who did not serve last time.

Details

When the server serves, the shuttlecock must pass over the short service line on the opponents’ court or it will count as a fault.

If the score reaches 20-all, then the game continues until one side gains a two point lead (such as 24-22), up to a maximum of 30 points (30-29 is a winning score).

At the start of a match, a coin is tossed. The winners of the coin toss may choose whether to serve or receive first, or they may choose which end of the court they wish to occupy. Their opponents make the remaining choice. In less formal settings, the coin toss is often replaced by hitting a shuttlecock into the air: whichever side the corked end points will be the side that serves first.

In subsequent games, the winners of the previous game serve first. These can also be called rubbers. If one team wins a game they play once more and if they win again they win that match, but if they lose they play one more match to find the winning team. For the first rally of any doubles game, the serving pair may decide who serves and the receiving pair may decide who receives. The players change ends at the start of the second game; if the match reaches a third game, they change ends both at the start of the game and when the leading pair’s score reaches 11 points.

The server and receiver must remain within their service courts, without touching the boundary lines, until the server strikes the shuttlecock. The other two players may stand wherever they wish, so long as they do not insight the opposing server or receiver.

Faults

Players win a rally by striking the shuttlecock over the net and onto the floor within the boundaries of their opponents’ court. Players also win a rally if their opponents commit a fault. The most common fault in badminton is when the players fail to return the shuttlecock so that it passes over the net and lands inside their opponents’ court, but there are also other ways that players may be faulted.

Several faults pertain specifically to service. A serving player shall be faulted if the shuttlecock is above his waist (defined as his lowest rib) at point of contact, or if his racket’s head is not pointing downwards at the moment of impact. This particular law was modified in 2006: previously, the server’s racket had to be pointing downwards to the extent that the racket head was below the hand holding the racket; and now, any angle below the horizontal is acceptable.

Neither the server nor the receiver may lift a foot until the server has struck the shuttlecock. The server must also initially hit the base (cork) of the shuttlecock, although he may afterwards also hit the feathers as part of the same stroke. This law was introduced to ban an extremely effective service style known as the S-serve or Sidek serve, which allowed the server to make the shuttlecock spin chaotically in flight.

Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes back over the net; but during a single stroke movement, a player can contact a shuttlecock twice (this happens in some sliced shots). A player may not, however, hit the shuttlecock once and then hit it with a new movement, nor may he carry and sling the shuttlecock on his racket.

It is a fault if the shuttlecock hits the ceiling.

Lets

If a let is called, the rally is stopped and replayed with no change to the score. Lets may occur due to some unexpected disturbance such as a shuttlecock landing on court (having been hit there by players on an adjacent court) or in small halls the shuttle may touch an overhead rail which can be classed as a let.

If the receiver is not ready when the service is delivered, a let shall be called; yet, if the receiver attempts to return the shuttlecock, he shall be judged to have been ready.

There is no let if the shuttlecock hits the tape (even on service).

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