Please help - I'm new to badminton!!!

[pete146]

Hi.

Please help. I used to play badminton at school around 10 years ago & have recently taken it up again using my old racket, a graphite Carlton Classic.

Today I managed to shatter the strings & need some advice - should I replace the strings or buy a new racket?

I don't know how much racket technology has improved since I bought the racket 10 years ago or whether my racket is really any good. If I should change the racket, can anybody recomend a new one for me to try - I don't really want to spend more than £25-£30.

If you think I should just have the racket restrung, can you please recomend what I should go for from a general sports shop as I wouldn't have any idea where to start.

Thanks
pete146

[Loafer]

Pete,

an interesting conundrum (sp?). as you can get your racket restrung for about £14 I would suggest that you do that in the first instance and see how you get on playing again. there is no point "upgrading" your racket simply because technology has moved on, I know plenty of players using steel rackets that play well and still enjoy themselves without paying £160 for the latest yonex.

Having said that, there is no doubt that a better racket can help areas of your game, generate more power etc.

So,

I would suggest that you get your racket restrung and play with that for a couple of weeks, during that time try and have a go with your friends' rackets that you are playing with (unless theirs are older than yours!) this way you will see what is available now and get an idea for the sort of racket you like. then have a browse on the web before you buy a racket in the high street. websites like the "love em or hate em" www.centralsports.co.uk offer lots of deals on rackets and you will often find £60 rackets with 50% discounts bringing them into your price range. Also a lot of the less popular (ie not carlton or yonex) like Fleet, Victor etc all have high quality products at lower prices.

Once you have an idea that you want to change get some opionins on here for the rackets you are looking at. At the end of the day racket choice is very subjective and you will get 2 people arguing the merits (and lack of) of manufacturers and models, so it really is a case of try it and see.

in terms of stringing, where about are you based? tell us that and there may well be someone on here who knows a specialist stringer. the last thing you want to do is go into the "sp-ashion" shops in the high street and ask them to string your racket.

hope this helps

Loafer

[redkingjoe]

Hi.

Please help. I used to play badminton at school around 10 years ago & have recently taken it up again using my old racket, a graphite Carlton Classic.
Thanks
pete146

a warm welcome to badders.com...really glad that you posted...loafer has excellent idea on the racket thingy...just want to add: if possible, try getting ppls to lend u for testing to see if you like certain rackets or not before investing in one

[Loafer]

:confused:


I would suggest that you get your racket restrung and play with that for a couple of weeks, during that time try and have a go with your friends' rackets that you are playing with (unless theirs are older than yours!) this way you will see what is available now and get an idea for the sort of racket you like.

Such a good job you did not read it properly Red??

;):D

[pete146]

Many thanks for all the help & for making me so welcome.

I currently live in Doncaster, South Yorkshire & the only sports shop I know of in the town which will string rackets is JJB sports. If anybody knows of a specialist nearby then please let me know.

Thanks again
Pete.

[Loafer]

I have to say, I would stay WELL CLEAR of JJB for stringing. Look on the BadmintonEngland website and contact whoever looks after your county, they will know where to go. alternatively, post in the junior forum with the same question. there is a very strong junior population in here and they will know where to get it done.

L

[Phil McBride]

What you do have to watch out for is that your old racket will only really be able to withstand tensions of around 25lbs, I came back into the game 4 years ago with some Carlton 85g's and was worried.

There are so many things that can change your game, string type, string tension, grip thickness etc all have a bearing on your game but by far the most will be consistency, once you have spent some time just hitting shuttles you will be better gauged to decide a course of action.

It might take a few months for your shots to come back to what you remember them being and that's with some hard practice, the technique will have to be developed because you might remember yourself as being the best in your group etc but the reality of the situation is that you might well miss the shuttle because your timing is way off.

Practice, practice, practice and then decide about moving your racket on.

[redkingjoe]

:confused:
Originally Posted by Loafer
I would suggest that you get your racket restrung and play with that for a couple of weeks, during that time try and have a go with your friends' rackets that you are playing with (unless theirs are older than yours!) this way you will see what is available now and get an idea for the sort of racket you like.



Such a good job you did not read it properly Red??

;):D

hohoho, how could i miss that? :confused: hehehe :o
sorry, loafer...may be i was too busy....hehehe...i must substract the suggestion that i added in that post now