Badminton

Today’s tip was a toss-up between Badminton or Watermelon Seed Spitting Contests. The former won out because we figured way too many Classics — half of the American population — would think this idea grotesque. So, if you’re an Organic Freedom and forget to buy a Badminton set in time for your party, you can always throw an impromptu WSSC at your summer shindig. Perhaps the acronym will confuse the haughty Classics and Smarts in attendance into playing before they realize what it is.

There was a period of time when we had a Badminton net on the top portion of our backlawn growing up — although not nearly as beautiful as this stay-at-home dad blogger’s photo of his kids’ playing with an Idaho sunset. I have a vivid memory of making this poor neighborhood boy who had a crush on me wait outback on our Badminton court while I “cleaned” my room. In reality, I was playing Barbies because I found his crush tedious. And you need not say it, I know exactly what I was. I’m sorry, Brandon, wherever you are. Anyway, eventually I descended from my Barbie make-believe throne and graced him with my presence and a good clean game of Badminton.

It’s actually an Olympic sport. Who knew? Now, I know there are plenty of people wondering why we didn’t go the volleyball route but to be honest, I HATE playing volleyball. It’s painful on your arms when you’re not a pro or even an amature and I just can’t help but duck when a massive ball is coming superfast toward my face. Now a shuttlecock headed toward me? That’s another story. My ace competitor comes out and I whip that baby right back at my opponent.

Badminton is kind of Tennis/Volleyball. It’s played by two opposing players or pairs — yes, Doubles Badminton! You take positions on either side of a rectangular court divided by what looks like a volleyball net. You score points by striking a shuttlecock — a feathered projectile with properties that cause it to fly differently than a ball. Basically it’s a lot faster than a ball and falls a lot faster. Each side can only strike the shuttlecock once when it’s on their side. Like tennis, a rally ends when the shuttlecock hits the ground.

Games are played to 21 points with players scoring at the end of a rally regardless of whether they served. The old system only lets players win a point on their serve and each game was played to 15 points. A match continues to the best of three games. The server and receiver stand diagonally opposite to one another in the corners of their half of the court. The server hits the shuttlecock so that it would land in the receiver’s service court like in tennis. The exception is that in badminton, one must serve below the waist with the racquet’s shaft pointed down and the shuttlecock cannot bounce. If the serving side loses a rally, the serve goes to their opponent.

There are a zillion more rules but here’s where you can find a badminton set and here’s where you can see more rules!