Beginner's Guide

• • Non-marking indoor court shoes — mandatory at most venues; running shoes won't cut it (lateral support + court protection)
• • Racket — bring your own if you have one. We rent rackets at the door for a small fee if you don't.
• • Water bottle — at least 500ml. Badminton is more intense than it looks.
• • Comfortable sports clothing — anything you can move freely in. T-shirt + shorts works.
• • Towel + change of shirt — optional but you'll want them by hour two.
• • $20 cash or PayID — session fee. Payment details are sent in your confirmation email.

A full doubles badminton court is 6.1m wide × 13.4m long. The net divides it exactly in half. Each half has a short service line (1.98m from the net), a centre line, and a doubles long service line (0.76m from the back boundary). Tap the diagram below to see the full layout.

Badminton uses rally point scoring — every rally produces a point, no matter who served. If you win the rally, you get the point and serve next (even if you were receiving). This means every shuttle matters.

The serve always goes diagonally — right service box to right service box (even score), or left to left (odd score). Toggle the diagram below to see server and receiver positions change, plus the legal landing zone highlighted in green.

Badminton uses rally point scoring — any team can score on any rally. If you win the rally as the server, you keep serving and your team's server swaps to the other service box. If you win as the receiver, your team takes over the serve — but you do NOT swap positions; you serve from the side matching your current score (even = right, odd = left).

Teams change ends (switch sides of the net) at the end of each game, and at the start of the third game. In the third game, teams also change ends when the leading team first reaches 11 points. The diagram shows how Team A and Team B swap sides between games.

Front-Back (Attack): one player covers the net, the other covers the back court. Used when attacking — the back player smashes, the front player kills drops and blocks.

Side-by-Side (Defence): each player covers half the court. Used when the opponents are attacking — gives better coverage against smashes.

A clear is a high, deep shot hit from your back court to the opponent's back court. Used to reset the rally and push opponents away from the net. There are two flavours: an attacking clear (flatter, faster trajectory) and a defensive clear (high and slow, buys you time to recover). If you only learn one shot, learn the defensive clear — it gets you out of trouble.

Sessions start at 8:00 PM sharp. Arrive 10–15 minutes early to change shoes, warm up, and not disrupt court rotation. Late arrivals wait for the next rotation slot — be respectful of others' time.

Non-marking indoor court shoes are mandatory. Running shoes lack the lateral support needed for badminton's quick direction changes and can damage the court surface. Good ankle support significantly reduces injury risk.