Practice › Badminton › Net shot
Badminton net shot: check your form with your phone
The net shot is a soft shot played from close to the net that tumbles over the tape and drops. It is all touch and timing, and the best ones are hit at the top of the net, early, so the opponent has no time to react.
No equipment needed. Practise at home. Just do the swing properly in front of your phone. No court, ball or shuttle is needed, and a racket is optional: the coach judges your movement, so a shadow swing at home in a hallway or garden is enough.
What good looks like
- Lunge with your racket-side foot forward and the racket arm reaching out ahead.
- Take the shuttle as high and as early as possible, close to the top of the net.
- Use fingers and a relaxed wrist for a gentle touch, with very little swing.
- Push back out of the lunge with the same leg and recover to the middle.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Swinging the racket
A net shot is a touch, not a stroke. Keep the swing tiny.
Letting the shuttle drop low
Contact below the tape level gives your opponent an easy lift. Reach it early.
Lunging without the arm reaching
The arm should reach out ahead of the body so your contact point is in front.
What Formanti checks on your net shot
At the moment of contact, on every swing you take.
- Contact in front: hand clearly in front of your shoulder. meet it in front of you, not beside or behind
- Contact height: about chest to shoulder height. the height this shot is usually hit at
- Backswing: short and compact. less swing back means more control on this shot
- Arm height (only if far off): 0–120°. Low, in front of body — wrist does the work
- Elbow (only if far off): 100–185°. Relaxed grip, racket lifted up to shuttle
- Body at contact: legs not locked, no leaning back. a stable base to hit from
Your ready stance
Hold still between swings and the coach talks you into position.
- Knees: 120–165°. Soft, bent knees let you push off in any direction
- Back lean: -5–25° forward. A little forward: not upright, not hunched
- Feet apart: 1–2× shoulder width. Feet wider than your shoulders, for balance
What your report looks like
When you finish, you get a report like this one.
- How many swings were in range, out of how many.
- The one thing to work on next, then the next, each with a drill.
- Every swing as a picture with your skeleton on it: ticked, or flagged with what was off.
What you hear and see when you are off
Hitting it too close to you
The coach says: “Meet it further out in front.”
On screen: Meet it further out in front.
Drill: Shadow swings, freezing at contact: your hand should be clearly in front of your shoulder before you swing for real. If the ball is too close, move your feet, not your arm.
Hitting it too high
The coach says: “Let it drop. Meet it lower.”
On screen: Meet it a little lower.
Drill: Shadow swings with your knees bent, freezing at contact at the right height, so your legs do the lowering and your arm stays quiet.
Hitting it too low
The coach says: “Take it a bit higher.”
On screen: Meet it higher.
Drill: Shadow swings freezing at contact at the right height, then feed yourself a ball and take it on the rise.
Too big a backswing
The coach says: “Shorten the backswing.”
On screen: Keep the backswing short.
Drill: Shadow swings with a wall behind you that your racquet may not touch, or with your back against a real wall.
Arm too low
The coach says: “Get that arm up a bit higher.”
On screen: Lift your hitting arm a lot higher at contact.
Drill: Shadow 10 swings in slow motion and freeze at contact: check where your elbow is before you speed up.
Arm too high
The coach says: “Keep that arm a bit lower.”
On screen: Keep your hitting arm a lot lower at contact.
Drill: Shadow 10 swings in slow motion and freeze at contact: check where your elbow is before you speed up.
Arm too bent
The coach says: “Straighten the arm more. Meet it long.”
On screen: Straighten your arm a lot more through contact.
Drill: Slow shadow swings, pausing at contact: your arm should be almost straight with a soft bend.
Arm locked straight
The coach says: “Keep a little bend in the elbow.”
On screen: Keep a lot more bend in your elbow at contact.
Drill: Slow shadow swings, pausing at contact: keep a soft bend and finish with a wrist snap.
Legs too straight in your stance
The coach says: “Bend your knees”
On screen: Bend your knees.
Drill: Hold a low ready stance for 20 seconds between reps.
Hunched over in your stance
The coach says: “Chest up, don't hunch”
On screen: Chest up, don't hunch.
Drill: Hold the ready stance with your chest proud for 20 seconds.
Drills you can do alone
- Lunge and touch: shadow the lunge and a net touch, holding the end of the lunge for one second to check the hand is out in front.
- Lunge-recover: from the centre, lunge, touch and push back, 10 times each side, at the pace of a rally, not a stretch.
How to set up your phone
Prop your phone up 2 to 3 metres away with your whole body in view, at about hip height. For the net shot, stand side-on to the camera on your hitting side: how far in front you make contact and how big your backswing is can only be judged from the side. It all runs on your phone and nothing is uploaded.
Guide values: where the hand should be at contact comes from coaching rules (Coaching consensus across the sport: contact in front of the body, at a height that suits the shot, compact where the stroke is short.) and has not yet been checked against real players. Contact point and backswing need you side-on to the camera.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get better at net shots?
Early contact, a relaxed grip and a good lunge. Practise the lunge and recovery shadow first; the touch gets easier when the footwork is quiet.
Why do my net shots float up?
Usually contact is too low, or the racket face is too open and pushes the shuttle up. Meet it higher and keep the face flatter.