Any day is a great day to play games outdoors, and one game that's a lot of fun to play, either with your parents or your friends, is badminton. Not only is it pretty easy to set up in the backyard, but it's safe for all kids to play. What's even better is that badminton can be played with either two or four people, so if you've got a few friends over, nobody has to feel left out. The sport itself has a very long history: It's been popular for hundreds of years! When you try it out for yourself, you'll soon see why.
In order to set up the perfect badminton court, you'll need a good space in your backyard and a little bit of patience. Beyond that, setting it up is the easiest part of the game! The most important part of the setup is making sure you have a good-sized, rectangular space for the court. If you want it to be the proper size, it'll need to be 44 feet long and 20 feet wide for a double court, but if you don't have that much space, it's OK. You can also make a single court for two people to play on, and that would be 17 feet wide instead of 20 feet. But if your amount of space is anywhere close to that size, it's probably good enough for a simple backyard game.
Next, you're going to want to mark the borders of the court so you'll know where the boundaries are. You can use chalk if you're on pavement, or you can use tape or even rope if you're playing on the lawn. You'll need to make a line across the middle both ways (like a plus sign), too, so you end up with four boxes. The shorter line through the middle is the line showing where you'll need to set up the net.
After you set up the court, it's time to play! Get a racket for each person and a shuttlecock. Then, if you've got two people, stand across the net from each other in diagonal boxes: Both of you should start in the box that's on your right as you face the net; after every point, switch boxes (after the first point, move to the left box, then back to the right for the next point, and so on). If you've got four people, everybody gets their own box, but you'll still start playing by hitting the shuttlecock toward the person diagonal from you.
Whoever serves first will hit the shuttlecock, otherwise known as a birdie, over the net. Once it goes over the net, the other team should hit it back. Each side gets one hit at a time. Keep hitting it back and forth until either the shuttlecock hits the net or it falls to the ground. If you hit it into the net, the other team gets a point. If it hits the ground inside the court on your side, the other team gets a point. And if you hit it over the net but it goes outside of the court, landing on the ground outside of the lines, the other team gets a point.
The winning player or team is the first one to get 21 points. In professional play, you have to win by two points, so if you have 21 but the other team has 20, you need one more to win. Of course, if you're playing at home with your friends, you can set the number of points you need to anything you want (and if your parents call you inside to eat or your friends have to go home, you might just have to give the win to whoever's ahead).
Badminton is a great game for kids to play because it's pretty easy to play and gets you outdoors in the fresh air. It's also great exercise! And it's fun for the whole family, so you can play with your parents and help them get some exercise, too.
Find more about the author: Kim Hart
