Introduction

The overhead clear is one of the most common, and therefore one of the most important shots played within a badminton game. An overhead clear is used to push your opponent to their back court, allowing you to gain time to return their shot, and to then exploit their front court. The trajectory of the overhead clear is long and flat, running almost parallel to the ground. Structurally, the overhead clear can be divided into three parts, the wind up, the moment of impact and the follow through, furthermore these sections can be further divide to easier understand the biomechanical principles within the shot. Below (video) is an example of an overhead clear being played throughout a game. Success in this shot can help the player to set up a scoring point for themselves, or just ensure they have more time to get back into position. 

To answer the question of how biomechanic principles can ensure success in playing this shot throughout a game of badminton the skill will be further broken up from these three main parts. Throughout discussion and explanation of how these principles, optimal techniques and the reasoning behind these techniques will become evident, allowing players to then apply knowledge and understanding of biomechanics to their own personal game.

Wind Up

Grip of Racquet 

 

When gripping the badminton racquet, the most effective place to grip it for maximum speed and power is towards the end of the racquet (fig1). By increasing the length of the racquet arm or the angular velocity, the release velocity can increase by 40%; as it is impossible to increase the length of the players arm, increasing racquet length will ensure release velocity is greater (Blazevich, 2014). Although choking up the racquet will increase accuracy, to gain the desired power of the shot a further grip will be more beneficial. 

Figure 1: Correct grip of the badminton racquet.
Sourced from:
https://www.badmintonbible.com/articles/grips-guide/grips/thumb-grip

 

·         Footwork when approaching shot 

It is necessary for badminton players to move with a stable stance throughout the game, while maintaining their own readiness. With this in mind, it is evident that balance is likely to drastically influence badminton player’s performance levels (Masu, Muramatsu & Hayashi, 2014). To play a shot correctly, one must first be correctly balanced; to ensure balance, the player’s base of support must be wide and the players centre of gravity must be in between their base of support. Centre of gravity is the point around which all the particles of the body are evenly distributed, and therefore the point at which we could place a single weight vector, while a players base of support are the parts of the body which make contact with the ground (Blazevich, 2014). To ensure optimal stability to be produced through the shuttlecock, body weight being low with legs slightly bent can allow movement and weight shift between legs to be more stable (fig2).

 

Standing side-on to the shuttle while preparing for the shot allows the body parts to be able to optimally stretch and shift bodyweight throughout production of the shot, increasing their contribution of momentum (Blazevich, 2014). Applying force summation to an overhead clear improves performance by allowing the player to perform a longer shot.

Figure 2: Center of Gravity and Base of Support
Sourced from:
http://www.surflifephysio.com.au/sup/stand-up-paddle-board-training-a-balancing-act/

Starting point of Racquet 

 

By ensuring the racquet begins its movement in between the shoulder blades, a longer amount of force is produced over a longer amount of time (Waddell & Gowitzke, 2000) . For example, if the racquet only began movement from top of head to contact with shuttlecock, these is not a large amount of time for force to be produced, rather than starting the movement between the shoulder blades. By moving the racquet through a greater range of motion before making contact with the shuttlecock, a longer shot can be produced, as the racquet is given the largest force over the largest amount of time (Blazevich, 2014).