Badminton rackets don’t come cheap and if you are someone just starting out, it becomes even more imperative to get your racket last for as long as possible. In this piece we look at ways you can protect your badminton racket and ensure it lasts long.
And this guide is not just for beginner badminton players who have bought a new racket.
Whatever your skill level, there could be that favorite piece of badminton racket you might want to play with for a long time or just not have those extra dollars to spend on a new badminton racket ever so frequently.
Which is why it becomes important for you to ensure you take proper care of your racket and ensure its long life.
There was a point in the evolution of badminton rackets that the t-joint frames weren’t strong enough to hold on for long periods but with advancement in technology this problem has been curtailed.
Badminton rackets these days are expected to last way longer than they used to but in order for them to make their way to that it becomes important to follow a set of guidelines.
Listed, and explained below are things you can do to ensure the long life of badminton rackets.
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Table of Content
What Can Be Done to Increase Life of Badminton Rackets?
Here are a few quick tips to ensure you are maintaining your badminton rackets and avoiding early damage of your badminton rackets. We have explained each point in greater depth in the rest of the article.
- String Maintenance
- Optimizes Restringing
- Replace Broken Grommets
- Avoid Using Racket to Lift Shuttlecock
- Repaint Chipped Frame
- Repair Cracked Frame
- Use Racket Frame Protection Tape
- Change Overgrip
- Mind Racket Storage
- More Accurate Hitting
- Avoid Clashing in Doubles
Here’s our in-depth guide on badminton rackets maintenance:
String Maintenance of Badminton Rackets
This is probably one of the most important aspects of badminton racket maintenance and a huge factor on which the life of the racket depends. Very simply, the quality of your play will depend hugely on your strings and its maintenance plays a vital role as a result.
Keep a check on your racket strings and replace them at the first sign of wear and tear. This will not just help your play quality but also ensure the longevity of your badminton racket.
Restringing
Depending on your style of play, the racket strings could become loose and might need restringing. A loose string could reduce the power, control or the durability of your string depending on the kind of string you have opted for, which is why the importance of restringing.
As a regular badminton player you might need to restring your racket every fortnight or so but this could change depending on your style.
If you use your badminton racket very frequently and are an intensive player, you might want to be more regular at restringing your racket.
In any case, don’t wait for the strings to visibly loosen before restringing them – make a regular appointment at a racket re-stringer or learn how to do it yourself and make it a habit.
Needless to say that if even one thread of your racket string snaps, you should stop using that racket, get it restrung and only then resume playing with it to avoid permanent damage.
Here’s our exhaustive guide on how to restring a badminton racket.
Optimize String Tension
While you are looking to string your badminton racket as a beginner, there might be a temptation to do that really tight because there’s a myth that tighter the strings, better is your game.
This is far from the truth.
While tighter strings can increase the racket power, it also comes with its own disadvantages including a lack of flexibility and a smaller sweet spot on the racket.
This could lead to a changed style of play as a beginner, causing issues to both, the racket and the player’s arm.
Replace Broken Grommets
The first question that needs answering is what are grommets on a badminton racket? Grommets are a part of a badminton racket that are used to keep the racket string from rubbing against the frame. They are made of plastic and found at the mouth of every string hole in a racket.
Grommets protect the racket frame from getting damaged by tightly wound strings.
Which is why these grommets become an important part of a badminton racket equipment and it’s vital to replace them if they go missing lest the string ends up damaging the frame.
The other issue is the string itself might break if it does not have a grommet supporting it, making this tiny plastic part an important one in business.
Keep checking your racket for missing grommets and replace them as soon as you can. Your stringing guy should also be able to guide you here.
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Avoid Using Racket to Lift Shuttlecock
One would have often seen while following badminton tournaments on television or online, professional badminton players have this rather cool-seeming trick of picking up a shuttlecock with their rackets.
While this makes for an excellent spectacle, it is also a sure-shot way to damage your racket more quickly than otherwise.
The grommets or the frame itself can get properly messed up with a continuous practice of this very avoidable habit.
Bend down to pick your shuttlecocks to avoid reduction in the life of your badminton racket.
Repaint Chipped Frame
Constant play can lead to slight chipping away of the paint on a badminton frame which might not look the best aesthetically speaking.
However, there could be a deeper issue involved here, with multiple paint chips possessing the potential to, in turn, damage the frame as well.
While one might be tempted to ignore such instances of chipped frames, don’t let these fester for too long. Try and repaint your badminton racket frame as and when you need to.
Repair Cracked Frame
More important than redoing the chipped paint on a badminton racket is to look out for any sort of cracks on the frame. These are specially more pronounced around chipped paints so keep examining those areas to check for any small or large cracks.
Any crack on your racket would suggest it doesn’t have a lot of life left but timely intervention could help extend it by some amount.
And not just cracks, keep a lookout for a deformed frame, or even dents and bends on your racket.
We will update a guide on how to repair cracked badminton rackets on this site but to give you a brief overview, here’s a video that should help.
Use Racket Frame Protection Tape
One of the ways to ensure the racket frame lasts longer is to use a racket frame protection tape. This tape prevents chips, scratches and scrapes on the badminton racket and in turn prolongs its life.
These tapes are typically less than 0.2 mm thick but provide frame protection for the racket, preventing clashes from damaging the frame.
Have a look at how the racket frame protection tape works.
Change Overgrip
A badminton racket comes with its own overgrip on its handle but it is necessary to tape it up with another one on your own to ensure a better grip of the handle.
The number of overgrips you want to have depends on your usage and the size of your hands but other than the grip itself, the need to have an overgrips and change it frequently is because it avoids sweat from getting on to the handle.
As the overgrip wears out, more and more moisture from the hand tends to seep through and that could damage the racket handle in the end. Change your overgrip frequently, even once in a month to ensure long-lasting racket handles.
Here’s how you can also improve your badminton by gripping the racket properly.
Mind Racket Storage
One of the most important factors that could affect the health of a badminton racket is its storage. While not in action, it could still face a danger of damage because of a variety of reasons including humidity, heat and lack of physical protection.
Moisture could end up changing the size of the frame while excessive heat or exposure to sun could cause the frame, which is made of carbon graphite, to get twisted.
Wipe your badminton racket of any moisture before putting it in a head-cover and then store away from heat and sunlight.
Also be careful of storing it in a place where one doesn’t end up damaging it by walking over or crashing into it. You can do this by using a head-cover for the racket and then storing it in a badminton bag which is free of moisture.
More Accurate Hitting
Early on in your career, when you are probably not at your most accurate while playing the sport you could look to go for badminton rackets with a bigger sweet spot.
What this ensures is a higher percentage of the shots come off the center of the racket rather than hitting the frame and adding to the damage.
As you get more and more used to the sport, you could look to change your racket to suit your game – here’s our list of badminton rackets for intermediate players.
Avoid Clashing in Doubles
This isn’t something that can be avoided all the time and at times, one might inadvertently end up colliding one’s racket with one’s doubles partner’s racket. Depending on how intense the clash is, the racket could lose its shape too, or at times end up smashing the racket into pieces.
Not much one can do about this but some amount of care while playing, at least at the start of one’s badminton playing journey could help prolong the racket life.
Final Words on Protecting Badminton Rackets
Badminton rackets don’t come cheap and it is quite vital to look at ways to ensure you can extend the lives of these rackets. In the piece above we have put up a set of things that can be done to do just that.
