Physics in shuttle badminton

 

Physics in  Shuttle Badminton 

History: The game has derived its present name from a place in Gloucestershire, England, where it was played in a party hosted by the Duke of Beau-fort, in 1873. Badminton was the name of the Duke's mansion. In the USA, it started in 1878 in a club inNew York City. International Badminton Federation (IBF) was formed in 1934 with just nine member countries (England, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). Today, IBF has 142 members.

Famous Shuttle Badminton tournaments : [1] Thomas Cup for men [2] Uber Cup for women [3] Sudirman Cup for mixed doubles [4] World Championship [5] World Juniors [6] World Grand Prix [7] World Cup. In 1992's Olympics the game earned a medal game status in Barcelona, Spain.

The Game: This indoor game is played on non-slippery 44 ft by 20 ft color court. This court is divided by a 5 ft - high net into two parts; each of 22 ft by 20 ft. The cock has 16 feathers. It weighs about 4.74 gm to 5.50 gm. The racket weighs 3.5 ounces.

Rules: The goal is to drop the shuttlecock in the opponent's court before the opponent does so. The shuttle should pass over the net and fall within the opponent's court boundary. To begin the game, a player serves in an underarm fashion as per the rule and wins if he is successful in dropping the shuttle 15 times for men's and 11 times for women's tournament. If the opponent is able to do the same, service is treated as broken without conceding any points and the opponent becomes the server. Generally, three games are played in a match and a high level of skill is needed to win.

Skill: In a good match where the speed of shuttle-cock could be beyond 200 miles per hour, the response time is in milliseconds, and more than 90° in body-direction may be needed. A crisp, devastating drop and accurate rallies are the crux of the game.

A focused mental alertness, concentration, thinking power, conviviality and fighting spirit along with suppleness, agility, stamina, strength, fitness and coordination characterize the dedicated player.

Training: The players are trained through jogging, running, skipping, shadow drills, net practice, drop-lift game and so on. Where in lawn tennis, you need to be a good sideways running player, badminton adds frequent front and back movements, making this game more challenging. The speed of a shuttle is faster than the speed of the ball in any comparable game like lawn tennis or volleyball where the fastest stroke will look like a slow motion movie if the camera movement is adjusted to capture the shuttlecock.

Mathematical considerations player's movements:

Three Mathematical considerations are needed in order to reach a shuttle placed by the opponent.

1. Equal time to reach all around the court. 2. Striking the shuttle 3. Recovery of body - balance for next follow-up move. A proper mathematical treatment can be given to these considerations.

1. Equal time to reach all around the court: The players generally fix an anchor position in order to move all around the court. After every hit, the tendency to return to this fixed position becomes a mental commitment. Had the speed of human beings been equal in all directions, this anchor point would have been the geometric center of the court, from where all the corners lie at a distance of around 14 feet. However, reaching any shuttle near the backside of the court away from the net needs more travel time. In addition, the backward speed of human beings is almost half of their forward speed, and reach at the backside is always restricted compared to reach at the front. All these factors put together need selection of anchor points at a distance slightly behind the geometric center, preferably at the right hand side, if the racket is held in the left hand. In fact, total time for reaching shuttle can be divided into three micro motion reaction time of 50 ms, movement time depending on distance, and a recovery time of around 200 ms.

A normal healthy human being can run at a speed of 6 feet per second for a short time only, which can be taken as his forward speed. The shuttle-cock can be assumed to travel at a nominal speed of 150 feet per second. When a player hits the shuttle, it takes 200 ms to the opponent's court, traveling an average distance of 30 ft. But the reaction time reduces the time available for movement to 150 ms, resulting in RESTRICTING THE AVERAGE TRAVEL DISTANCE TO 9 FT ONLY. This shortens the required time for the player to do a complete court coverage. Here, agility, swiftness, anticipation and similar skills become important to be successful in this fast-moving game.

2 Striking the shuttle: In general, winning a game depends on how fast, how accurate, how cleverly, and how deftly the shuttle is hit. All always loves rally. If shuttle trajectory in a medium, free from gravity and air resistance is considered, straight line joining the end of the court with the top of the net needs player's reach to be 10 ft at the end of other court and, that, too, at some angle of the racket, precisely 12.8 degrees from vertical. However, these two factors reduce the height barrier for the players, and also, a straight vertical racket can meet the requirements.

For simulating shuttle trajectory, major variables include location of player, height of shuttle-racket collision and angle of collision. One major factor is drag coefficient, which simulates the effect of air resistance over shuttle trajectory. In general, reduction in acceleration is proportional to the square of velocity. And, constant of proportionality is termed here as drag coefficient, which assumes a value of 0.025 for floaters or service.

However, for smashes or high velocity practices, the value is much reduced (0.001). For short double serve, requirements include clearing the net and fall of shuttle just near the short service line, lying at a distance of 6 ft 6 inches from the net on either side. This needs low velocity (26 ft/s) and high angle of impact (50 degrees) for a player serving from very near to his short service line 15 ft from end at a height of impact of 2 ft. If angle of impact is raised for the same velocity the shuttle will not clear the net. If simultaneous rise in shuttle velocity is considered, the fall of the shuttle will be far off from the near service line giving enough time for the opponent to reach the shuttle. However, in flick serve, the velocity is raised further to materialize a height of around 10 ft near the opponent's short service line so that the opponent is deceived to catch the shuttle at a low height and hits it in a floater rather than a high velocity smash. In singles, long high service is preferred, where the shuttle has to fall almost vertically near the end of the It needs high velocity of the opponent's court. impact (80ft/s) at a low impact angle (37 degrees).

Smashes: The velocity of a smash is of order 300 ft/s. The impact angle of the racket starts at zero from vertical to a maximum 20 degrees. It is these types of smashes that give points and need to be perfected. If the shuttle is attempted at 2 ft from the back of the court, a very small angle of impact is available for proper landing of the shuttle in the opponent's court. This type of smash enhances dwell time available for the opponent to react. However, if the player striking the shuttle is near the net the shuttle reaches faster to the opponent, and available angle of impact is enhanced and fall of shuttle a has larger available area. If the shuttle is hit from near the service line at a height of 10 ft, maximum available angle can go as high as 137 degrees with a fall of shuttle in straight line, reaching almost the entire court with duration point of impact with racket and ground reducing to less than 100 ms. Definitely this type of shot is preferred. A simulated trajectory for smash (300 ft/s) from a 10 ft distance from backline at a height of 10 ft shows an available angle for judgment of the player to only 4 degrees (106 to 110 degrees).

3. Recovery time: Movement to the anchor position to be covered during the flight time of the shuttle to the opponent is around 300 ms on an average. However, body balance and action need proper coordination to overcome these split millisecond phenomena. Proper stretching is always implemented for covering forward movement from the anchor position, and center of gravity of the body for any net play must liè at the back of the body to augment backward motion during recovery phase. Similarly, for reaching a shuttle placed at the back of the court, full body has to be brought behind the shuttle so that recovery starts with hitting action. This adds some extra distance to be covered during the shuttle-reach phase. Recovery phase becomes very important for negotiating the next shot from the opponent. Returning to anchor position before the shuttle reaches the opponent is a major challenge during this phase of the play.

Conclusion: With more and more sophisticated techniques being adopted for perfecting the game, the game has evolved from mere hardwork to computer-simulated animation, where a player can analyze his or her own micro-motions to achieve professional excellence. Assessment of the game with more and more mathematics will surely help in taking corrective measures for attaining perfection. It is better to play badminton scientifically rather than go for a ride with conventional coaching. A good player may think to correct his grip from forehand to backhand or vice-versa before attempting any handshake.