Are Badminton Shoes Necessary?

It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner, intermediate or an advanced player. The short answer to this question is yes, they are necessary. Badminton is never just a sports that solely depends on skills. The right gears and equipment are also extremely important when it comes to how well you are going to perform on the court and that includes Badminton Shoes.

Wearing the proper shoes doesn’t just give you a slight edge in performance but more importantly, they provide you with the safety that you need. After all, you cannot play if you are injured. We will discuss the 3 most important reasons why Badminton Shoes are necessary… traction, flexibility, and ankle protection.

Badminton Shoes are the first thing to prioritize when you just got started with badminton. That is if you already have racket and shuttles to play with.

So why are Badminton Shoes necessary?

Well, badminton requires different types of movements and often times explosive. The only sport that has similar movements to badminton is squash but badminton has a wider range such as jumping smash which you don’t see in squash. Therefore, it is very important to wear shoes designed specifically for badminton, this will prevent injuries and reduces the stress on your feet.

3 most important reasons

Here are the 3 most important reasons why badminton shoes are necessary. They provide good traction, flexibility, and have thin insoles. Let me elaborate further.

Traction

One of the most important things to stay safe in an aggressive sport like badminton is by having the proper traction. Badminton courts can get slippery if you are not using the right shoes when playing on it, which leads to a higher chance of injuring yourself by slipping.

Flexibility

Compared to most other sports shoes, Badminton Shoes are usually light and flexible. This sport requires fast reactions and a wide variety of movements such as lunges, jumping smashes, reaching shots quickly near the net, changing directions in a split second, and so on…

To achieve this, these shoes need to be flexible enough so it is fast to adapt to whatever shape your feet change to when performing a specific movement.

Thin Insole

This is arguably the most important reason why Badminton Shoes are necessary. Having thin insole is great for explosive movements. Moreover, it also gives you a lower center of gravity which reduces the chances of spraining your ankle. 

Can I wear shoes with similar characteristics (great traction, flexible & thin insole) to play badminton?

The answer is no, here is the reason why…

Badminton Shoes are made specifically for the purpose of lateral movements on badminton surfaces. Not all shoes are made for these movements. Shoes made specifically for badminton will make you move better and faster. With that being said, they are not created equally… you need to pick carefully.

Some Things To Look For In Badminton Shoes

There are a few things you need to look for when buying a pair of badminton shoes. Most mid-range ones should have all of these built-in but you do still need to compare them since all of them are made slightly differently.

Lightweight

You are getting into a very fast sport which requires quick movement. It’s important that your shoes are light weight so you can move like a feather around the court.

Flexible

As mentioned above, this is the same reason why a good pair of Badminton Shoes need to be lightweight. This sport requires a wide range of fast movements from lunges to jumping. As explained above, in the “3 most important reasons why Badminton Shoes are necessary”, you need the shoes to adapt to whatever shape your feet form when performing different movements.

Height Of The Collar

You might be wondering, how to choose a great pair of shoes for badminton and what to look for in terms of characteristics? Height of which the collar of the shoe cover is one of the things to look for when comparing different pairs.

Some will cover the ankle. It is not the best choice because they hinder the movement of your ankles. This will then limit your speed which you maneuver around the court. You will not notice this if you just started playing badminton, but after a while, you will start to feel how it slows your movements down.

Thin Sole

Not all shoes for badminton have the same thickness in the sole. A good pair of Badminton Shoes should have thin soles. This will allow you to feel more of the ground and be more explosive in your movements. In fact, this is what you want if you are playing badminton. It will start to become more noticeable when you are more advance.

Material of The Sole

Gum rubber should be the material used for the sole. This martial provides good traction for all the sudden changes in directions that are required when playing badminton, which is ideal.

This is standard for all shoes made specifically for badminton but it’s just good information to know. Do not buy it for badminton if the soles are not made of gum rubber.

P.S. Gum rubber is usually orange yellow in colour.

Great Cushion For Impact

Even though you want your Badminton Shoes to be thin, light, and flexible, you also want it to cushion against impact well. Since badminton is such an intense game with a lot of aggressive movements, you want a good cushion when landing. This will prevent your knees from suffering for no reason whatsoever.

This might be a little hard to tell right on the get-go when buying the shoes. To confidently determine if they have a good cushion or not, you have to give them a try for a week or 2.

Non-Marking Sole

This has nothing to do with safety or performance but it is important if you plan to play badminton indoors. Most courts indoors do not allow you to play if your shoes mark their courts.

An easy way to tell if the shoes have non-marking sole is to check to see if they are labeled somewhere around the shoe. If there is no label anywhere, use this easy technique by pressing against the sole with your fingernail. If it leaves a dent momentarily, then they are most likely non-marking.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Badminton Shoes are necessary to prevent injuries. They prevent your ankle from getting sprained by having great traction, being flexible, and lowers your center of gravity. Lastly, they are not created equal. In fact, there are some characteristics you have to look out for if you want to make a good purchase.

Hope you found some value in this post and if you have any questions or comments, just leave them down below.

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