This summer, it’s decided: Rodrigo takes up badminton. “It’s fun, and still more active than petanque or mölkky (1) ! », he said. A few months ago, this 39-year-old developer from Brazil came across an article discussing the benefits of racket sports. “A scientific study carried out over twenty-five years has shown that squash and tennis players, but also badminton players, have a higher life expectancy than others”, he summarizes. True or not, the information reinforced his motivation.
As always with good resolutions, his will first came up against an obstacle. “I wanted to register in an association, but in the two structures I visited, I was told that we sometimes spent more time waiting for our turn than playing…”, he says. So he ended up buying a “kit” to train in the squares of his neighborhood. Two racquets and three shuttlecocks, all for less than €10. “Once you have that, there is no need for anything else”boasts the budding badminton player.
A quick learner
Nothing else except a partner, which is often easier to find than in other racket sports. “Unlike tennis, where you first have to learn the basics, badminton is learned very quickly”, appreciate Rodrigo.
“Anyone can play and, if they wish, become very good”, confirms Florent Chayet, president of the French Badminton Federation (FFBaD). A shuttlecock weighs 5 grams and a racket less than 100 grams, in other words it does not require any particular muscular strength. “In fact, it’s one of the few sports for which there is no defined morphotype, he continues. Look at Pusarla V. Sindhu and Nozomi Okuhara, two of the best female players in the world: one is a 1.79m gazelle, the other is quite strong and is 1.56m tall. Gender, age, diet, possible disability, political views, hair style, or what have you, don’t matter. »
This diversity partly explains the exponential growth in the workforce of the French Badminton Federation in recent decades, from 10,000 members in the 1980s to 190,000 today – 35% of whom are women. Not to mention the regular players that the federation has not attracted into its nets. “If we rely on equipment sales, they would be around 500,000 practicing all year round. To this should be added those who take out their snowshoes when the weather is fine, in their garden or in the summer, on the beach. »
“Play while talking”
Erika is one of them. A lifelong player, she fondly remembers playing badminton with her family in Budapest, where she grew up. “My father had even built a plot in the garden!, says this young woman of 31 years. Parents and children were playing together ” to have fun “. And discuss. “ In general, the participants are not very far away, so that we can play while talking”, she points out. Now settled in Paris, she has converted her companion. “As soon as we leave for the weekend, the snowshoes are in the trunk. Unlike football or basketball, you can play just about anywhere, on concrete, the beach or grass. We don’t disturb anyone, we don’t make noise, and we don’t risk breaking a tile! »
If his entry into the Olympic Games in 1992 propelled him into the spotlight, the “bad” continues to cause misunderstandings. Popularized in the 1990s thanks to its success in physical education and sports classes, it is still sometimes considered an activity for “lazy people”, even as a simple pastime. Conversely, its status as an Olympic sport may have dissuaded the less valiant from trying it. “Before, we thought it was a simple beach entertainment, whereas, at a high level, it requires exceptional athletic and mental qualities. It’s the fastest racket sport in the world! insiste Florent Chayet. Today, many are convinced that it is prohibited once you reach 60, because it is too demanding from a cardiovascular point of view. In both cases, it is completely false. »
An unknown story
His name still suffers regular outrages: « bagminton »we read here, « badmington » do we hear there… As for its history, it remains unknown, although it is about “one of the oldest and most universal sports” says Jean-Yves Guillain in his History of badminton. From shuttlecock to Olympic sport (Publibook), one of the only works – if not the only one – devoted to the adventure of this discipline.
Modern badminton would have been created in the last quarter of the 19th century.e century, by British officers staying in India. But his story, says Jean-Yves Guillain, “is part of a long social, educational and technical evolution, which certainly takes it back to the ”game of steering wheel”, an English and French recreational practice of which there are many testimonies from the 15the century. »
In Europe, royalty and the aristocracy revel in the “cocquantin”, the “picandeau”, the “battledore & shuttlecock” or the tennis court, the favorite game of the Duke of Orléans. So many variants that will leave their mark in literature, from Rabelais to Flaubert, from Balzac to Hugo, as well as in painting, especially under the brush of Chardin (The little girl at the wheel, 1737). If the rules were clarified in the XVIIIe century, the notoriety of the shuttlecock game was reinforced at the beginning of the following century, where it became “a must in good behavior guides for children and teenagers”, because of his “pedagogical and physical virtues”. The game has since been codified, structured; equipment has expanded. But the pleasure remains unchanged. “Hitting a ball – or a shuttlecock –, making it reach a specific goal or clearing an obstacle, preventing the opponent from returning the ball or, on the contrary, wanting to increase exchanges, all of this is an essential gesture of recreational activity” , believes Jean-Yves Guillain.
“A cooperation more than a competition”
Rodrigo is not looking for anything else, and intends to start in his own way, “in playful mode”. No net or point count. “I see badminton as a cooperation more than a competition, he explains. It’s a bit the same state of mind as frescobol, which is played a lot on the beaches of Rio and Copacabana (2). The challenge is to make as many exchanges as possible, and to have a good time together. »
Florent Chayet, he assures that at 70 years old the game still gives him as much pleasure. “However, I am more and more mediocre. Besides, I’ve never been really good! »quips this former doctor, more serious when he talks about the sedentarization of the population, especially younger ones. “Today’s kids have lost 20 to 25% of their physical abilities in forty years, it’s a very worrying public health problem.” His advice? Badminton, of course. “It’s very complete, insofar as it develops agility, reflexes, muscle tone, balance. »
While “real” badminton is played indoors, fine weather pushes enthusiasts to settle in the open air, at the risk of the vagaries of the weather interrupting the game. But while luminescent shuttlecocks now make it possible to play at night, manufacturers are reportedly working on a projectile that is more resistant to the winds. According to Florent Chayet, who had a prototype in his hands, it should be in production by the end of the year. And could be available for sale as early as next summer.
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Some variants
Air badminton. This outdoor version of badminton, officially launched last May by the International Badminton Federation, can be played on plastic, sand or grass courts.
The crossminton (or speedminton). It is also practiced outdoors but without a net, with a racket similar to that of squash and a smaller and heavier steering wheel (the “speeder”) to resist the wind.
Plumfoot. Very popular in Asia and more and more widespread in Europe, it consists of exchanging a shuttlecock on either side of a net without it falling to the ground, using the whole body, except the arms and hands.
The hair. Immortalized by Hitchcock in The Hand in the Collar, this game of shuttlecock and juggling, originating from the hinterland of Nice, is played with a coin with a hole in which a piece of paper is stuck. We play it willingly in the street, according to rules similar to plumfoot but without a net.
