Indoor Versus Outdoor Badminton Play

Last summer holiday, when I was playing an indoor badminton game with my buddies, I wondered whether you could play the game outdoors. So I did some research, bought a plastic shuttlecock online, and together, we tested our abilities to make scores.

So can badminton be played outdoors?

For leisure purposes, you can play badminton both indoors and outdoors. However, it is impossible to play competitive badminton matches outdoors due to several environmental factors. Shuttlecocks are extremely light, between 4.5 and 5.5 grams.

Its projectile movement in an open court is much affected by wind and rain. This impairs the natural flow of the game.

I grew up knowing you could only play badminton indoors. And like you, I am pretty sure giving an outdoor badminton game a thought, maybe a reality that is still in dreams. To realize the overall possibilities of playing outdoor badminton games calls for proper evaluation of the number of factors.

In this article, I will take you through indoor and outdoor badminton games, their advantages, and the overall reason you will prefer one over the other.

Indoor Badminton

Indoor badminton is usually played on a rectangular court built in a hall or inside any house. Ideal courts measure 44 by 17 feet for a single match (one player per side) and 44 by 20 feet for a double match (two players per side).

A net of about 1.5 meters usually stretches across the center of the court.

Service lines divide the court on each side, 1.98 meters for both double and single courts. There is also an additional line perpendicular to the line that divides the back part of the courts and service courts.

Rules For Playing Indoor Badminton Game

Indoor badminton games share several rules with outdoor ones. However, some rules stand out distinct from an indoor game.

These rules include:

The shuttlecock should not touch the floor. It should not also come to rest on any opponent’s racket.
No hitting or touching of the ceiling by the birdie.

Some other normal rules include:

The shuttlecock should not land on the boundary lines.
No touching of the net with the racket by any player.
No touching of the lines on the court by the receiver opponent or team before the serving team hits the shuttlecock.
No landing of the birdie outside the boundary line of the court.
Hitting the shuttlecock below waste in an underhand motion when serving.

In the course of any badminton match, both indoor and outdoor, you will be required to stick to the following rules:

Standing in your court until the shuttlecock is served.
In doubles, it is the server to change service court. The receiver opponent or team does not. This ensures servers serve different players at each time.
It would help if you switched sides at the beginning and when the winner reaches 11 points in any new game.
The last winner serves first.
If the score is odd, it becomes the right service court.

Advantages Of Playing Indoor Badminton Game

Playing badminton on controlled indoor platforms come with several advantages such as:

The presence of scoreboards motivates the players to play harder and to outdo their opponents.
The scoreboard is an indication of whether you are losing or winning the game. Therefore, when your scores are shown on the board as less than your counterparts, you will tend to pull up the socks.
Indoor playing feels uniform and flatter. Controlling the ball becomes easier, and for players with techniques, the buzz is just so extreme.
Indoor playing fields rule in terms of smartness. They are always clean. You will not need t worry about factors such as the bumps, grassy un-mowed grounds, stones, and other dangerous objects that nature presents.
The bounce factor when the shuttlecock hits the wall or nets usually makes the overall gaming pleasurable.
Shuttlecocks are retrieved easily when they go out of the playing field. This saves time and maintains the tempo of the game.
Spectators are gathered close. Their jest, jokes, and cheers make the environment ideal for gaming. The overall fun is shared equally.
Modernized competitive badminton fields are always controlled against unexpected weather conditions such as heavy rains. Icefalls and freezes, higher temperatures, wind, and humidity. When a match starts, there is usually no interruptive factor in any way.
• The playing field is generally smaller than those found in the outdoors. Therefore, opponents are bound to faster gaming and thorough running to maintain the tempo of the game. This will ensure a high level of exercise.

Anyway, you can always set up your own badminton court. You will be required to check out these three things.

The net should cover the whole width of the court. Always ensure you have adequate indoor space.
The net should not slack.
The net should cut the designed court into equal halves. You should be in a position of appropriate measurement materials.

Outdoor Badminton

Badminton is always played outdoors as well. In most cases, people play the game along the windy beaches, seashores, courts built in gardens, driveways, and sand courts along various yards.

However, even with a slight breeze, one side can hit the shuttlecock along the way, but the receiving end cannot hit a decent return. Therefore, you can only play for fun.

Some other problems that you will encounter in outdoor badminton games include:

Wind

The birdie is usually made of 16 feathers from the goose’s left-wing. Attached to the base and tied with string. The ideal weight of the birdie ranges from 4.5 to 5.5 grams. Playing in the open courts or fields in a slight wind requires a lot of effort to control the birdie.

The birdie is also designed to decelerate after a hit. Unlike the balls that can spin or roll, the aerodynamics of the birdie is designed so that it can only move in a singular direction. Hence the unequal distribution of air means uncontrolled directions.

Rain

Rains will interrupt your gaming since there is no roof to cover both the opponents up. But if you decide to play in rains, the shuttlecock will become waterlogged since the feathers will capture the water drops. The result is the birdie becoming heavier and its aerodynamics immensely affected.

Rains make the playing surfaces muddy and slippery. This can lead to slipping down and falling when maneuvering in your court for a hit. This can lead to injuries.

Poor visibility

For most of the players, the birdie is above the head height. Hence, they tend to look up constantly. In daylight, the sun is always low in the sky; hence the birdie can be easily lost in light, and before you notice, it touches the ground.

Still, thinking of trying an outdoor badminton match?

Devoid of those limiting factors, outdoor badminton games come with a lot of advantages.

These include:

The natural temperatures, wind, sunshine, and even breeze at the shores are ideal for fun gaming.
Unlike in indoor games, your freedom of running is not limited.
Outdoor games are less expensive than indoor games, where you will need to rent a court or maintain your own. All you need is grassy land or a naturally sandy beach.
Outdoor sports injuries are not that intense as compared to indoor ones. If you slip and fall, you will only suffer minor bruises or cuts compared to head and other parts of body injuries when one falls on an indoor concrete floor.
No scoreboard means just fun and fun alone.

Devoid of the prevailing limiting factors, there are smarter ways that you can employ to ensure easier and more fantastic play. There are specially designed glasses that will help you improve the visibility of the birdie in bright sunlight.

Building a perimeter wall around your garden helps control the strength and the speed of the wind, whereas covering the top of your outdoor garden court will ensure no rain reaches both players and the shuttlecock.

Wind-resistant shuttlecocks are not that much affected by the wind. They are also designed to retain their basic qualities even in rains.

Conclusion

Badminton is linked to various health developments. It helps both players to stay fit, improve on hand-eye coordination and develop faster reflexes. The game is your only answer to anxiety, stress, depression, weight loss, diabetes, and other social problems.

However, going outdoors will lead to faster realization of the aforementioned problems and ensure cost-effectively.

All you require is a wind-resistant birdie, an appropriate place that guarantees safety and some little hitting skills. From there, you are ready to hit the ground running to this beautiful game.

But it would help if you decided which one is best for you between outdoor badminton and indoor badminton.