Difference between feathered and synthetic shuttlecocks

If you leave out the durability factor that is the obvious reason for synthetic (aka plastic) shuttlecocks' existence, following are some more differences between the two -

1. synthetic shuttlecocks fly more slowly on initial impact with the racquet, but slow down less towards the end of their flight compared with feather shuttlecocks that fly a lot faster on initial contact but slow down faster as they drop
2. on the clear shot feather shuttlecocks drop straight down, whereas the synthetic shuttlecocks never quite return to a straight drop falling more on a diagonal

What is the right age to start Badminton?

I started taking my son along with me when I play Badminton and he developed an immediate interest. He will complete 4 years this September and that got me thinking what the right age to start playing Badminton is.

There is a coaching class for kids right before our slot and I checked with the coach if he would admit my son. He mentioned the minimum age for enrollment was 6 years!

I am sure I remember reading somewhere that Maria Sharapova started playing Tennis at the age of 4 years! I am also sure some of the other greats in their games started really early.

So then, what age is right to start Badminton or any other sport for that matter? Is there a difference between how we Indians approach sports and the other nations do?

Use the right shoes when playing Badminton

I write from experience. After a couple of weeks I developed pain in my heels. I was using a pair of "sports" shoes and not shoes made specifically for Badminton. After I switched to Badminton shoes I am doing fine!

In Badminton, you will be doing a lot of pivoting and fast movement, so you don't want to slip and need shoes that provide excellent grip. Also ensure that your Badminton shoes are used exclusively for Badminton. Do not use them for other sports.

Get the shoes from your local sporting-goods store and not from a shoe shop. Ideally, Yonex made or a similar brand recognized in the Badminton world.

One last thing, do not buy shoes with black soles. Black soles can leave scuff marks on the court.

Badminton courts in Pune

How many places are there to play Badminton in Pune? I am looking to create a list of all places where courts are available on hire in Pune. A quick search yielded the following -

1. Balewadi Sports Complex
2. College of Engineering Pune
3. Happy Colony Community Hall
4. Heerabaug Sports Complex
5. Maharashtra Mandal Badminton Hall
6. Mahila Mandal Badminton Hall
7. Laxmi Krida Mandir
8. PDMBA
9. Deccan Gymkhana 
10. Poona Club
11. PYC
12. Modern Complex
13. Kataria High School

Let me know others that I have missed out. I would eventually like to add # of courts available at these locations along with their charges.

Deals on Badminton shuttlecocks

As a customer, how would you prefer a deal making site to work?

1. Show deals already worked out, OR
2. Aggregate orders from customers and then work out a deal with the vendors

Both are similar in that they need a minimum volume to be reached in order for the deal price to be honored since the price is tied to the volume commitment. They are different in that in one approach a deal is struck before the orders are aggregated and in the other the deal is struck after the orders are aggregated. With the latter you may be in a better position to negotiate a deal since the orders are already there while the advantage of the former is that the customers know exactly what price they will pay for a certain volume and can influence (by inviting other friends to join in the orders) the volume based on how attractive they find the deal.

Or maybe the best approach is a combination of the two? Thoughts?

Buying Badminton shuttlecocks in Pune

Other than the Badminton racquet's, strings, shoes and apparel which are a one time or an occasional buy, the one thing you need to purchase on a regular basis is shuttles. These come in varying types (plastic or feather) and price ranges.

There must be over a couple hundred groups in Pune and each must at least need a box of shuttles a month or in a couple of months. That makes shuttles an ideal candidate to buy in bulk! What if all these groups consolidated their orders for shuttles and placed one big order? They could get a great deal due to the volume. Here is a site that lets you aggregate your individual orders into a large one - http://punebadminton.dyndns.info/

Try it out. Enter your order and share it with your friends/other groups you know so that one big consolidated order can be placed and everyone can save!

Badminton - Restart

After a long hiatus (read 13 years), I decided to restart playing Badminton last week. The first thing I did was search for a site which helped me connect with badminton groups in the area. There is unfortunately no site that lets people connect with each other to form sports groups and play. As the search on the net was unproductive I made a few calls and in a day I was set.

But that begs the question - Do we need a site where people can create sports groups, advertise vacancies or interest and connect with others to manage their sports groups?