For many players, I believe that proper usage of the eyes is not emphasized enough during learning, compared to more apparent technical aspects like footwork.
If you look at the form of pro players, the contact point between a drop and a clear can differ by as little as a couple inches as the racket travels in an arc around the shoulder. The badminton court is around 40 ft long. Then, variation in perceived shuttle location can translate to a difference of 100x in travel distance of the shuttle.
Considering the instability of footwork, the fast speed of the shuttlecock, and the eyes are going to be constantly shifting their gaze around. A few weeks ago, a double partner I was playing with forgot his contacts, borrowed someone else’s contacts, and the shots were now going up, left, right, down outside the court (fortunately, we still won).
All factors considered, the human brain is remarkably good at compensating for shifts in eye fixations with eye movements called saccades. The last shift is colloquially known as the quiet eye, and has been theorized to explain differences between elite athletes from sub-elite athletes.
Especially in badminton, where a small margin in localizing the shuttle can significantly change the shot, quiet eye fixations have been shown to explain much of the variation between elites and amateurs.
So how can we incorporate this knowledge into becoming better at badminton?
I like to challenge players to focus on the smallest distinguishable features of the shuttle as possible. The tape that appears on the head of the shuttlecock gives you a more precise target than the entire profile. In addition, if you can see the orientation of the shape, you can hit even more technical shots by aiming to contact on different edges of the head (to slice left or right, to spin more up or kill more speed downwards, whatever your heart desires).
Naturally, we gain a way to judge our footwork. If our eyes/head are constantly moving around, then our footwork is not stable enough to hit accurately. Kenichi Tago likes to talk about keeping the head and body low to the ground, because suddenly raising the gaze is often more stable than lowering the gaze.
Finally, we can also practice our tactical awareness. Since we can only fixate on a single point at a time effectively, usually our focus should be on the shuttle. But with training and deliberate focus on the opponent through peripheral vision, it is possible to start judging the opponent’s feet orientation and position in the court.
So, I strongly encourage all players to do some eyework the next time they go to play. And please don’t forget your contacts.
-M
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