Badminton Singles: Serve by Even or Odd Score
Singles game built around one key rule: serve from the right with an even score and from the left with an odd score, always crosscourt. Students work on the long singles serve, positioning in the service court, and keeping score.
How to play
- Explain with a demonstration pair: at 0, 2, 4... serve from the right service court; at 1, 3, 5... serve from the left, and the receiver stands in the diagonal court (2 min).
- Guided drill in pairs: the teacher calls a score, each server moves to the correct court and serves long, and the receiver checks the position (3 min).
- Game to 11 with rally scoring: whoever wins the point serves the next one from the court that matches their own score.
- Before every serve, the server calls the score, server's score first, for example 'five, three', and gets into position.
- If someone serves from the wrong court and the opponent catches it, the point is replayed from the correct side; afterward, switch opponents (9 min).
- Wrap-up: the teacher calls three random scores and everyone points with their racket to the side the serve comes from (2 min).
Rules
- The serve is hit below the waist and crosscourt into the opposite receiving court.
- Singles serve: the court is long and narrow, without the side alley.
- The receiver does not move until the server makes contact.
- Safety: the receiver waits off the court if the server is collecting shuttles.
Variations
Easier
Game to 7 points in which a serve that lands out can be retaken.
Standard
Game to 11 using the even-right, odd-left rule.
Harder
Add switching sides at 6, and a serve that clips the net and lands in is replayed.
Adaptations
- For students with limited mobility, shorten the receiving court to the front half.
- For students who are deaf or hard of hearing or have memory difficulties, place a red cone in the even court and a blue cone in the odd court.
- For stronger students, alternate long and short serves depending on where the receiver stands.
Learning goals
- Apply the rule for serving position based on the score.
- Perform a long crosscourt singles serve.
- Call the score correctly before every serve.
Equipment for a class of 25
- rackets: 26
- shuttlecocks: 30
- nets: 4
- cones: 16
Teacher tip
Students often mix up their own score with the opponent's: stress that the side depends on the server's score. With the colored cones, the rule becomes automatic within two lessons.
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