The Rio Vista Rec Center is a new community facility and park located off Thunderbird & the 101 in Peoria, AZ. They offer a number of activities including basketball, volleyball, racquetball, softball, badminton, fishing, splash zone, skate park and baseball. The facility also boasts a decent sized exercise and workout center upstairs and offers a number of youth and adult activities both exercise/sports related as well as non-athletic activities.

The facility is new and thus is in very good shape. The grounds are clean as is the main facility itself. The staff are generally friendly (see below for an exception). Most are young adults yet are still professional and always have a smile on their face. Patrons can be either day guests or members. Day passes are $5 for Peoria residents (must bring ID) and $6 for everyone else. Membership is about average with 3 months costing you about $60 for an adult. Most of the patrons tend to be younger with many teens and young adults filling the gym floors and rock climbing wall. However, there are a number of “wiser” members to balance out the makeup. Everyone seems to get along and aside from the occasional young hotshots, I have yet to see any sort of negative or dangerous persons or activities.

Badminton

Now for what you have been waiting for, the badminton review. I have been a member at Rio Vista for a little under a year now and while I use the gym for weight and cardio training multiple times a week, I must admit that I have only played badminton here maybe 10 times over the past 3/4 year (hey, I’m a busy guy). The badminton schedule tends to shift with the seasons but is currently on Friday’s from 12-4pm and Saturday’s from 12-3pm.

As most public badminton facilities in the Phoenix area tend to be, they seem to look down on the sport despite the fact that they do offer some decent court time. They seem to only offer it as an alternative for the passerby to take a break from their other “main” activity. As such, you will often see kids jumping onto the court who have just gotten out of a basketball game or from an after school activity program.Very rarely will you see experienced players here (in fact, I have yet to see any, other than myself). The courts themselves are like most, bottom lines (drawn and cut over more popular court lines like basketball and volleyball) and bad lighting (large round lights that point down). However, the nets are good and level and the ceilings are high. The court itself is in good condition and has no cracks, chips, or peeling.

While Rio Vista has a gym that holds two basketball courts and thus is capable of 4 badminton courts, they rarely if ever put up more than one. When I had originally joined this facility, I asked about setting up more nets and I was told that if there were people waiting, they would set up the second court (one side of the gym is ALWAYS an open basketball court). Unfortunately, these may have been fleeting words. A few weekends ago I went to a Saturday open badminton time with a few of the girls I coach and there happened to be another family playing on the only court. I approached the front desk and asked to have the second court setup (nobody was on the empty 1/2 basketball court) and they said sure. However, the maintenance guy seemed to have a problem with this order and spoke to what I can only assume was a facility manager. The manager came over and told me that they usually don’t setup the second court. I told him about the earlier promises when I became a member and reminded him that their gym schedule specifically states that 1/2 of the gym (2 badminton courts) is to be dedicated to the scheduled sport…which at that time was badminton. He replied by telling me that he would put it up for a little while but that if basketball got crowded, he would take it down. This disturbed me since it appeared that 1) he was playing favorites with member sports, not treating each member and their activity as an equal, and 2) that it was seemingly against the policy that is clearly stated on their gym schedule. When I raised this complaint with him, he did not respond and simply walked away.

Needless to say, while I love Rio Vista for the fitness facilities they offer, as a badminton player, if I had another choice in the area, I would stay away from playing here. However, if you are simply looking to hit around a bit and aren’t too interested in serious games or being taken seriously by the staff, then this facility is fine. I was hoping to make Rio Vista Rec Center the home the Peoria co-ed badminton team but I have since put that idea into question. Don’t get me wrong, that incident may have just been a fluke (everyone has bad days). Other interactions with staff have been very positive (even some other discussions of badminton with some of the front-desk girls). However, his ignorance and bias was seething and really turned me off to playing at this facility.

By remembering and practicing these five core rules, you will vastly improve your game and will start building a solid foundation towards being an elite badminton player.

Racket up

• This is the biggest mistake most people make. Badminton is a very fast sport. Your racket needs to be up and in front of you ready to return the shuttle. Think of the center of your body as the center of a circle (your “badminton circle”) encompassing your entire body. The shortest distance to any point on your badminton circle is when you start from the center. So in order to reach the majority of shots in the shortest amount of time, you need to keep your racket up and in front of you.

Get back into position

• Being able to return anything hit at you is great, but of course during a match, the point is to keep the shuttle away from you, thus, you need to be positioned correctly after each shot you make in order to be ready for wherever the next shot may go.
• In singles, this almost always means that after your shot, you should be returning to the center of the court. Transitioning a variety of shots into fluid body movements to get you back to the center of the court takes practice but it is possible and we will go over them during practice. The only time during singles when you do not want to make the transition to the center of the court is after you make a net drop. You need to take one step back toward the center of the court and react to the opposing player’s next shot. This is to prevent the opposing player from simply re-dropping and causing you to needlessly move around the court.
• In doubles, positioning can be very confusing but once mastered, it is the skill that separates the pros from the amateurs. Doubles rotation will be covered during practice, as the concepts cannot easily be understood through writing.

Knees bent

• Your knees should never be locked; they should always be bent and ready to spring. Not only does this ready you for movement on the court but it also allows you to lower your center of gravity when on defense, thus giving you more stability during quick defensive shots. Then after you transition a defensive attack into an offensive opportunity, keeping your knees bent prepares you to quickly attack the shuttle.

On your toes

• This one goes hand-in-hand with keeping your knees bent. You should never be caught flat-footed. If you have ever watched a boxing match, you will notice that the boxers are always on their toes and their feet are always moving. This is because they need absolute split second reactions to keep from getting hit. Take a lesson from them and whenever you are on the court (yes, even between points, matches, and during practice) always keep on your toes and keep your feet moving. This keeps you agile and ready to react quickly.

Watch the shuttle

• You would think this was an obvious one but a lot of people end up watching either their opponent’s racket or their body in hope of figuring out where the shuttle is going to be hit. Experienced badminton players know that deception is the name of the game, especially when their opponent is of comparable skill to themselves. Always watch and react to only the shuttle. Do not make a move until the shuttle is contacted and you know where it is headed.

Of course there are many more strategies, skills, and fundamentals that we will cover during practice, but these core principals are what you need to know before you can even begin to elevate your badminton game.

It seems that the majority of beginning badminton players don’t really understand that when making the switch to feather shuttles, there are certain maintenance tasks that really need to be followed that ensure you get the best life and performance out of the shuttles. Here are a few guidelines for badminton feather shuttle care:

• Do not store the shuttles outdoors or in overly hot/dry areas (for the truly dedicated, storing shuttles in the refrigerator is ideal). Heat will dry out the feathers making the shuttle brittle; reducing the life of the shuttle. If possible, store them indoors and do not leave them in your car for extended periods.
• Steam/humidify the shuttles you plan on using 1-2 days prior to playing. This conditions the feathers and increases the durability of the shuttles. To steam shuttles, leave them in the tube but remove both end caps. If you have a hand-held steamer (used for cleaning or de-wrinkling) shoot steam into the bottom of the tube (where the shuttles are removed from) avoiding the cork. If you do not have a steamer, hold the open tube over a small pot of boiling water. Continue either method until steam emerges from the far end of the tube (a few seconds). Seal the tube with the end caps. An alternative method is to place about 2-3 inches of hot water into a shallow bowl. Remove all the shuttles and, holding the cork, dip the feather end of the shuttles into the hot water for about 1-2 seconds. Because fathers repel water, it will not soak through. However, the small amounts of hot water that do collect will be enough humidify and moisten the feathers over the course of the next 1-2 days. Immediately place the shuttles into the tube and seal it.
• During breaks in play, if you notice that the feathers of the shuttle are in disarray, gently run your fingers between the feathers such that they become aligned and straight. This will help prolong the life of the shuttle during play.
• When a shuttle begins to fly awkwardly or looses its feathers, it’s time for a new shuttle. However, chances are that the used shuttle can still be used for drills like hitting against the wall, shuttle pickups, net drops, and other drills where consistent shuttle flight is not absolutely necessary. I almost always keep a tube of used shuttles in my bag for this specific reason.