Rules, kit and how to get better
Straight answers to the things people ask at the desk — scoring, equipment, technique, and how to get a game when you do not have a team.
Badminton or pickleball — which should you start with?
Both are racquet sports played on a small court with a net in the middle. That is roughly where the similarity ends, and choosing the wrong one first can…
badmintonBadminton scoring, explained properly
Badminton scoring looks simple until the score reaches 2020, or until somebody serves from the wrong side and nobody is sure whether it mattered. Here is the…
box cricketBox cricket rules, and how to actually organise a game
Box cricket is the easiest sport to organise for a group who cannot agree on anything else. It needs no skill floor, it finishes inside an hour, and…
badmintonEight minutes of warm-up that prevents most badminton injuries
Badminton injures three parts of the body more than anything else: the shoulder, the calf, and the knee. Almost all of it happens in the first ten minutes of…
badmintonFeather or nylon shuttlecocks — which should you play with?
Almost every club argument about shuttlecocks is really an argument about money. Here is what actually separates them. A feather shuttle decelerates hard. It…
swimmingFreestyle breathing, for adults who keep running out of air
Most adults who "cannot swim more than a length" can swim perfectly well. What they cannot do is breathe, and three specific faults cause almost all of it.…
badmintonGrip — the one thing almost every beginner gets wrong
If a coach could fix one thing about a new player's game before anything else, it would be the grip. Not fitness, not footwork, not the swing. The grip,…
badmintonHow many sessions a week is actually right?
The honest answer depends on what you are trying to get, and the two goals pull in different directions. Two sessions a week, minimum. Motor skills…
badmintonHow to choose your first badminton racket
The racket a shop recommends to a beginner is usually the one a good player would choose, and those are close to opposite things. Here is what actually…
badmintonHow to get a game when you do not have a team
The single commonest reason people stop playing a sport is not cost, injury or time. It is that the person who used to organise the game moved away. Here is…
pickleballPickleball rules for complete beginners
Pickleball has a reputation for being the easiest racquet sport to pick up, and the reputation is earned. Most people manage a proper rally within ten…
badmintonPlaying through the Pune monsoon
The monsoon is where most people's sporting habit quietly dies. Not because they decide to stop, but because two sessions get rained off and the third is…
footballSmall-sided football — why 5s and 7s are the better game
Most adults who still play football play smallsided, and it is not a compromise. On a small pitch you touch the ball five to ten times more often than in an…
table tennisThe table tennis serve rules people get wrong
Almost every club table tennis argument is about the serve. Here are the rules, which are less complicated than the arguments suggest. The ball starts on an…
badmintonWhat a session pack is, and how to choose one
Most sports memberships are sold by time — a month, a quarter, a year — and most of them are quietly designed around the fact that you will not use them. A…
badmintonWhat beginner, intermediate and advanced actually mean
Skill level is not a ranking and it is not a judgement. It exists for one reason: so the games are close. A close game is a good evening; a onesided game is…
swimmingWhat to bring to your first swimming lesson
Learning to swim as an adult is a different experience from learning as a child, and almost every guide is written for children. This one is not. A proper…
badmintonWhy running shoes are the wrong shoes for court sports
The commonest injury at any indoor court venue is a rolled ankle, and the commonest cause is not fatigue or bad luck. It is footwear. Running shoes are the…