New Badminton Racket

I have been adopted by two kindly badminton coaches and they were both stunned - stunned - to learn a couple of weeks ago that I only had one racket. To them, this was an untenable situation and they pleaded with me to buy another. I normally only catch about half of what they say because they aren't trained elementary school teachers - but former Japanese Self-Force members - and they have never slowed down enough for me to clearly hear what they are saying. In any case, I took their advice and bought a new racket a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting to post about it; I wanted to see if it would work out.

For those readers that are badminton aficionados - after much internet investigation - the racket I bought was a Yonex Nanospeed 8000. I got a great deal, saving around $60 by buying it here instead of Canada. The thing that always cracks me about my new racket is how much technology is crammed into the thing, especially, blatantly, nano-technology. The racket is carbon but by the addition of nano-particles in-between particles the frame has been strengthened though weighting less. The strings are also nano coated. Nano-tech allows designers to pick and choose what characteristics they want the string to have. With the Nanogy 95 string, it's thinner, giving the better rebound characteristics normally associated with thinner string, but it's just as durable as thicker string. Also, the exact texture of the string is finely honed to grab the birdie, much to my liking, but the reviews are right to note that net play is nearly futile with this string.

The racket has not dramatically improved my game. Because it's one of the higher-tier rackets, it's tuned for maximum control and power when contact is made in the sweet spot; contact made outside the sweetspot can be very unforgiving. This racket will force me to use good technique thereby creating good habits. I have never thought of my smashes as particularly powerful but lately when I cleanly hit a shuttle with this racket I have been very happy with the results; laying the bird inches from the side lines.