Footwork and court positioning
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can cover the court quickly, with precision and lunging movements, to always return to the middle of the court.
Key learning points
- Move: lunging then pushing back to a central position at pace and repeatedly under pressure shows good fitness.
- Think: recovering to a central position prevents opposition from having an obvious space to exploit.
- Feel: confidence to lunge with precision and get back to the central position quickly between shots comes with practice.
- Connect: performance is often improved by providing support and extrinsic motivation to complete a set of routines.
Keywords
Lunge - an extended step to reach the shuttle before pushing back towards the middle of the court
Split step - a small explosive jump movement onto both feet which enables you to change direction quickly
Central position - return towards the middle of the court between shots to respond to the most likely shot from your opponent
Common misconception
Getting out of position after hitting a shot.
Learning to lunge and recover quickly to the middle of the court requires explosive strength/power but avoids exposing space for your opposition to attack.
Teacher tip
Use the same groups from previous lessons and based on performance in games, look to promote one player up a court and one player down a court each week to ascertain a rank ordering of strongest down to weakest court of players in your sports hall. This will help with final assessments.
Equipment
1 badminton racket per pupil, at least a shuttlecock between 2 but ideally more and floor markers.
Content guidance
Risk assessment required - physical activity
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Which lines do we use for serving in singles?
Q2.What form of extrinsic motivation helps us the most to focus and practice hard?
Q3.Which of the following is a service fault?
Q4.Where do most players struggle the most to return the shuttle from?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.When playing racket sports, what sort of footwork should you use to move to the shuttle/ball?
Q2.What is the benefit of performing a split step?
Q3.Why should you return to the central position with confidence between points?
Q4.What component of fitness is required to explosively contract muscles to lunge fast?
To help you plan your 10 physical education lesson on: Footwork and court positioning, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 physical education lesson on: Footwork and court positioning, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom.
Explore more key stage 4 physical education lessons from the Non-examined assessment: badminton practical unit, dive into the full secondary physical education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.