During any rally, there will be points at which you need to get the shuttle as far away from the opponent as possible. In badminton, this type of a shot is known as the clear or toss. Read on to know what Abhijeet Naimpally has to say about it.

The clear is a rear court stroke which is played from your rear court to the opponent’s rear court, either straight or diagonally. The clear is quite versatile and capable of being played as an attacking flat clear or a high defensive clear. In the attacking clear, the shuttle quickly goes past and displaces the opponent, forcing a weak return. The high defensive clear slows down the rally, sending the opponent to the rear corners of the court. This buys you time to recover and return to ready position to play the next stroke.

Grip and Posture

We’ll now look at how to go about executing a forehand clear. This is played with a basic grip and side stance with your front arm raised. Step back to shift the load to the rear leg, pushing your rear hip forward. The rear shoulder and elbow move upwards and forward. Now rotate the arm outwards and get ready to engage the shuttle.

Position and Technique

Begin a forward swing with your arm rotating inwards. Hit the shuttle hard at the highest point in front of the body. Your back leg crosses in front of the front leg and the follow-through action causes the arm to rotate inwards in a downward direction. The forehand clear of course requires some amount of practice to get the technique right every time.

Perfecting Your Forehand Clear

There are four exercises that will help you in this. The first involves a suspended shuttle at an ideal height. Follow the steps and hit it using the forehand clear. Next is the predictable two player rally with forward recovery step. Find a sparring partner or coach who can assist you in this.

The third exercise will help you master the two variants of the forehand clear, that is playing it straight or diagonally. Enter into a 2 on 1 predictable clear rally with two sparring partners. Once you’ve got a hang of the forehand clear through predictable rallies, take it a step further through 1 on 1 unpredictable clears. This final exercise is practised full court with no restrictions, so you can really elevate your clear skills.

Now that you know the technique and exercises to improve your forehand clear stroke, all that remains is for you to practise regularly. It’s a shot that you’ll end up using quite a bit in any match, especially to slow down the rally a bit and buy some time to plan your play. In the next post, you’ll read about a rally-winning stroke that’s everyone’s favourite – the smash. Keep practising. Keep learning.