In this lesson, we will explore how to start a rally. Forehand service is a very good and safe way to start, it is when you hold the shuttle in your non-dominant hand and let it drop, whilst swinging you racket from below with your dominant hand and hitting the shuttle. Its advantages are:

• Very hard for the opponent to create angles from your serve
• Error rate is quite low
• Gives you time to be in a good position
• Short serve can deceive the opponent

This service does however at higher levels take away your initiative from the beginning of the rally, so it is not commonly used at higher levels

Things to focus on:

• Make sure that your arm is relaxed when doing the high serve
• Use variations by adding the short serve and a flatter serve
• Use the base grip when serving
• Footstance should be slightly wide, and go in a 'see-saw' like movement