Create a New You in the New Year with the Louisville Badminton Club

LOUI SVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- Picking up a new sport like badminton may create a New You in the New Year.

WDRB's Keith Kaiser joins some players with the Louisville Badminton Club.

Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net.

Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players per side).

Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racquet and landing it within the opposing side's half of the court.

Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net.

Play ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor or if a fault has been called by the umpire, service judge, or the opposing side.

The shuttlecock is a feathered projectile which flies differently from the balls used in many other sports.

The feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly.

Shuttlecocks also have a high top speed compared to the balls in other racquet sports.

The game developed in British India from the earlier game of battledore and shuttlecock.

European play came to be dominated by Denmark but the game has become very popular in Asia, with recent competition dominated by China.

Since 1992, badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport with five events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.

At high levels of play, the sport demands excellent fitness: players require aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed, and precision.

The Louisville Badminton Club keeps the love of the sport going locally at Tom Sawyer Park Recreation Center.

Dozens of players get together almost twice a week for fun and exercise.

Click here to get connected to the Louisville Badminton Club on facebook.