"Okay, come here." Wooyoung-oppa said when he reached the center of the court.

I walked there and I faced him.

"This is how you hold a racket." He said, showing me and guiding my fingers so that I can have the right grip.

"But this is only for forehand shots - the right side of your body." He said, moving away from me then showing a few movements. I think that they are how I'm supposed to hit a ball.

He walked back to me.

"This is how you hold is for the backhand shots - left side of your body." He said, turning the racket in his arms.

This one I easily got. You just need to move your thumb so that it's on the racket grip.

Wooyoung-oppa moved away again and started doing backhand shots. I watched him.

"Did you get both?" He asked me.

"Ne." I said, shifting between the forehand and backhand grips.

"Today, you'll learn about the right form." He said, facing the net and pointing his left arm above. His right arm was folded at his back. He extended his racket arm. "That is how it's supposed to be. Did you get it?"

I tried it out.

"Good." He said. "Now, hit the ball with that form."

I stood in the center of the court. He stood in the center of the other court.

He started throwing shuttlecocks at me. I was supposed to hit them but…

Yeah, I just hit a few.

We did this over and over again. Nearing the end of one hour, I finally was able to get almost all the shuttlecocks but admittedly, I'm exhausted.

He walked over to me after the last set of shuttlecocks.

"We're done." He smiled. "Not much of a sports wreck anymore, huh?"

I laughed. "Maybe."

He went to the men's locker room and I sat on the bench. A few minutes later, that guy… Junho, I think, sat beside me. I moved away a little.

Wooyoung-oppa came back. He sat on my other side. I got my bag and took out my wallet. I handed Wooyoung-oppa the money for the training session. Junho looked at me.

"Why pay him when he just made you exhausted?" He smiled.

I looked at him strangely. We both smiled, or held back laughter. I don't know.

____________________ 

Grip - the way you hold the racket. Aside from the proper forehand and backhand, there are other kinds of grips that can be done. It's either they are worse or better than the 2. Forehand and backhand are the best to be learned by beginners.

Forehand - shots done to the right side of your body. Unless you are left handed making your forehand the left side of your body. It is easier to do that the backhand.

Backhand - shots done to the left side of your body. If you are left handed then your backhand is the right side of your body. It takes a lot of training and practice to make good backhand shots.

Form - the badminton general form - used in clears and smashes - is basically pointing the non-racket arm above (for balance) and folding your racket arm behind your head (we also call this 'Racket back').

Shuttlecock - (I know you guys know this, but still) Projectile used in badminton. Sometimes called bird or birdie. Those made out of Nylon or are synthetic are called 'Plastics' and those that are made up of actual feathers are called 'Feathers'. Feathered shuttlecocks are also preferred whilst plastics are usually used outdoors. A shuttlecock normally has 16 feathers.

What Wooyoung was doing - making forms/shots without a shuttlecock - is called Shadowplay. I think that it's for obvious reasons.