In a series of studies conducted by the Department of Physical Education at Baylor University, information has been obtained which suggests that badminton is one of the finest conditioning types of activities. The game possesses all of the fundamental motor skills with which man is endowed and demands faster reactions than most any other game.

Fundamentally, the game demands the execution of such skills as running, jumping, twisting, striking throwing, and various combinations of these skills executed in rapid hand-eye coordination. In a three game singles match played between two average men, players of approximately equal ability, one should expect to find that the three games require a total of about forty-five minutes, during twenty minutes (44%) of which the shuttlecock is in actual flight or being batted by one player or the other. During that twenty minutes of highly concentrated running, jumping, twisting, stretching, running backwards, throwing and striking, each player will travel approximately one mile. He will also make at least 350 changes of direction of 90 degrees or better, and will strike the shuttle some 400 times. Of these 400 strokes, 150 will be full arm swings of a racket weighing some five ounces. (Many major league pitches have pitched a complete baseball game without throwing that many times). Players in normal physical condition should expect an increase in pulse rate from 72 to approximately 125 and increase and systolic blood pressure from 120 to 145.

Few games require as much concentrated actions as badminton. In a three-set tennis match one should not expect the ball to be in play any more than eight per-cent of the total time; while in football, a game we think of as being so vigorous, the ball in actually in play only about 14 minutes (12 %) of the two odd hours that the players spend on the field.