When moving forward to a direction: In boxing, when you throw a punch, you do it with your feet at about 45 degree angle from the direction you're throwing the punch to and you land on the ball of the feet. This supposedly allows you to move quickly afterwards. In badminton, I notice the prevalent technique is your feet pointing at the shuttlecock and you land on your heel first. I wonder why we badminton players do not adopt the boxing technique. Is there an advantage to the heel pointing vs ball of the feet at an angle?
The sports are completely different and hence the requirements of the movements are completely different. Boxers do not need to move such long distances at such fast speeds and then suddenly come to a stop (without breaking their ankle) before returning back to the middle of the court. Badminton players do. The safest way to come to a complete stop whilst reaching forwards is to perform a lunge, and the correct way to protect your joints at such a great speed is to make sure they all align (hence the pointing foot in direction of movement). As badminton players, if you do not have far to move, then it is not important to perform the lunge, hence you will see players moving primarily on the balls of their feet, usually at an angle as you describe - its all about how far and how fast you need to move and stop. I hope that makes sense.
That makes a lot of sense. Although, I do see top players do the "badminton way" instead of the "boxing way" even over very short distances. I assume it's just habit but do wonder if they're not better served by doing it the "boxing way" for these distances.
one reason why we land on heel first on not on the ball of feet is to prevent injury. I forgot from who, but there was an explanation on it. and when I try it myself, landing with heel feels much better than ball on feet, as it doesn't hurt as much and I can immediately stop.
