Chassé step in badminton: how to side-step, stay balanced and avoid ankle and knee stress, with a milestone test you can do alone and a list of common mistakes.
The chassé step is a sideways closing step: the foot leading away from the ball pushes off, the other foot follows and closes up – without the legs crossing. It takes you quickly and stably over short distances to the side and backward, for example from the net to the middle or to the sideline.
The honest answer first: the chassé is not "the" fastest way. In a measurement with 14 badminton players, the energy cost of side steps and running steps did not differ at maximal speed [1]. That means you choose the step by situation and balance, not by a myth of efficiency. And there is a second reason to learn the chassé cleanly: it shapes your load. In ACL surgeries after badminton, 8 of 21 players named direction changes during side or backward steps as the mechanism [2].
With two to four sessions you should make the chassé secure – an experience value, not a study figure.
Feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, knees slightly bent, racket in front of the body. Weight on the balls of the feet. That is teaching consensus.
Place the foot pointing in your direction of travel a bit to the side. The other foot follows and closes up without crossing. Your upper body stays upright and keeps facing the net. The speed comes from the push-off of the rear leg.
Do three chassés in a row in one direction. Do not overtake with the closing leg, but place it level with the leading foot. At the stop you plant the foot with a bent knee.
When changing direction you do not hop but plant the foot flat. Better avoid a hard "zig-zag" stop: in ACL injuries, plant-and-cut during side or backward steps was named as a mechanism; all eight affected players injured the knee on the racket-hand side [2].
Run 10 lanes between two markers 5 metres apart and back, using chassés only. Move on when you do not cross, do not hop and stop stably with a bent knee at the end of each run. The milestone figure is a practice value.
Plan 15 minutes: 3 minutes of warm-up with split steps, 7 minutes of chassé lanes along the sideline (5 metres each, rest after every lane), 5 minutes with racket and shadow swings at the end of every lane. Film yourself once from the front and check one thing only: do the legs cross? This is an experience routine, not a study recommendation.
In a match you combine the chassé with running steps: for short paths and when going back while facing the net it is stable, for long paths a running step is often more practical. What matters is that you arrive in balance at the end of each path before you play the shot. That is teaching consensus, not evidence.
Place a cone as a "wall". Put a cone one step before the finish and stop without touching it. That teaches the soft stop. A practice trick without study evidence.
A sideways closing step where the foot in the direction of travel lands first and the other foot closes up without crossing. It takes you quickly and stably to the side.
Not demonstrably. In a measurement with 14 players, the energy cost of side steps and running steps did not differ [1]. You choose by situation and balance.
For short sideways paths and when going back while facing the net. For long paths a running step is often more practical. That is teaching consensus.
The step itself is not, but hard stopping and fatigue are. In ACL injuries, plant-and-cut during side or backward steps is described as a mechanism [2], and tired players invert more [3].
Yes. It is the basis for footwork and prepares the scissor kick and the lunge. That is teaching consensus.
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