The Game of Badminton Volleyball

This is a game I was introduced to at an Achper conference. As soon as I played it I loved it and have been incorporating it into my PE lessons ever since (when I’m teaching Badminton that is!).

One of the reasons I like it so much is it works really well if you haven’t got loads of space. In our gym we have three badminton courts marked out on the gym floor which is perfect.

I’m lucky enough to have smaller classes, but I’ve played this with 3 - 4 students on a team.

Basically the game is badminton, but with the majority of the rules being taken from volleyball.

I’ll endeavor to explain the game using the 3 vs. 3 format.

I usually divide the class up myself, having a range of development within a team.

With the 3 student format, I have 1 student in the middle of the court at the net, and the other 2 mid court, one left, one right. If you looked from above they would be stood in a triangle formation.

After rock. paper. scissors and serve is decided, the server, servers as to the rules of badminton, behind the line (because I teach primary, I usually say the serve can travel anywhere over the net, not necessarily diagonally or even over the service line).

Once the shuttlecock is in play, each side have the option to play the shuttle a maximum of 3 times before it has to travel back over the net, and a single player can’t hit the shuttle consecutively. 

Like volleyball when a team wins service back, the students rotate. This gives everyone practice on their serve and it make sure everyone gets involved, so often one piece of the court gets to see a lot of action and rotating helps everyone get more involved.

We play until 21.

The game tends to be a lot more inclusive of everyone's individual skill, the students get to team with peers, and it is a good use of limited space.