Physical Fitness and Sport-Specific Skills in Competitive Youth Badminton Players: Implications for Training and Talent Development

Abstract

Badminton performance requires the integration of physical fitness and sport-specific technical skills. However, their relationships among pre-adolescent competitive players remain insufficiently understood. This study examined physical and technical performance, group differences, and associations between fitness attributes and badminton-specific skills among competitive youth players in Singapore. Physical fitness was assessed through wrist elevation, vertical jump, estimated jump power, and shuttle-run performance, while clear, drop, net, and lift shots were evaluated using standardized target-based assessments. Lower-limb power and agility showed significant but generally limited associations with selected technical skills, whereas wrist flexibility was not meaningfully associated with skill performance. The findings indicate that physical fitness supports but does not independently determine technical proficiency, emphasizing multidimensional training and talent-development approaches for competitive youth badminton.