If you really want to get better at badminton, you need to stop playing in your bare feet while carrying a beverage in your non-racquet hand.

At least, that's the advice I've been given!

For more sage advice, hear what some experts have to say about how to improve your badminton.

As we approach the Beijing Olympics in August, it's valuable to understand just how important Olympic Badminton is to some countries, to some players, and to some committees!

There are very strict rules for the Olympic badminton competition, and there are certainly players who are following their competitive badminton dreams. Rules and dreams. What a contrast! Yet, somehow fitting for this sport that combines 200 mph smashes with feathery, delicate drops...

Well, badminton hasn't been around as long as court tennis, which has been played since Shakespeare's day, but it does have a pretty long history. Precursors include "battledore and shuttlecock" and a game known in India as "poona". From 1873 onwards, the name of the game seems to have stabilized in England (with the help of some key nobility) as badminton.

Learn how the Duke of Beaufort helped out, as you explore the British side of badminton history!

Take a look at recent action photos taken of the top badminton medal contenders for the Beijing Olympics and you'll see one thing right away, whether they play mens singles, womens singles, or mixed doubles.

They have a wonderful combination of explosive power coupled with extreme precision. That contrast always leaves their opponents guessing. Doesn't that help in any racquet sport?

There are some great controversies brewing in the world of Olympic badminton, with China's top player Dan Lin recently punching his own coach and also getting embroiled in harsh words with his opponent's coaches.

But, here in the US, our Olympic badminton controversies stem mostly from bylaws, committees, and board structure. Ah, the intrigue of bureaucracy invades the world of sport!

What would happen if you wandered onto the squash court for the very first time and played a few points with an experienced player for fun?

Well, you'd quickly begin to see how much fun the sport can be, and you might begin to appreciate how physically demanding it can be. And you might hear some unfamiliar words and phrases...

For example, if you managed to hit the ball to the front wall so that the ball next bounced right into the crack between the floor and the side wall, you'd probably hear your partner say "Nice Nick!"

Weird, huh? Especially if your name isn't Nick!

Luckily, there's a handy squash glossary to get us all on the same page, which is especially helpful for a worldwide sport such as squash.

World Number 1 squash player Nicol David will carry the Olympic flame today, her second time doing so, giving yet one more example of how squash supports the Olympics. May the reverse soon prove true!

She'll be joined by her five Malaysian countrymen and badminton medal winners, Cheah Soon Kit, Yap Kim Hock, Razif Sidek, Jalani Sidek, and Rashid Sidek.

At least the path to Olympic badminton has been clear, and not so obstructed as that for squash.

Three badminton gold medalists will carry the Olympic Torch on April 22 (Earth Day!) during its Indonesian stage. Susi Susanti and Alan Budikusuma (1992 singles champions, and also wife and husband!), and Taufik Hidayat (2004 mens singles champion) will each hold the flame aloft while running roughly 100 meters, then hand it off to the next runner.

Seems to me that racquet sports players are doing an awful lot of the torch-bearing this year! Join me and the other members of the online badminton community as we anticipate some great Olympic badminton this summer.

I'm on a slight rant right now, because some of my fellow About.com guides seem to be maligning racquet sports; claiming they all cause tennis elbow! And my colleagues have created a very informative video about tennis elbow, and posted it right on the main About.com home page.

Now, I know they're not entirely correct -- some racquet sports are much worse than others in terms of creating elbow stress. I just stepped off the court myself, wondering whether my elbow would survive the beating. I manage it, however, by not playing every day. That works for me!

So, here are some suggestions (from a racquet sports perspective rather than a medical perspective!) for how to avoid tennis elbow.

There was a huge effort to get squash included in the program for the 2012 Olympics, but the over 13 million squash players worldwide were sorely disappointed -- squash was not added to the program. Amazing!

The cause is not really lost though, as squash is contested in the Pan American games and in many other multinational events. (Inclusion of a sport in these events is often a precursor to a sport reaching the Olympic program.)

And tomorrow, another first will take place! Jahangir Khan, former squash world champion and current president of the World Squash Federation will carry the Olympic torch on its route through Pakistan!

For the latest olympic torch details, you can follow the flame through Google Map's Torch Relay. Some world-class badminton players will be carrying it soon.