Shuttle Time programme comes to Zim

Innocent Choga  Fitness
The Badminton World Federation is on a mission to claim their stake of the exercising and sporting populace in Zimbabwe through the Shuttle Time programme.

The Shuttle Time is a grassroots Schools Badminton Project that supports healthy lifestyles at an early stage therefore rendering it a sport for life .

The goal is to make badminton one of the world’s most popular school sports by making it accessible to individuals of all ages and abilities. The Shuttle Time programme is also meant to create pathways from schools to Olympic podiums for those children who are talented.

The WBF through the Badminton Confederation Africa is engaging various stake holders to achieve their objective. Shuttle Time is to provide teaching materials and ensure that all the 174 affiliated countries are well equipped.

Locally the efforts are being exerted by the Badminton Association of Zimbabwe with Chipo Zumburani , a mother of two at the helm of the association as the President .

Chipo said, “Our aim is to get badminton to all corners of the country including the rural areas and to become the preferred physical education sport. We would like every school to implement Shuttle Time because we believe all children find badminton to be a lot of fun .It’s a very safe sport for children as there is little contact .It however involves a lot of technique and motor skills.

“We wish and are hoping to create a nation of active kids and youths. It’s good that we have both men and women in our association and sport. Each person comes with their own strength which we share when we come together.

“So having both men and women brings diversity and shows inclusiveness which we encourage in sport.”

Chipo is a financial advisor by profession she is a volunteer in sport. She says she has great love for badminton and she delights in offering others the opportunity to experience it.

So far they have trained 26 trainers and introduced the sport to 50 schools and the Vice President Mr Paul Kopolo added that out of these schools, 18 secondary schools and 12 primary schools are actively involved.

Mr Annirao Dajee, a Mauritian, who is the development manager of Badminton Confederation Africa, was in Zimbabwe in April to train the Shuttle Time coaches.

This was his third visit to Zimbabwe. He said programme is aimed at the grassroots level and it has same objectives as any other physical education curriculum. “We intend to help with the wholesome development of children, mentally socially and emotionally. The idea is to expose them to the different aspects of fitness.

“However, we do not push children before they have reached puberty because they will not have fully developed their muscles, lungs, heart and the joints and they are not ready for pure physical fitness elements like endurance, speed, flexibility and strength.”

“We work rather on building fundamental physical skills and developing many life skills. We work more on generally physical fitness not specific training. We work on their natural abilities, natural speed, natural strength, agility, coordination, stability and balance. Surely the game has the technical aspects, tactical aspect.

“It is very important for the children to develop the right motor skills first. Once they have developed the right techniques we will then teach the right tactics.”

Some of the skills that can be acquired through participating in badminton are hand-eye coordination skills, catching and throwing skills, jumping and landing skills, tactical awareness/decision making.

At this stage there are no dietary requirements, we tell them importance of a balanced diet and drinking water. This stage is for fun and enjoyment through safe minor games’ that are of low impact.

Both boys and girls can play together for social benefits. Children with disabilities can also play badminton . It is both an individual and team sport. Equipment is inexpensive and mass participation in small spaces is possible. “In Mauritius there is a sports culture, which includes the teaching of the basic biology principles,” the former teacher shared. “We also teach children about good behaviour, respecting others, helping others, what we should eat, and the importance of maintaining well posture and so forth.

“Physical Education is now an examinable subject and since two years ago we introduced specific physical education teachers. “Participation has been increasing, though as in every other African country the ratio of males to females is still titled favour of males, but a lot of women are taking up sport in general.”

The WBF claims that badminton is the second most popular sport in the World and it is the sixth most popular sport in the UK. I was sceptical of this at first and I thought that was far-fetched, but it becomes believable considering that badminton is said to be hugely popular in heavily populated Asian countries like China, India, Indonesia Malaysia, Thailand and Korea and so on .China and India rank number one and two in terms of population.

With the total world population sitting at slightly over 7,5 billion each of these countries has over 1,3 billion people, intercepted by America in third place with just over 326 million then followed by Indonesia in fourth with a population of over 263 million.

Add to that, the fact that in Australia, Europe (particularly Denmark) and America badminton is also very popular but in the last two countries it is played mostly as a hobby sport.

According to Total Sportek World ranking, badminton is the 16th most popular sport in the world but that is based on thirteen criteria some of which are competition, media preference, followers and finance and not just participation, because here we are talking of participation for fitness as both a hobby or competitive sport .

Yours truly is now a qualified level 2 badminton coach. So he will not only be fishing for participants, but he will also be getting fit by lunging, backsliding on the court and slamming the shuttlecock. “Which player does not enjoy slamming?” Coach Raffik Alfonso asked. “For many it is the most enjoyable technical aspect of badminton” which is also rated as the world’s fastest racket game.

  • Email:[email protected] Innocent Choga is a six time National Bodybuilding Champion with international experience. He is studying for a science degree in Physical Education and Sport

You Might Also Like

Comments