Community Development

Just last week, I was priviledged to participate in the International Federation Women in Leadership Forum which concluded in an agreement of a 10-point action plan to increase not just the number of women in sports, but the number of women in sport leadership roles. You can read more on the IOC news page.

Whilst we are familiar with the fact that sport contributes to personal and community engagement, identity, pride, and achievement, sport participation goes beyond these benefits. Sport is a popular focal point for strategies that underpin government policy for community development, health, peace building and social inclusion, used to address social inequities and disadvantage.

Badminton Australia is pleased to announce it has been successful in securing a $200,000 grant from the Federal Government to develop Shuttle Time in Nepal. The grant comes from the Asian Sports Partnerships Small Grants program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This great initiative will be managed by Sports Matters, and supported by the BWF.

New Members: Several Members have revamped their 2016 membership structure to include flat-fee or tiered affiliation costs and this has given new and existing associations and clubs the ability to register a greater number of players at various membership levels. This is helping our sport receive a reality check of playing numbers across the country. It is hoped that this growth in member numbers will continue in the short term and then stabilised over the next few years with supporting initiatives and programs.

Toward Tokyo 2020 Para-Badminton: Badminton Australia is hosting the first Para-Badminton Education Workshop in Oceania on 8-10 April 2016. Experts from BWF and Oceania will introduce para-badminton related administrative tools and provide some fundamentals of coaching para-badminton players. Members are asked to nominate coaches and administrators who are currently (or are keen to be) involved in para-badminton by 16 March 2016. Badminton Australia can then organise the registrations with Badminton Oceania and confirm with the participant on travel, accommodation, and course details.

Please continue to share programs and events in your States/Territories as they become available, to grow the sport profile and increase our abilty to provide support and share knowledge where possible.

In other news: Celebrating 100 Shuttle Times Gender Parity in Sport

Regards,