Smash Hits - Sport For Change

Dear Members,

I'm writing to you from Bangladesh, where Badminton Australia is involved in Shuttle Time Bangladesh, a sports diplomacy program thanks to the Australian Government through the Asian Sports Partnership (ASP) grant funding. Today we also celebrated International Women's Day by engaging 33 female school teachers, and 59 female school students using Shuttle Time. We were joined by Australia's High Commissioner in Bangladesh Julia Niblett.

BA hosted a Shuttle Time Tutor Course in Maribyrnong, Victoria on 28-29 January for 10 participants. Some of those newly qualified Tutors have now scheduled Shuttle Time Teacher Courses in the coming month. It was also great to see the Tutor-led practical session thoroughly enjoyed by 11 children who had little to no badminton experience prior. To encourage greater number of people qualified to teach Shuttle Time and grow participation in badminton, it is also encouraged that Members and their Tutors welcome various methods of learning, including a remote process.

Please note that BA's website has been updated with some menu items being consolidated, and a GET INVOLVED section now generated. Shuttle Time and Sporting Schools have their own links as these can now be used as a reference point for any direct program enquiries. Coaching information is also refreshed. Results from the BA Participation Survey Research are uploaded in Opportunities. Please let us know if you would like to suggest any further content be added, updated, or removed.

With the Sudirman Cup getting closer by the day, BA thanks Queensland Badminton Association and Badminton New South Wales for hosting Chinese New Year activations from January to February in various locations, providing a great exposure for the Cup.

The 2017 Australian Para-Badminton Championships and Training Camp concluded after some intense on-court training, gym session, and education workshops with over 40 people being part of the event again. We acknowledge the support of all volunteer carers, coaches, officials, Badminton Oceania and the Australian Paralympic Committee for this event. It was great to see a few new faces, and observe the improvement across all players in such a short time since we last met...there were some very exciting and close singles and doubles matches! Photos are available here. Some players' attentions now move toward the Thailand Para-Badminton International in May.

Badminton has been a Sporting Schools choice in Term 1, with over 60 program requests just in the first few weeks of school, with the majority in Victoria and Western Australia. There's likely to be many others yet to be recorded! Thank you to all State/Territory Sporting Schools Coordinators for processing the bookings in a timely manner this Term. Please continue to highlight any unusual or unreasonable requests for us to collect and provide feedback to Sporting Schools.

In other news: Create sponsorship value

Regards, Marianne Loh Participation Manager Badminton Australia