Smash Hits - Innovating Times
Dear Members,
Congratulations to the Australian Men's and Women's Teams for winning the Oceania Championships this year. The teams will head to Bangkok (May) for the Thomas and Uber Cup competitions. Before then we will see more of the Australians at the national championships in Melbourne (Feb) and then the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast (Apr).
The draw and schedule for the badminton competition at the Commonwealth Games is released and there is no better time to secure tickets. Encourage your clubs and members to attend and participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event!
Thank you to representatives from all States for attending the RevolutioniseSPORT database training on 24 January and 3 February. The process of database familiarisation and data import begins. As State/Territory Associations are now considering affiliation and insurance renewals, it is a good time to put the database to test.
Log in and navigate through the menus to ‘visualise/feel’ how you might use the system (also refer to quick start guides provided in the welcome emails).
Try entering 2-3 member records from scratch, and identify what other data fields (unique to you) that may need to be created to record your member profiles.
Advise RevolutioniseSPORT to create the additional data fields.
Export the most updated membership register you have for RevolutioniseSPORT to import to the new system.
Use the new system and provide any necessary feedback about your user experience!
The past few weeks have been jam packed with grass-roots badminton activity across the country. New South Wales saw a couple of Shuttle Time clinics for over 100 children - this was also featured on BWF Shuttle Time. Even bigger was an open day in Tasmania whereby over 200 children were given new opportunities to participate in badminton. Meanwhile in Victoria, a new Shuttle Time Tour has kicked off. These are in addition to many innovating programs and events being initiated by clubs and associations across the country.
Innovation is also on BWF's agenda as to ensure badminton remains competitive in the fast-paced, cutting-edge sports-entertainment industry. Under the banner Enhancing Badminton’s Future, read more about the proposed plans here.
Something else that may have caught your attention recently are the powerful messages promoting gender equality in many industries. Sport is no different and the challenge is for us to take steps to mentor/sponsor/advance more women in badminton. Below is some national data on women in badminton across Australia in 2017.
For Sporting Schools, badminton is currently tracking over 40 school requests across seven States in Term 1, with almost 30% choosing to deliver in-house as a teacher program. Term 4 survey results were shared to State/Territory Associations - there is plenty of room for improvement as coaches should collaborate more with the schools to offer information about local clubs and next steps to participate further in badminton.
The 2018 Li-Ning Australian Para-Badminton National Championships presented by Findex will get underway at the Kingsway Indoor Stadium in Perth from 24-25 February, with 20 players entered from 4 States. The wheelchair class contains the highest ever number of entries. The WAIS has also been engaged to deliver S&C services as part of the training camp following the competition. With support from the APC, BA will also be delivering National Classification at the championships, a huge step forward for para-badminton's player pathway and development. I wish to also thank Badminton WA for their financial and operational support of this event and look forward to being back in Perth soon!
Regards, Marianne Loh Participation Manager Badminton Australia
