Theย Humans of Shuttle Time series from the Badminton World Federation shares the viewpoints of those who contribute to grassroots badminton development. Daniel Akavi is the first recipient of the Shuttle Time Youth Leadership Award. He shares his story of growing up in the Cook Islands and what badminton means to him.
๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐๐
During my childhood, I was more involved in church and school activities than anything else. Iโd go to church every morning, head to school, and then go back home.
๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
I first saw badminton at school during an activity organised by Badminton Cook Islands.
When I first saw badminton, I thought that it was a sport that could be played right away, but of course I was wrong and when I first tried it, I instantly knew that it takes years of commitment to develop and make yourself the best player you can be.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป
Ever since, I have been training with Badminton Cook Islands for the last seven years and have travelled with Badminton Cook Islands to the AIMS Games, Oceania Championships and New Zealand nationals. I attended the BWF Shuttle Time Youth Leadership Workshop in Cook Islands in September 2022. The workshop was delivered by Hebrew Tom, Shuttle Time Tutor of Cook Islands.
๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐
My most memorable moment was becoming the Cook Islands U19 doubles champion 2019 with my partner by defeating the top seeds in the final.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐
Badminton is part of my everyday life now and the only thing that gets me out of the house besides church or school.
What makes badminton different from other sports is that not only does it make you physically and mentally stronger, it helps enhance social skills, as it did for me as when I was younger. I could never speak to people about things that I liked to talk about, but after I started playing badminton, I grew confident and am now pretty loud and spontaneous.
๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐
While in one of the outer islands of our country for badminton development, it was a great experience for me as a player and a youth leader as I could see the varied interests of players in our community.
Shuttle Time has made a big difference in our community. Our after-school and outer-island programmes have made badminton a more widely known sport throughout the country and made it easier to produce players for future tournaments overseas. Also, this brings out the social activity within our community in a healthy and fun way.
๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ต๐๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ
While being with Shuttle Time, a lesson that I have learnt is that everyone has a chance to play this sport, no matter what size or age they are. As long as you want to play the sport, you must play it with everything youโve got, no matter the disadvantages you face.
