Last year was a busy time for badminton in Vanuatu. The formation of the Vanuatu Badminton Association and a Shuttle Time Teacher’s course have fast-tracked the sport’s development in the area. This comes as the South Pacific nation strives to become an official BWF and BOC member.
This April, the BWF features their work as the Shuttle Time Project of the Month.
With the support from Badminton Oceania Confederation (BOC), the Shuttle Time Teachers course was conducted by Danny Oud (BOC Development Officer) and Sam Kreutzer (BOC Participation & Development Manager). BOC shipped in equipment including AirBadminton kits and school sets. This new member planning visit was made possible through the BWF New Membership Grant.
Along with the Teachers course, AirBadminton activity was held at Feiawa Park, while Para badminton Shuttle Time sessions were held at Korman Stadium, all in the capital city of Port Vila.
The Shuttle Time Teachers course, which was run on 7 December, was attended by nine members of the community who all passed the course. The following day, an AirBadminton have-a-go session at the Port Vila ‘Christmas in the Park festival’ was delivered. The new Shuttle Time Teachers had the opportunity to deliver activities to children from the community who joined in.
On 9 and 11 December, two sessions in collaboration with the Vanuatu Paralympic Committee were delivered by the new Shuttle Time Teachers and Dhanny Oud to para athletes.
Vanuatu BA now has a base Shuttle Time workforce with the nine Teachers, and a Shuttle Time National Coordinator, to begin efforts to develop badminton in Vanuatu through Shuttle Time.
Unfortunately, on 17 December 2024, Vanuatu was hit by a devastating earthquake which destroyed infrastructure and caused death, injury and displacement to communities around the country. Vanuatu is still recovering from the earthquake, but VBA is still primed to deliver Shuttle Time in whatever context is possible throughout the year.
For the full article, visit the BWF Shuttle Time website.
