Read how badminton has had an influence on Lily and the road taken to become a Shuttle Time Trainer in Australia.
My twin elder brother and I were born prematurely into a family of accomplished scholars and business managers who also enjoyed sports of all kinds. Mum was an elite centre player in basketball; dad’s main sport was volleyball, and they both enjoyed playing tennis and squash. My elder sister and my twin brother were keen swimmers and crazy about football. They not only excelled in playing the sports they loved, but also became coaches and technical officials.
Then there was me, the odd one out, “a little stick figure” as I was commonly known, frequently at the doctor’s or in hospitals, who my grandparents possibly feared losing at a young age. I was a quiet bookworm, who shied away from all the sports that my family was good at. I did enjoy hiking with family and friends, and to everybody’s surprise, ventured into gymnastics and became quite fond of it, before a serious injury left me bedridden for three months just before I turned 10.
𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈
One year we went to the All England, and we saw real badminton in action. I remember being so intrigued by badminton that I was on to my dad with all questions about badminton.
I was also thrilled to find that one of the winners was from the city that we had just left – Zhang Ailing of Shanghai. Little did I know that some 30 years later, our paths would cross again in Western Australia.
Badminton did remain one of the sports that we played regularly throughout our childhood time of living in Canada, Japan, Germany and Spain. It was an ice-breaker particularly in Japan, while we struggled to learn to speak my mum’s mother tongue with her distant relatives who luckily, all enjoyed playing badminton and volleyball.
𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲
Settling with my own young family in my husband’s hometown of Perth, Australia after the London Olympics, I took on an active role to volunteer for Badminton WA, with which I remain a regular player, and went on to become a qualified coach and coach educator at the highest level in that state. I’ve dedicated the past decade in junior development, coach and officials development, and event management as a board director, a former President, and a proud service-award recipient of Badminton WA.
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭
Badminton brought about influences in my life that helped to direct my energy and expertise to make a difference, typically among Para and female players.
After Lynn, one of my elderly fellow-pennant players, became immobilised after a heart attack, she became one of the first wheelchair badminton players in Australia. I helped Lynn train, and subsequently became a supportive member of WA Para badminton.
I was privileged to lead the association when Western Australia was at the forefront of Para badminton to employ a dedicated Inclusion Officer, Ian Bridge, who went on to establish WA Bad Wheels.
I’m pleased to be involved in badminton as a player, a coach, a technical official, an educator, an administrator, an advocate, a volunteer… which gives me the sense of wholesomeness and enabled me to meet, relate, and interact meaningfully with people in all aspects of badminton, and helping to make a positive difference.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭
Inclusion of people of all backgrounds, age and ability. The dynamics and energy of badminton inspire enable people to play both recreationally and competitively.
𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲
I’m proud to have played an inaugural and continuously active role in the establishment and management of the Badminton WA Wing Junior Programme operations since 2015. This was despite my personal ordeal of battling cancerous tumor in 2020 when I stepped down as the President but remained in the leadership role in this programme.
The grassroot and foundation programme proudly promoted BWF Shuttle Time since the beginning, delivered by qualified coaches of all levels who are equipped with the Shuttle Time resources.
Each year we have 250 to 300 juniors in our Wings Junior Programme. A number of them followed our Junior Development Pathway to become state junior representatives, before proceeding to the national junior squad. Many others spent their junior years at our Wings clubs and took badminton into their adult life in universities by starting regular groups and clubs. A few have become teachers and now running their own school clubs and bring teams to compete in our school tournaments.
𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞
We continue to deliver Shuttle Time sessions through Sporting Schools since 2015, both in the Perth metro and regional WA areas. Each school term, between five and eight schools are involved, with the number of students ranging from 200 to 800.
Seven qualified coaches from Western Australia undertook the Shuttle Time Tutor course since 2015, five are current and have contributed in locally conducted Shuttle Time Teacher courses which have been organised at least once a year since 2016, both in Perth metro and regional WA areas.
There are Shuttle Time Teachers in all of the affiliated districts and regional associations of Badminton WA.
𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞
Personally, I wouldn’t say it’s the lesson learnt from working with Shuttle Time, but more of making good utilisation of Shuttle Time to staying creative, inspirational, and relevant in continuous learning and improvement as a coach, an educator, a mentor, and influencer.
