Our August Serve-ing Pacific winner is Nicolas Mouret of the Tahiti Badminton association. Nicolas has been a volunteer for over 5 years was nominated for the value of innovation.
Tell us about yourself :
My name is Nicolas Mouret, I’m 36 years old, and I started playing badminton in 2011. I really started to love the sport of badminton in 2012 during my first local tournament.
Tell us about your roles and journey with badminton
My career in badminton started in 2011 as a simple badminton player. Then in 2013 I became vice president of my club to become its president in 2016 until now. Very quickly (from 2014) I became a coach for the U17s of my club, then progressively for adults (from 2016). In 2016 I also passed the local umpire training to be able to help organize my first international tournament as an umpire, a position that I learned and really enjoyed. From that date I had the chance to enter the Oceanian umpire training program and participate in my very first New Zealand open. I practice about 16 hours of badminton per week, and I coach about 12 hours per week.
What do you enjoy the most about badminton as a sport ?
What I like the most about badminton as a sport is how easy it is to approach the sport. The speed with which you can have fun playing it, but also the richness it brings with several different types of games.
What do you enjoy the most about volunteering in badminton ?
What I enjoy most about volunteering in badminton is the satisfaction of being able to organize great events and great tournaments. Alongside seeing my students progress (young, senior or veterans).
You were nominated for your commitment to Innovation – what do these values mean and how do you embody the value with badminton ?
Innovation represents for me the curiosity to make things evolve, and to find new forms of learning, to make us all progress together at different speeds but always with our sights set on performing.
I think that I embody this value by the fact of always being proactive in the desire to develop training processes, event organizations (such as blackminton), or local training.
What role do you think badminton plays in your country/community?
Badminton plays an important role in the small Polynesian badminton community. Indeed it gives players a significant chance to quickly have access to training, and travel abroad, through the fact of training regularly and seriously. Unlike other major countries in the world.
What impact do you hope to make through your involvement in badminton ?
I sincerely hope that my involvement in badminton allows me to provide solutions, help in any way from all the people I had the chance to meet locally or internationally. I also hope to have allowed at my level to have changed the perception and practice of badminton at the local level.
What is your message to aspiring players and leaders ?
If I had a message to convey, it would be: You always have to see the positive, you never stop learning and improving.
What is your favorite memory or highlights of volunteering in badminton ?
I had so many good memories that badminton gave me. The first would be I think attending my very first New Zealand Open in 2017. The second was the realization of our very first local team tournament with 6 participating clubs and more than 70 players all come to participate in this unique event at the local badminton level.
