TEAM UP – GymBad 

Team Up is the Australian Government’s sport for development program in the Asia-Pacific, comprising more than 30 partnerships across the Asia-Pacific that are working towards three outcomes:

1. Attract and retain women, girls and people with a disability, as well as men and boys
2. Sport organisations are safe, inclusive and accessible
3. Australia and Asia-Pacific partners use sport to strengthen relationships and build closer collaboration

These three outcomes all contribute to Team Up’s overall goal: Australia-Asia-Pacific sport partnerships support all people to realise their full potential through sport.

Badminton Oceania supports these goals through the Inclusive GymBad program in Papua New Guinea, in collaboration with Badminton Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea Gymnastics Federation and Interplast Australia & New Zealand.

The Inclusive GymBad program aims to remove or reduce the barriers experienced by people with a disability, particularly women and girls, to participate equally. We recognise that this may mean that some people require additional support or resources in order to participate.

Activity involves inclusion programs from the sports of gymnastics and badminton:

• GymAbility is a gymnastics-based movement program designed to suit all levels of physical and mental ability.
• Shuttle Time lessons are designed to provide participants of all abilities with a positive image of badminton through many opportunities to have fun, engage with others and experience success.

In addition to participation, this phase of the GymBad program will focus on developing leadership skills by delivering Shuttle Time and GymAbility coaching workshops targeted at people with disabilities, particularly women and girls. Our goal is that people with disabilities, particularly women, develop the skills to deliver quality enjoyable, safe and inclusive GymBad sessions and, in doing so, become role models for participants with disabilities.

Interplast Australia & New Zealand joins this partnership as an Australian not-for-profit disability and development organisation that has been engaged in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since 1985, and carries on the work of Motivation Australia, who merged with Interplast in 2022. Their work is about creating positive and lasting change for all people who require rehabilitation and assistive technology.

A GymBad goal is to employ trained and identified people with disability as key leaders in our program, whether that be in coaching, administration, or project management support, so we truly lead by example and ensure there is ‘nothing about us without us’. Follow the latest news on the Inclusive Gymbad – PNG Facebook page.

More information about child and vulnerable adult safeguarding is available on our policies page. For more details about safeguarding or Team Up, please contact Nadia Bleaken at nadia@badmintonoceania.org, or Laurel Vagi at PNG-admin@badmintonoceania.org.

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