Can badminton change a life? Sport helps, and much, the development of children, both physical, psychological, intellectual, emotional, etc. But how close is the sport of children?
Angie Ortiz, a 23 years old Colombian who is studying to be a great badminton coach, but she knew our sport in different conditions than usual. A difficult social environment may suggest that the last thing needed is sport, but that is where sport can serve as a tool to improve the quality of life in that environment.
“When I was a girl I was in a foundation called ‘San Antonio’, they work in areas with vulnerable populations in Bogotá and I live in an area with many issues of drug trafficking, drug addiction, domestic violence and violence in the streets. That’s where I got to know badminton, in 2011, thanks to the Peace & Sport program that promoted sports among the children who were there.”
The international organization Peace & Sport seeks, through sport, to convert open spaces into sports fields, help war orphans regain confidence, integrate refugees, help the poor to have access to education and establish a spirit of citizenship in disadvantaged urban areas. This organization arrived in Colombia a few years ago and works with associations such as the San Antonio Foundation to which Angie went.
“The foundation came to me at a precise moment to guide me towards something better, if I had not known about it I would not have had a guide to show me what is right and what is the wrong way.”
The opportunity to explore different aspects of life, socialize with children of the same age and try to forget the context of violence and all the bad things that have happened to focus more on academics and sports, are some things that the San Antonio Foundation allows children to live there. It gives them a help and a guide to move forward.
“Peace & Sport started with Badminton at the foundation, it was a new sport for everyone and it was very popular. Everyone started to generate habits of ‘no soccer, badminton is better’ because it is something recreational and new. I saw, I took the racket and made a few hits but nothing serious.”
Years passed, Angie decided to explore more popular sports but badminton wanted her back. “I started to study Sports Training and after a few years I went back to the badminton. Professor Dagoberto Corredor, coach of Bogota league, arrived at the institution where I studied and told us about badminton. I had met him before because he worked at the San Antonio Foundation, I returned to practice badminton and that’s how I got involved again with this sport.”
Each one of the things that one lives remain as experiences and teachings that one can share with people who go through the same situation. Angie, after a few years, has the opportunity to share with children the things she has lived. Currently, she is a badminton instructor in places that, like the San Antonio Foundation, provide children with tools to improve their life quality.
“I have lived this experience as a beneficiary and being in the Peace & Sport project left a very important mark in my life. Now I play a role as a badminton instructor to school children and I assume it with a great responsibility for what I experienced as a child. Now I have to expand the possibilities for children to seek a new alternative of life, to forget about the drugs, the domestic violence they live on a daily basis and to focus on different aspects in order to progress in life.
Yes, badminton provides more than just good health, it offers opportunities to develop professionally, improve the life quality and help others grow.
“Badminton has helped me a lot to improve my economic, family and academic situation, I work in the District Institute of Recreation and Sports through the project Complementary School Time, it is similar to the foundation but we only work in the sports area with vulnerable populations and with district schools in Bogotá. We explore all kinds of sports so that the child is interested in them and not in looking for drug addiction, violence, etc.”
It is already 5 years in which Angie works with badminton, contributing what she has lived and striving to be better and better. “I want to continue progressing academically and continue to massify the sport in Colombia, we have a lot to work on so that the Colombian badminton grows and I want to be present in it, to become one more power in South America.”
Badminton grows throughout the continent. Many men and women practice it in Colombia but many people still do not know our sport or think that the demand of sport is only for men. How can a woman coach influence the spread of badminton?
“The girls like this sport because it is very elegant and I teach them the technique with dance steps, there is a lot of fluidity in the movements and they like it. We try to instill in them that if a boy can, they can also do it and we can achieve a balance between the two genres.”
Sport can be a very useful tool to progress, to grow in different areas and improve the life quality. Angie has lived it and knows what it takes to get ahead.
“As young people we all want a better life and we have to create that ‘chip change’ If I want to improve one aspect of my life I have to do something about it. You can venture into sports, as in my case, badminton has helped me a lot and I think it will continue to do so. If you like what you do, you will continue to improve. The important thing is that you like it. That you feel that passion inside. If there is no passion, there is nothing.”
