Iván Mauricio Cercado Estupiñán
Badminton Federation of Colombia
As a child I always liked singing, playing and poetry. I was good at football, basketball, volleyball and table tennis. I was always part of groups and collectives for children and young people. As a child I always had the expectation of studying and training as a teacher in sports.
First Experience
I first saw badminton in 1994 during an exhibition near the Salitre Coliseum in the City of Bogotá. It caught my attention by the level of its difficulty, speed and the precision with which the athletes hit the shuttle.
Since then, I wanted to become a badminton trainer in school context, working with children and young people.
Memorable Moments
An institutional day of awareness was made with the educational community, which some athletes and Para badminton players attended as guests. Another event was a badminton festival that was held at the FJMB institution in 2019.
What Badminton Means
Working in badminton is an experience that resignifies and humanises my work as a physical education teacher. Within racket sports, it is a useful tool for the development and strengthening of cognitive processes and socio-emotional bonds in children and young people. It can be used to integrate children or people with special needs, positively impacting the community.
It has made a difference to my locality. It is a novel alternative to conventional sports such as football, basketball or volleyball. Children and young people see badminton as a different sport that helps their growth process as athletes, but above all, their growth as people.
Badminton offers alternatives and possibilities in the educational and sports institutional context, which allows participants to acquire tools to respond to challenges in today’s times.
