๐ฆ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐จ
๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ
I was born and raised in the Netherlands. Born to Chinese parents, I was always supposed to be focused on studying and making a career. Fortunately, I was always free to do sports and hang out with my friends. Besides badminton I was also practicing wushu and shaolin kungfu. After graduating in Contemporary Asian Studies I had all kinds of jobs that were completely unrelated to my studies. After moving to Aruba with my partner I have been spending an important part of my time with the Aruba Badminton family.
๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
I joined the local badminton club when I was about eight years old. I was inspired by my sister who was already playing badminton for some years. I did think that badminton was a very cool sport and that the badminton racket was quite big.
Badminton played a different role during different phases in my life. When I was young I learned to play matches in the junior regional competition, winning was all I wanted, though I was never talented enough to become No.1. During student life, badminton became my primary social activity where I met many friends, participated in student, regional and international tournaments and organised many badminton activities. Once I moved to Aruba I upped my badminton life. Aruba has very few female badminton players, so sometimes it feels a lonely. Now Iโm being very focused on promoting sports and coaching as I see there is so much growth potential on this island.
๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐
There are many. During a student tournament about 15 years ago, I met a friendly man who was the badminton vendor at the tournament. As we got talking he asked me if I wanted to learn how to string rackets. I learned how to string. After that we would meet occasionally at tournaments and have a drink together.
At the BWF Coach Level 1 course in Trinidad and Tobago I had a fun tutor and I made some great Trinidadian friends who were in the course with me. I got introduced to badminton friends from outside the course with whom I played some games at their local club. Oh yes, not to forget, I saw an actual piece of the moon in the Trinidad National Museum!
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐
For me, as a player, badminton is still the perfect sport. Once Iโm on court playing a serious or a fun game, the outside world stops for a moment. This feeling has never changed. As a beginner coach and board member of the Aruba Badminton Federation I feel badminton is giving me the opportunity to develop new skills and bring the sport to many more people.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐
Badminton requires wit and stamina but is also very social and individual at the same time. Badminton is one of the few sports where age has little influence on the level of fun, and may even help improve the tactical game as you become more mature. In addition, badminton is quite COVID-19 proof, since there is plenty of space on court between players.
๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป
It is interesting and motivating to help professionalise badminton as a sport on the island. The community is open to badminton, but as it isnโt โmainstreamโ we face the challenge to grow and create continuity. There are few trainers and coaches, so this is what we will work on. We also have a successful relationship with a local government entity. They help us promote badminton at schools and this works very well.
๐๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ต๐๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ
Giving school badminton classes in a structured way is a great recipe for success in Aruba. Children on the island do not always have the opportunity to do sports outside school and even schools donโt have extensive infrastructure. With Shuttle Time, PE teachers and school kids get introduced to the sport and are inspired to become great players. Currently several schools have requested badminton programme assistance from the Aruba Badminton Federation. It seems that the programmes that we had rolled out earlier are starting to trigger some interest among other schools on the island.
๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ต๐๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ
Shuttle Time is a very effective programme for promoting badminton. A challenge for us is the first outreach to have teachers get into the programme. Right now Shuttle Time is a strategic activity to help build the fundamentals that are needed to grow badminton in Aruba.
Photo credit: BWF Development Area