With the right training, footwork and technique you’re more than likely closer then you thought you were. Some people just don’t understand the sport. They think it’s an easy game with no skill or excitement. Like all other sports it takes time and commitment, years of learning, hours of training, thinking you’re getting nowhere but in fact you’re more than likely improving. You go through periods of failing and loosing but this happens to all of us, at some stage you will have a lucky strike and win.
Happiness and achievement will occur at this period of time and you will realise that all those long hours of training have paid off. You will think of the times when your challenges and targets seemed unreachable but you have finally got there!
But what about the people with physical impairments? Do they get to play?
Badminton World Federation stated badminton is a one sport one team philosophy, that badminton is a sport for all to participate in. Para badminton has been put together so that everyone could actually participate. Badminton can now be accessible for people with physical impairments. It’s about including people with limitations, adapting and developing ways for them to participate without being highlighted as different. In today’s world it’s all about inclusion and making things accessible for everyone. Para badminton is a sport where all physically impaired people can come together and compete. It is now finally a sport that all physically impaired people can play and compete to be better and succeed.
Each individual is allocated a sports class status on the physical impairment and their ability to perform. This is how they are accessed, evaluated and how their impairment can be challenged in a badminton game. There are 6 different classifications that individuals can be categorised by, two wheelchair sports classes, three standing sports class and one short stature sports class. By the classifications and classes it gives each individual a fair playing field to compete against people with similar abilities. Playing badminton for any individual can be challenging as there is a lot to think about. Things like what way will I serve? How am I going to get that score? How do I get all the way over to the other side of the court to get that shot? When thinking about all these possibilities having a person with similar ability playing you, makes you more calm then having someone way better then you whipping your ass off the court. If you ask anyone that plays any kind of sport, getting trashed is the most horrifying feeling in the world! This is where having a variety of classifications makes it fair for individuals to compete and feel comfortable standing on the opposite side of the court to their opponent. This picture doesn’t seem fair does it? There are classifications for a reason! For fair equal opportunity to compete in a sport that people love to play.
During my four years in college I have picked modules that are specific to working with disabilities. I picked these subjects to learn about all the different kinds of disabilities and in-depth knowledge on how to facilitate them into the modern day society. From these subjects I have learned to include everyone, do not highlight disabilities and everyone should have a fair chance to participate….So it was only announced on 7th October 2014 that Para-Badminton is to be put into the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. A question that I am willing to highlight is that why is it only now that Para Badminton is been entered into the Paralympics. After it was announced in 2014 should they of not considered working towards implementing it into 2016 Paralympics. The problem to me it seems that for all the people competing competitively at world championship level and succeeding, then been turned to and told they can’t progress any further because para badminton has not been put into the Paralympics yet? Why have these able high achieving athletes in para badminton been excluded for this long from competing and representing their county playing a sport that they love? Why is para badminton being excluded from the most prestigious multi-sport event in the world?
Looking back on the first Paralympic games in 1960, The Paralympic Movement noted that there were 400 athletes from 26 countries competing in their sport to represent their country. In Rio 2016 there will be about 4350 athletes from 178 countries and 23 sports will be contested. As we can see there has been a huge increase in athletes over the past 56 years. While keeping the Paralympics to a specific set of sports would they have not been better to develop new sports into the Paralympics and encourage new athletes to join and participate in new activities. This gives them an opportunity to build on and become highly competitive with that sport and maybe someday have a chance to be a Paralympic athlete. More choice and more variety needs to be added to make people more aware of different unique sports. Since para badminton has been announced to be included in Tokyo 2020 Paralympics there has been a significant increase in the number participating in the sport and coaches associated with the sport. Announcing that it will be part of 2020 Paralympics has ensured that it will get more and more exposure, which will keep increasing as the profile of para badminton gets more popular.
Badminton World Federation outlined in their development plan in the lead up to the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics that these games are to be an opportunity to include everyone, highlight qualities of all participants, to enhance structure, systems and rules. The pathways for people to get involved should be emphasised in the lead up to the Paralympics experience. Having para badminton in the Paralympics is a great opportunity for individuals to progress to a level in which they felt was never possible. It’s being glad to say that the excluded are being included finally.
Author: Louise Bennett - 4th year BB (Hons) in Recreation and Sport Management student.