“I was fairly impressed with how well Australia was able to bounce back and in particular how badminton was seen as a sport teachers chose to undertake. Much of Australia was locked away from March to June but after that we saw a sky rocket of participation as teachers wanted to get their students moving again,” said Shuttle Time National Coordinator of Australia Matt Simpson.
“Through the Sporting Schools programme, we had a record number of programmes for badminton in Term 3, which meant a huge number of children were playing the sport during school. We considered revising our participation targets given the lockdowns but we were able to meet and exceed them, which was a pleasant surprise.
“Probably a few factors helped us get there – timing as Term 3 is a popular time for badminton, funding as government had put in a bit of extra money into the Sporting Schools programme and flexibility of the programme as teachers didn’t need to bring external people into the school and risk infections being brought in by facilitators.”
