Badminton Takes Off in Rwanda

February 7, 2024

History was made with Rwanda’s first grassroots development activity, with a Shuttle Time Teachers Course and a training camp laying the ground for the spread of badminton.

A group of 42 teachers (36 men and six women), which included PE teachers, class teachers and club coaches from various regions of the country, participated in the Shuttle Time Teachers Course on 3-4 January 2024. This was followed by a training camp for 25 students from Kigali (17 boys and eight girls) on 5-7 January. The programme was funded through the BWF Membership Grant and support from Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) and Francophone Badminton Association (FBA).

With the teachers trained to introduce Shuttle Time to their students in their respective regions, the programme is expected to reach out to around 27,000 students.

Both programmes were tailored to teach basic knowledge and technique to the teachers and players as they were the first to be trained in Shuttle Time by the new federation. An expert from BCA was also present.

The Shuttle Time Teachers Course had theory and practice sessions on both days. As the participants were newly introduced to badminton, the training was focused mainly on practice. The training camp dealt with basic technique: footwork, movement, strokes, etc.

Alphonse Muhama, President of Rwanda Badminton Sport Federation, said the training programmes would facilitate the growth of badminton in Rwanda:

“I thank BWF, BCA and FBA for assisting us to organise and deliver these two activities. BCA and FBA have sent experts to train our technical resources. The Shuttle Time Teachers course helped our teachers and students learn good technique to be able to deliver safe and well-organised badminton activities at school. With the training that we received, we can start build building badminton in Rwanda.

“We are looking to organise a lot of Shuttle Time activity in the country in the coming months and years, so that we can have a big number of kids practicing badminton.”