A Shuttle Time Friendly Challenge in Moroni, Comoros Islands, has sparked local interest and provided a boost to grassroots badminton participation.
Badminton development in Comoros – an archipelago off Africa’s east coast — started a few years ago. In 2022, a Shuttle Time Teachers Course was delivered there with 20 teachers attending the course. However, development remained dormant over the last two years. In order to revitalise the scene, Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) allocated a basic course, and the local association was shown how they can make it more interesting for young kids by implementing a model of Shuttle Time Friendly Challenge.
With the support of BCA, the Comoros Badminton Federation organized a pre-level 1 training course. The Shuttle Time programme played a central role for the beneficiaries of this training, particularly the children from the selected public elementary school.
The activity, on 3 June 2024, was organised in a primary school and 50 pupils (25 boys and 25 girls) were selected and divided into five Teams. Each team had five boys and five girls. For each activity, teams were awarded points and finally the overall winner with the maximum points won the challenge.
All the teachers, students and parents were appreciative of this activity.
Badminton has begun to carve out a place for itself in the Comorian sporting environment. Several activities take place on the islands, and the federation has seen an increase in the number of affiliated clubs.
Madiane Mohamed Issa, National Technical Director:
“This activity is simple to organise, but we didn’t have this perception before. Thanks to the implementation of this activity, we’ve seen how much the children enjoy Shuttle Time; how happy they are to take part in such activity. The children had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the activity. Obviously, both the children and the school management are asking for more. Other schools have also expressed interest in hosting this kind of activity. We would like to thank the BCA for showing us this model and for supporting the development of Shuttle Time in Comoros.”
Ibrahim Abdou, Headmaster of Moroni Coulée 2 Primary School:
“I’m very happy to have hosted this activity. When I was told about it, I didn’t hesitate to agree, because our children need this kind of activity to develop in a healthy way. For a rare occasion, I saw my children enjoying themselves. I was also able to see that through the activity that our children have the potential to develop in sport. We are grateful for this opportunity and are also ready to develop Shuttle Time in our school.”
