The Northern Marianas Badminton Association (NMBA) has been honoured with the prestigious Participation Award for its exceptional efforts in integrating badminton as an interscholastic competitive sport in middle and high schools. This recognition, conferred by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), includes a US$1500 equipment grant, and highlights NMBA’s commitment to fostering youth involvement in badminton.<\/p>\n
Building on the robust framework provided by the Shuttle Time programme, NMBA collaborated effectively with the public school system and its athletics department. This partnership has led to an impressive 81 per cent increase in participation over three years, establishing badminton as the fastest-growing sport among the seven offered at the interscholastic level in Northern Marianas.<\/p>\n
“The BWF grant was offered to us to apply. We were already doing badminton activities for children and then we expanded. The events are run by volunteers. It’s unbelievable where we are right now. It\u2019s remarkable how the sport has grown in the past three years,” said Merlie Tolentino, President of the NMBA after seeing an increase in the number of people playing badminton in the region.<\/p>\n
The NMBA\u2019s efforts have increased local participation and attracted private sponsorships, enabling the formation of a national junior training pool. The Under-15 and Under-17 teams have competed in the Oceania Invitation Team Challenges in New Zealand and Australia.[vc_single_image image=”12526″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Reflecting on the journey, Tolentino said, \u201cWhen we first established the badminton organisation, it was just for recreation. We were then invited to become a Badminton Oceania member, and that was the beginning of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
This initial recreational focus has transformed into a structured and competitive programme, significantly impacting the youth of Northern Marianas.<\/p>\n
The introduction of badminton at the grade three level has been particularly inspiring. \u201cIn 2023, we hosted a Grade 3-level International Challenge. That\u2019s when the students were inspired after seeing the best players from around the world \u2013 they realised \u2018Oh, badminton is popular.\u2019 Having badminton as a popular sport is another option for the youth,\u201d Tolentino noted. This early exposure has been crucial in nurturing a new generation of badminton enthusiasts.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”12527″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Badminton\u2019s popularity has increased over the years that the HSBC BWF World Tour includes Christy Palmos Villaflor, a new BWF Line judge from the region.<\/p>\n
Tolentino emphasised the ongoing commitment of the NMBA to support its athletes, technical officials and promote the sport further. “We will continue to work hard like this year again, hold another international badminton tournament, continue to inspire our players that it’s not just about playing on the island.”<\/p>\n
The recognition from BWF and the accompanying grant will undoubtedly further the NMBA’s mission to expand and enrich badminton in Northern Marianas, offering more opportunities for youth engagement and international competition. As Tolentino aptly put it, “Living on a small island, we feel like there are opportunities around the world that sometimes we don’t get to experience because of our geographical location.” The NMBA’s achievements underscore that, with dedication and strategic partnerships, even the smallest communities can make a significant impact on the global stage.[\/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”12528,12529,12530,12531,12532,12533,12534,12535,12536,12537,12538″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Northern Marianas Badminton Association (NMBA) has been honoured with the prestigious Participation Award for its exceptional efforts in integrating badminton as an interscholastic competitive sport in middle and high schools. This recognition, conferred by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), includes a US$1500 equipment grant, and highlights NMBA’s commitment to fostering youth involvement in badminton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2630,"featured_media":12527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whats-new","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2630"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12525"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12541,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12525\/revisions\/12541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}