{"id":12610,"date":"2024-07-05T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T02:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/?p=12610"},"modified":"2024-07-04T12:54:02","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T05:54:02","slug":"special-olympics-badminton-on-the-rise-celebrating-world-badminton-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/whats-new\/special-olympics-badminton-on-the-rise-celebrating-world-badminton-day","title":{"rendered":"Special Olympics Badminton on the Rise \u2013 Celebrating World Badminton Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

This World Badminton Day, Special Olympics is highlighting and celebrating the spirit of competition and the power of partnership within the sport of badminton in the Special Olympics Latin America (SOLA) region. Special Olympics\u2019 sport federation partner, Badminton World Federation (BWF)<\/a>, created and now celebrates World Badminton Day annually on 5 July to promote fun and inclusive badminton opportunities worldwide.<\/p>\n

Since 2020, thanks to the assistance and support of the BWF and Gallagher<\/a> \u2013 the official partner of Special Olympics Sport and Coach programming \u2013 the number of Special Olympics badminton programmes in Latin America doubled from five to 10 between 2020 and 2023.<\/p>\n

The expansion of badminton has, and continues to, increase the number of athletes participating in inclusive sport which provides more opportunities than just physical health benefits. Sports help Special Olympics athletes learn new skills on and off the field of play, gain access to resources for health and wellness, expand their social boundaries and make new friends along with many other respective advantages.[vc_single_image image=”12614″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The partnership between BWF and Special Olympics has allowed both organisations to better understand the sport across the Special Olympics movement and work in collaboration across sport development, competitions, partnerships and communications initiatives to not only increase participation in the sport, but also improve the overall athlete experience for those training and competing in badminton.<\/p>\n

Building on the BWF\u2019s work to create higher quality and more global badminton for Special Olympics athletes, Gallagher has aided in not only expanding the number of athletes participating in badminton in SOLA, but also increasing the number of Unified Partners (275, +686%), participants (2,412, +107%), certified coaches (171, +159%) and overall coaches (278, +198%) in the region.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”12611″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Inclusive sport is at the forefront of Special Olympics\u2019 mission in providing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have access to sport training competition, coaching, equipment, health information and care.<\/p>\n

Special Olympics Chile<\/a> badminton player, Francisca Bel\u00e9n Baldevenito Guadalupe, better known as Fran, is celebrating badminton in her hometown, Vi\u00f1a del Mar, sharing, \u201cPractising badminton and physical activity helps me stay healthy. I love being able to represent my country and my school while getting to know new friends.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Guadalupe, introduced through her school to Special Olympics badminton, recently competed in a Special Olympics Unified Schools badminton tournament in Chile. The tournament was a way for her to showcase badminton alongside fellow Special Olympics Chile badminton competitors from her area as well as a chance for her to meet new people who share in her love and joy of the sport.<\/p>\n

To the east of Chile in Paraguay, Thanya Monserrat Gehrmann L\u00f3pez \u2013 Special Olympics Paraguay badminton player competed in an inclusive badminton with her local badminton club, Central B\u00e1dminton Club in Asunci\u00f3n, where athletes with and without IDD (intellectual or developmental disability) compete in badminton together on the same team in Unified<\/a> events.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”12612″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Lopez, who took home a silver medal in mixed doubles badminton at the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023, shares how badminton\u2019s growth in her Special Olympics Programme has benefited her.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Badminton] helped me socialise more, especially when I get asked \u2018what is Badminton?\u2019 It helps me want to improve myself every day as an athlete, and some day, become a professional player or a coach. It has also helped me become quicker in my day-to-day life. Thanks to badminton, I am motivated to know more about myself and what I can achieve, and it has even helped me learn of different cultures along the way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Special Olympics\u2019 Vice President of Sport Development, Jon-Paul St. Germain, spoke on the importance of partnerships in relation to Special Olympics badminton, \u201cOne of the best ways Special Olympics can provide a quality sport experience for Special Olympics athletes is with the help of partners like Gallagher and the Badminton World Federation. We can provide Special Olympics programmes with the resources they need to develop strong coaches, deliver quality training and competitions as well as the expertise required to dive deep into the nuances and uniqueness of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special Olympics Latin America also has a strong partnership with Badminton Pan America, the regional confederation for badminton. Through their partnership, they have collaborated to help grow the sport for people with IDD and helped facilitate partnerships between Special Olympics programmes and national federations so that the sport and its\u2019 programming is sustainable.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”12613″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Gallagher\u2019s funds and grants to 10 SOLA programs have turbocharged badminton’s growth, providing equipment, coach education, development workshops, and athlete training sessions. So far, six programs have received 48 uniform training kits, each packed with 20 rackets, six half-dozen training shuttles, and two nets. The coach education workshops help coaches sharpen their skills and gain certification. Meanwhile, the development workshops and athlete training sessions bring new and seasoned Special Olympics athletes into the sport, enabling them to learn and compete in badminton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love for more people to know about badminton so it can grow, and we can have more partners and opponents, it would be super fun and that way we could have a huge [badminton] family,\u201d Lopez exclaimed in response to what she would like people to know about badminton.<\/p>\n

World Badminton Day<\/strong> helps shed light on the massive growth of badminton across the Special Olympics movement, especially in the Latin America region. Special Olympics, with the help of partners BWF, Badminton Pan Am, and Gallagher, are assisting athletes like Guadalope and Lopez to continue their love of badminton through increased sport opportunities, new ways to analyse data, health information and care and other respective benefits.<\/p>\n

The 2024 SOLA Regional Games taking place this October and the Special Olympics World Games in Santiago, Chile in 2027 will both feature badminton as one of the sports athletes can compete in.<\/p>\n

Discover more about World Badminton Day 2024<\/strong><\/a> and how you can get involved. <\/strong><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This World Badminton Day, Special Olympics is highlighting and celebrating the spirit of competition and the power of partnership within the sport of badminton in the Special Olympics Latin America (SOLA) region. Special Olympics\u2019 sport federation partner, Badminton World Federation (BWF), created and now celebrates World Badminton Day annually on 5 July to promote fun and inclusive badminton opportunities worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2630,"featured_media":12612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12610","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\/12610","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=12610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12617,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12610\/revisions\/12617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/development.bwfbadminton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}