Reaching Out to Young Minds

November 9, 2023

The BWF Player Education – Dual Career initiative delivered from 25 September to 4 October 2023 during the BWF World Junior Championships in Spokane, offered three activities: information booth, focus group sessions and IOC Athlete365 Career+ Self Discovery workshop. The information booth was located at the entrance to the gallery, and as teams walked by, they were invited to go through the material available and play a quiz with a deck of question cards. The quiz was extremely popular, with players keen to test their knowledge about BWF and badminton.

The focus group sessions were delivered by BWF Development Manager Erica Khoo and Development Officer Tracy Tan, detailing the various dual career and scholarship initiatives instituted by BWF to help athletes plan their future. The IOC workshops, conducted by BWF Head of Educational Programmes Sharon Springer, enabled players to self-reflect on their own abilities and talents in choosing their post-competitive career.

  • Approximately 245 players from 38 countries visited the information booth
  • 18 countries attended the focus group session (15 minutes)
  • 78 players from 11 countries completed the IOC Athlete365 Career+ Self Discovery workshop (Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, Cook Islands, Ghana, Iceland, Latvia, Estonia, Belgium, Peru, Brazil and New Zealand)
  • Athlete Certificate scholar as ambassador (Daniel Akavi – Cook Islands)
Daniel Akavi of the Cook Islands had previously attended a Shuttle Time Youth Leadership workshop, and was thrilled with his experience at the World Juniors: “I’m now more hungry for badminton.

Next year I will be going to university in New Zealand. I want to see what high intensity training is like.” “When I did the Youth Leadership workshop, it was very challenging because I had to handle school and badminton at the same time. It helped me build confidence because I’m introverted. During big competitions like these I didn’t really like going out, because I’m not as confident as I seem. The workshop helped me build confidence as a Youth Leader and as a player and also as a student. I’m speaking more proficiently now; earlier I would hardly talk.”