Thank you for helping us to run the Para-Badminton Day 2017
Para-Badminton Day 2017
Every year, the Opportunity Fund shares out some special donations to help Warwick students enjoy and take part in extra-curricular activities. It means that every student has a chance to develop new skills, make new friendships, and enjoy the non-academic side of campus life.
Last year thanks to donations like yours, Warwick Badminton won an award of £180 to run Para-Badminton Day, 5th February 2017. Adrian Antony, team member, and Publicity and Sponsorship Officer, reports back on how it all went:
“For some time we’ve wanted to promote and encourage people to take part in para-sports. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games introduced badminton as a parasport, so we seized our chance to get started too, and ran a taster session, a showcase, a workshop and a tournament.
The taster session was a badminton club session, with all participants playing games using a wheelchair or a form of handicap. These were intended to be social games where everyone (whether disabled or not) could participate on a level-playing field. We wanted to give people a chance to understand what it is like to participate in parasports; as well as appreciate and empathise with the gravity and difficulty of the affair.
We were visited by BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, who recorded a live segment as part of their show Gold and Treasure, and our local MP, Jim Cunningham (both pictured right).
The showcase featured demonstrations by professional national parabadminton players from Team GB, including Gobi Ranganathan, Sharon Jones-Barnes and David Follett.
The wheelchair tournament rounded off the day, providing a competitive level-playing field for able and disabled bodies alike. The tournament was mixed discipline doubles (no gender differences – due to wheelchairs).
We’re incredibly grateful for the generosity of Warwick Benefactors. Thanks to you, we were able to promote para-badminton and prove that disability is not inability. Your support has kickstarted a project at Warwick Badminton that will continue for years to come.
Thank you for supporting us!”