From a long established badminton club, this is our reasoning:
The costs of shuttles, coaching and hall hire is incredibly high, especially when there is a limit to how many players can get on one court and still have a quality practice! So what are you getting from your investment of sending your child to coached badminton sessions?
From our experience, we have found that a badminton training session is sometimes the first time during the week where some children or young people feel they are seen in a positive light, where they are given feedback that builds their self-esteem, where they can be expected to push themselves past all their previous expectations and find they excel!
We have seen children who develop not only badminton skills but build attitudes to discipline, effort and achievement that have a knock on effect outside of the sport. Many children who find sport a real challenge but through the support of a club such as Phoenix , they are able to discover leadership and communication skills, and contribute to help and support others. They are given significance, and recognition for all their many strengths displayed throughout club activities.
There are many children who find school difficult, or may have personal issues and through the sporting experience of Badminton find ways to change old behaviour patterns and become extremely high achievers.
How much physical activity should children and young people aged 5 to 18 do to keep healthy?:
Children and young people need to do 2 types of physical activity each week:
- aerobic exercise
- exercises to strengthen their muscles and bones
Children and young people aged 5 to 18 should:
- aim for an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a day across the week
- take part in a variety of types and intensities of physical activity across the week to develop movement skills, muscles and bones
- reduce the time spent sitting or lying down and break up long periods of not moving with some activity. Aim to spread activity throughout the day. All activities should make you breathe faster and feel warmer
Benefits:
- improving fitness.
- providing an opportunity to socialise.
- increasing concentration.
- improving academic scores.
- building a stronger heart, bones and healthier muscles.
- encouraging healthy growth and development.
- improving self-esteem.
With the monetary investment from parents, and the benefits badminton has for the player it is important that attendance is regular and there is a commitment from both the player and the parent. Whatever attitude is shown to the sport, I can guarantee that this is the attitude that will appear in future employment and outside commitments. What attitudes are shown currently? What commitment is given now? Here is the training for the future.
So ask yourself, is the investment worthwhile?