Meet Arno Boonants, a Shuttle Time National Coordinator from Belgium. Find out the excellent work he is involved with and how it all started.
Early years
I was born and raised in Ghent where I always loved to play outside. I’m an only child so I played a lot outdoors in the neighbourhood and with school friends.
When I was 13 I came into contact with badminton through a friend and from then on I was addicted. I started in my club in Ghent which is the biggest club now in Belgium. I was lucky to have passionate trainers who taught me the basics. I was soon playing two-three times a week.
I improved my level in a short time, but sadly injuries prevented me from training and playing. From when I was 16 I struggled with injuries but always kept playing the minimum amount of sport possible. When I went to university this was also the motivation for me to study PE to understand human physiology better. When I was in my first year of university I started training youngsters at my club. From that moment my training career started to develop.
Memorable moments
Moments at tournaments where you meet a lot of people and you have the perfect combination of badminton and the opportunity to socialise.
My most memorable moment was my first coaching experience at a Para badminton tournament. The vibe, respect and atmosphere at these tournaments were phenomenal.
What badminton means
As I’ve been working for four years now with the federation, badminton is a more ‘professional’ activity than a ‘leisure’ one. It’s my job so you always lose a bit of your hobby when you make it your job. That was the hardest part for me, to realise badminton is different now compared to playing it as a child.
The combination of stamina, racket skills, technique, tactics, mental aspect, endurance, strength… badminton is a fast and complete sport which requires a lot of training to get to a good level.
Working with Shuttle Time
We started implementing Shuttle Time in 2019 in Belgium (Flanders). We already were working with PE teachers, but since Shuttle Time we could give them proper resources and tools to implement it. In Belgium, we combine it with giving school sets to the teachers so they also can have proper material to use. The PE teachers are very grateful for the material and resources we give them, especially because we translated them into Dutch.
Lessons from Shuttle Time
PE teachers form a broad and important base to motivate the children to do sports. Badminton depends a lot on how these teachers create their environments and this can have a big impact on the kids’ choice of sport and lifestyle. The conclusion is to connect with PE teachers and give them resources and help on how to create fun and active badminton lessons so the kids will love it.
To find out more about Shuttle Time, click here.