05/06/2024
Read the interesting article about Badminton WA's Lily Buttrose which is featured in BWF Development & Shuttle Time Human of Shuttle Time this week.
Long time member, volunteer, coach and board of management member, Lily is currently Badminton WA's Vice President.
๐ธ๐ค๐
๐ฃ๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ต๐๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ธ
๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ง๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐
๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ฆ๐บ
My twin elder brother and I were born prematurely into a family of accomplished scholars and business managers who also enjoyed sports of all kinds. Mum was an elite centre player in basketball; dadโs main sport was volleyball, and they both enjoyed playing tennis and squash. My elder sister and my twin brother were keen swimmers and crazy about football. They not only excelled in playing the sports they loved, but also became coaches and technical officials.
Then there was me, the odd one out, โa little stick figureโ as I was commonly known, frequently at the doctorโs or in hospitals, who my grandparents possibly feared losing at a young age. I was a quiet bookworm, who shied away from all the sports that my family was good at. I did enjoy hiking with family and friends, and to everybodyโs surprise, ventured into gymnastics and became quite fond of it, before a serious injury left me bedridden for three months just before I turned 10.
๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐
One year we went to the All England, and we saw real badminton in action. I remember being so intrigued by badminton that I was on to my dad with all questions about badminton.
I was also thrilled to find that one of the winners was from the city that we had just left โ Zhang Ailing of Shanghai. Little did I know that some 30 years later, our paths would cross again in Western Australia.
Badminton did remain one of the sports that we played regularly throughout our childhood time of living in Canada, Japan, Germany and Spain. It was an ice-breaker particularly in Japan, while we struggled to learn to speak my mumโs mother tongue with her distant relatives who luckily, all enjoyed playing badminton and volleyball.
๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฒ
Settling with my own young family in my husbandโs hometown of Perth, Australia after the London Olympics, I took on an active role to volunteer for Badminton WA, with which I remain a regular player, and went on to become a qualified coach and coach educator at the highest level in that state. Iโve dedicated the past decade in junior development, coach and officials development, and event management as a board director, a former President, and a proud service-award recipient of Badminton WA.
๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ
Badminton brought about influences in my life that helped to direct my energy and expertise to make a difference, typically among Para and female players.
After Lynn, one of my elderly fellow-pennant players, became immobilised after a heart attack, she became one of the first wheelchair badminton players in Australia. I helped Lynn train, and subsequently became a supportive member of WA Para badminton.
I was privileged to lead the association when Western Australia was at the forefront of Para badminton to employ a dedicated Inclusion Officer, Ian Bridge, who went on to establish WA Bad Wheels.
Iโm pleased to be involved in badminton as a player, a coach, a technical official, an educator, an administrator, an advocate, a volunteerโฆ which gives me the sense of wholesomeness and enabled me to meet, relate, and interact meaningfully with people in all aspects of badminton, and helping to make a positive difference.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ค๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ
Inclusion of people of all backgrounds, age and ability. The dynamics and energy of badminton inspire enable people to play both recreationally and competitively.
๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ
Iโm proud to have played an inaugural and continuously active role in the establishment and management of the Badminton WA Wing Junior Programme operations since 2015. This was despite my personal ordeal of battling cancerous tumor in 2020 when I stepped down as the President but remained in the leadership role in this programme.
The grassroot and foundation programme proudly promoted BWF Shuttle Time since the beginning, delivered by qualified coaches of all levels who are equipped with the Shuttle Time resources.
Each year we have 250 to 300 juniors in our Wings Junior Programme. A number of them followed our Junior Development Pathway to become state junior representatives, before proceeding to the national junior squad. Many others spent their junior years at our Wings clubs and took badminton into their adult life in universities by starting regular groups and clubs. A few have become teachers and now running their own school clubs and bring teams to compete in our school tournaments.
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐
We continue to deliver Shuttle Time sessions through Sporting Schools since 2015, both in the Perth metro and regional WA areas. Each school term, between five and eight schools are involved, with the number of students ranging from 200 to 800.
Seven qualified coaches from Western Australia undertook the Shuttle Time Tutor course since 2015, five are current and have contributed in locally conducted Shuttle Time Teacher courses which have been organised at least once a year since 2016, both in Perth metro and regional WA areas.
There are Shuttle Time Teachers in all of the affiliated districts and regional associations of Badminton WA.
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ก๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐
Personally, I wouldnโt say itโs the lesson learnt from working with Shuttle Time, but more of making good utilisation of Shuttle Time to staying creative, inspirational, and relevant in continuous learning and improvement as a coach, an educator, a mentor, and influencer.
