By Avenash Ramzan
The future of badminton will be on show for the next two weeks as the Ministry of Education (MOE) has once against partnered with the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) to host a beginners’ camp at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, Georgetown.
The camp, in its second year, is being held from 09:00h to 11:30h Mondays to Fridays, and is being conducted by Guyana’s internationally ranked player Narayan Ramdhani.
When News Room visited the camp on Monday morning, participants from as young as five years old were observed going through drills under the guidance of Ramdhani.
Paying rapt attention to the on-court proceedings was Head of the Allied Arts Unit of the Ministry of Education, Nicholas Fraser.
“We’re looking to have the children active during the holidays, as well as to prepare them for different exams that they might have. We were just discussing this year that for next year we’ll try to target specifically the fourth formers who are preparing to write CSEC, and we’ve noted that they’re some particular schools who would prepare their students in badminton,” Fraser noted.
He added, “So we’re trying to ensure that those students are properly prepared in terms of their skills for the exams they’re going to be having in fifth form. So what we’re going to be doing here are basic techniques.”
The intention, Fraser pointed out, is to have these youngsters become attached to clubs and also fine tune their skills at schools where badminton courts are available.
Guyana’s leading player Ramdhani, currently in the middle of a five-year scholarship in Vancouver, Canada, is tutoring the participants at the camp.
According to him, it’s a good way of giving back by imparting the knowledge gained from years of playing the game to those who now have a desire to pursue the racquet sport.
From his early impressions, Ramdhani noted that the participants are “good beginners”, adding that there is potential that could be developed.
Apart from being edified on the fundamentals of the game, such as grip, movement and basic shots, Ramdhani said the intention is for the youths to “have fun and enjoy the game” while learning.
