29/05/2006
Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.
Mayor Therese Ridge on behalf of South Dublin County Council and in association with Badminton Union of Ireland will officially launch the First Badminton Certificate Programme on Wednesday 31st of May 2006 at 12 noon at Sacred Heart National School, Killinarden, Tallaght.
The First Badminton Programme is a joint Initiative between the Badminton union of Ireland and South Dublin County Council. The BUI First Badminton Programme is aimed at introducing and promoting their sport to primary school children so they can experience and enjoy badminton through various skills games and practice sequences. Each school has received 4 hours/1 hour per week of level 1 badminton coaching and is offered 3 teacher places one 1 day BUI Teacher Training Day.
The uptake of this programme has been huge and we currently have over 900 participants taking part-35 schools across south Dublin. Ultimately, we hope that all the participants will begin to play it regularly in the clubs and schools throughout our country and make it more sustainable in our communities
Badminton is a fast growing sport. It is lots of fun and players with even a moderate amount of skill can jump right in and enjoy not only the social aspects of team play but also the fantastic health benefits of a great cardiovascular workout.
South Dublin County Council, are heavily involved in the promotion and development of sport and recreation in the community. We are delighted to run this initiative and hope to run more programmes with other governing bodies of sport, in the near future. Badminton in this country has been popular thought-out the years and we are privileged to have the Leister badminton branch union of Ireland head quarters based in Whitehall road Terenure.
The launch will involve star guest- Donal O’ Halloran- International Irish Badminton Player: World Ranked No.57 (Feb 06) in Mixed Doubles. Other Guest include: Mary Brown- National Director of Development for Badminton Union of Ireland, Leslie Dewart- Badminton development Officer for Ulster Branch & creator of the First Badminton Programme and Brenda Connolly- president of the Leinster Branch Badminton Union of Ireland.
We are delighted to host this initiative and look forward to hosting many more for the enjoyment and well-being of our community.