Last Friday, Greater Shepparton Secondary College received a donation of nearly $10,000 worth of badminton equipment from Badminton Victoria to complement the college’s newly designed sports stadium.
In late 2020, Shepparton Badminton Association reached out to Badminton Victoria voicing concerns that no lines on the court or equipment would be provided for the new Greater Shepparton Secondary College’s campus.
“We were concerned that badminton courts might not be marked here. Not every stadium has badminton,” Shepparton Badminton Association treasurer John Pettigrew said.
“There’s always basketball lines at every stadium, then there's netball too.
“There was talk of volleyball going here instead of badminton, but badminton is one of the fastest growing sports in the state at the moment and, here in Shepparton, we’ve got two associations running now and an enormous growth in players.
“So it makes sense to have badminton courts in here.’’
After Badminton Victoria’s executive general manager and performance committee chair Tjitte “TJ” Weistra was contacted about these concerns, badminton lines were included on the court’s design and preparation was under way to provide new equipment for the school.
“The proposal went to the school and the health department were obviously very happy with including another sport because they also didn't know that it was not going to be included,’’ Mr Weistra said.
“It was just one of the things that we said, look, we'll support it. The school supported it with some budget for the line marking and we supplied all the equipment.’’
In total, the equipment donated was worth more than $10,000, and Mr Weistra said Badminton Victoria felt it was important that the best quality equipment was provided.
“Of course, we could have easily bought the equipment a lot cheaper and donated that,’’ he said.
“Maybe a couple of thousand (dollars) altogether, but the equipment would not have been great and then because they’re being used at a school level, if you don't have something sturdy, it may not last very long.
“So it would have been an ongoing cost for the school to replace those things over time.’’
Not all the equipment was easy to provide. Many hours of volunteer work went into refurbishing the badminton poles, according to Mr Weistra, who said many weekends over several months were spent sanding back and painting the donated poles.
Year 10 student Abbie Doherty-Reeve has been playing badminton since Year 5 with Shepparton Badminton Association and is keen to start trying out the new equipment on the courts.
“It's super cool having all new stuff, because the stuff last year was definitely a bit old. So I’m super excited to see how we go with it,” Abbie said.
Abbie, alongside her other badminton friends, tested out the new equipment on Friday, breaking it in so it’s ready for many more games of badminton in the future.