For senior citizens, badminton can be life-changing. For badminton clubs and associations, getting senior citizens involved might be a godsend. For adult beginners and senior citizens, badminton literally can prolong their life.
Badminton clubs need a solid plan to attract more senior citizens and adult beginners to the sport.
In this guide to attracting senior citizens and adult beginners to badminton, Michael Leander shares learnings and lessons. Hopefully, you can benefit from his first-hand experiences.
The backstory: my pretentious mindset was taught a valuable lesson
My experience on the badminton court was limited to the odd session with my teenage son. Although playing with him was a great joy, I never imagined myself practicing badminton with a group of adults, let alone senior citizens.
Eventually, I became involved as a volunteer at the club level in Denmark. My initial focus was narrow-minded and limited to the competitive aspects of the sport. I had little interest in anything else. But a chance opportunity presented itself. And that was to coordinate a Saturday morning badminton training session targeted at adult beginners. Reluctantly, I joined the weekly badminton practice myself.
Anchored in a few existing members the group started. New members were brought in through a low-risk member acquisition campaign. Saturday morning training quickly grew to a membership base of around 25 paying members. The age range was from the mid-20s to 70+. Some had never played badminton when they joined. Others had experience from their youth. Some spoke Danish, and others did not.
The diversity was a challenge for the celebrity coach (Line Christophersen) – and for me. But the experience would teach me a valuable lesson.
I suppose my natural go-to move is to do what I can to ensure that everyone gets a good experience. My logic suggested that this would entail a group where everyone would be – more or less – on the same level. So I was more than a bit worried whenever a senior citizen with very little or no badminton experience joined. I suffered a status quo bias. That’s to say that I did not incorporate the potential development of a player into the equation.
It took me some effort to get rid of my preconceived ideas and start focusing on the things that matter. In this brief article, I will explain what they are.
Senior citizens are very capable of learning new skills – that includes badminton skills
As mentioned, my initial mindset was along the lines of “How do we create a homogenous group”? I thought that a good training experience required all participants to be more or less at the same level. Boy, was I wrong!.
I quickly learned that senior citizens are very eager to learn. What’s more, they are serious about learning. They are what some would refer to as very good students. And when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Being senior citizens they are experienced learners. What’s more, they are hellbent on making steady progress.
Later on, I researched a bit about studies related to senior citizens getting involved with a new sport. The research I found suggested something along the lines of “with creative planning and enthusiastic management, the senior citizen can learn almost anything“.
Keep that in mind!
What is the right focus for senior citizen badminton?
The focus when involving adult beginners and senior citizens in badminton should be JOY and PROGRESS!
Badminton for adult beginners must be fun and challenging at the same time. If there is a lot of fun and no skill development, people won’t experience the level of joy that will get them hooked on badminton.
Clubs, associations, and their badminton coaches must strive to create a situation where players look forward to training sessions. To achieve that, participants must recognize that they are improving even if their improvements are in tiny increments. For senior citizens especially, the feel-good-element of becoming better at badminton is hugely important.
It took me a bit of time to understand this, but once I did it made complete sense.
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How to create joyful progress for adult beginners?
First and foremost, the training must enable players at all levels to improve their skills over time. To do that, the ideal group ideally should include absolute beginners and intermediate players.
Intermediate players must have the right mindset. They must be happy about training different badminton skills with an absolute beginner on the opposite side of the net. Some intermediate players have no interest in practicing with adult beginners. If that’s the case, they should find somewhere else to train.
Progress will happen as a result of two things – namely time on the court and the type of training exercises.
Time on the court must be divided into 3 components. These are 1) being taught concrete badminton skills 2) small half-court or box games incorporating the exact skills trained on the day, and, finally 3) doubles matches in which absolute beginners are paired with experienced players on both sides.
The joyful part comes naturally to most adult beginners and senior citizens when playing small games and doubles matches. For maximum joy, the instructor or badminton coach must develop an understanding in which every player knows that it is perfectly okay to make mistakes.
Finally, a coach or badminton instructor would do well to organize off-court activities for the group. Anything that will build familiarity amongst the members of the group will benefit the training sessions short and long term.
What type of badminton coach or instructor is best for adult badminton players?
Obviously, the coach must be able to teach badminton basics. But more importantly, it must be someone with a winning personality who is able to put a smile on everyone’s face. Coaching adult beginners requires patience and perseverance.
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