In an expansive news story on ABC TV on 2 March, Daniel Akkidasari (Manager of the Capital Juniors Club) and Badminton ACT President, Olaf Schuermann, noted the very substantial growth in demand to play badminton in the ACT, particularly in the fast-growing Gungahlin region. This demand particularly reflects the growth in the population with backgrounds from countries where badminton is a key sport, such as the Indian sub-continent. The report noted that according to the 2021 Census, 13 per cent of the Gungahlin district population was born in south Asia, nearly double the 2016 figure and when compared to under 7 per cent for Canberra as a whole in 2021.
Daniel and Olaf both noted that notwithstanding this growing demand, the lack of suitable and available indoor sports facilities is severely hampering the ability of the community to play the sport, most notably juniors. Daniel noted his personal experiences in find a place to play and that for his children since migrating to Canberra from India eight years go. The attached photo shows how popular Daniel’s Capital Juniors Club at Ginninderra College has grown in the last two years.
Link to a summary of the ABC TV News story:
Asian migrants are driving an increase in badminton’s popularity around Australia – ABC News
Badminton ACT continues to advocate with both the public and private sectors for the need for additional suitable indoor sports facilities in the ACT to meet the strong demand to play the sport. This includes the construction of multi-use indoor sports centres and hopefully a dedicated badminton facility. The ACT Government’s current policy of essentially relying on community hire of public school sports halls to meet the needs of nearly all indoor sports in the ACT is simply insufficient. This is particularly impacting on children being able to play the sport outside of school hours.