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Humans of Shuttle Time: Gouzou Matthieu

TEXT BY BWF STAFF

This is the 61^st story in our Humans of Shuttle Time series, in which we present the perspectives of those who are involved with badminton at the grassroots level. Gouzou Matthieu, Shuttle Time Teacher with Mayotte Badminton League, speaks about his journey in badminton.

Childhood Days

When I was a child I traveled a lot and lived in different places like Wallis or Tahiti because my parents were teachers, allowing me to discover different cultures and sports. This childhood made me want to become a teacher and share my experiences to the children of Mayotte.

Shuttle Time in Mayotte, an overseas region of France off the coast of southeastern Africa.

Introduction to Badminton

The first time I saw badminton was in my grandparents’ garden when I was just a child. They bought me a small racket and taught me and my sister how to play. I immediately fell in love with it.

The thing that struck me when I first saw badminton was the speed of the shuttlecock because I often lost sight of it! For me it was an amazing object.

Relationship with Badminton

Now badminton has a big place in my life and I try to invest myself in every part of this sport, as a referee, teacher, player and spectator. I never miss watching competitions on TV or online when I’m not on court. Recently I discovered AirBadminton too.

Badminton for me is a big family! You can find friends on the court and continue to see them off court. Everybody can find their place in this family because there are a lot of things to do – you can play, referee, be a manager or spectator.

Matthieu at a Shuttle Time session.

Memorable Moments

In 2023 I was in Madagascar to assist at the Indian Ocean Island Games. It was my first international competition and I was impressed with the atmosphere and the public. I met a lot of players from all the Indian Ocean islands. They were all nice and discussed badminton and trained with me. It was amazing to see Julien Paul and Kate Foo Kune who participated in the Olympic Games. It is important for the young players of Mayotte to see that not so far from our island high-achieving players exist and they can dream about becoming like them.

Developing Badminton

Since my introduction to Shuttle Time, I have been trying to develop badminton in Mayotte. In my high school I teach badminton and the students like this activity. But I also teach it in my club to young players with the help of other teachers. Before Shuttle Time there was no training for our young players and now they are very happy to improve their badminton. I try also to get the children to participate in big sports events like our National Sports Festival or our National Sports School Day.

Impact of Shuttle Time

When we organised Shuttle Time for the first time, our activity became part of the sports movement of Mayotte. Our Olympic Committee has seen that we are very motivated, especially with our young players. We are now invited to more events and we have more slots in gyms. All of this has allowed us to increase the number of young players in our clubs and also the number of teachers who schedule our activity in their lessons.

Lesson from Shuttle Time

The biggest lesson I learnt from working with Shuttle Time is you always can improve your teaching. You can learn with Shuttle Time and also when you look at other teachers’ lessons. Badminton continues to evolve and it’s important to keep the motivation to improve our teaching.

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