BWF News

Humans of Shuttle Time: Robbert de Keijzer

TEXT BY BWF STAFF

This is the 38th story in our Humans of Shuttle Time series, in which we present the perspectives of those who work on badminton development at the grassroots level. Robbert de Keijzer, Shuttle Time National Coordinator of Netherlands, recalls his lifelong relationship with badminton as a player, coach and mentor.

Childhood Days

I come from a small town near Den Haag in the Netherlands. Me, my older brother and my twin brother were raised by my mother. It was a good childhood, having lots of friends and a safe environment to live and play outdoors.

When I was nine I got my first racket, after completing my diploma in swimming. We went to a small local club in my town. After a year we went to a bigger one in the Hague which had more youth players, a really good group!

A Homecoming

Badminton was fun to watch, people were running fast all over the court! The shuttle was struck pretty hard as well. That was appealing from the start!

My second club had a good group of juniors. It felt like homecoming, I made so many friends for life. My twin brother and I could play a couple of times per week and were called court vultures. Every time a court was free we would run to it to play. I became a teacher of sports and began delivering badminton training. This developed into being a national U17/U19 coach and head coach of my own club and the regional training centre. Needless to say, badminton is a big part of my life! I play twice a week, and I love the sport. As a manager of participation and club support I’m in a different role and I try to help grow badminton into a bigger sport in the Netherlands.

Robbert de Keijzer at a session with his trainees.

Memorable Events

Becoming national champion as a coach with my own club and a few of my friends and training partners, and having a team that consisted of 90 per cent friends from my own training group as a youngster was a unique experience.

What Makes Badminton Different

Badminton needs skills at a very high pace. It has everything in it, you need to move in every direction and every way. There are so many different strokes and options. Compared to for example tennis, badminton is so much more complex!

We are now implementing the new youth programme, Bamito. It is a programme that supports basic motor skills to develop good movers from the age of four. It is a whole new target group for badminton in the Netherlands but it is great to see clubs being so enthusiastic about it and embracing it! It will help develop a good culture and attract more youth with better motor skills.

Impact of Shuttle Time

Shuttle Time has just started in the region, but already helped and inspired lots of trainers and teachers to deliver badminton at schools and clubs. It is a good programme for starters. It is nice to have such a well-documented lesson plan with footage of the exercises and a little background of technical skills. It helps to introduce badminton to a wider group of teachers and trainers.

Previous Stories in This Series

Humans of Shuttle Time: Carolina M Vaughn

Humans of Shuttle Time: Sam Paterson

Humans of Shuttle Time: Deki Tshomo

Humans of Shuttle Time: Hadeel Mohammad Alomari

Humans of Shuttle Time: Daiverson Ferrari Rodrigues

Humans of Shuttle Time: Ammar Awad

Humans of Shuttle Time: Carolin Ruth

Humans of Shuttle Time: Caroline Brial

Humans of Shuttle Time: Danny Ten

Humans of Shuttle Time: Mohlala Mopeli

Humans of Shuttle Time: Tatiana Petrova