Nominee 2 is the
Women, Health & Sport project which was nominated by the Spanish Badminton Federation. This project had its initial planning after the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the first edition took place in July 2017 which attracted more than 1000 ladies around Spain to play badminton.
This project is an ongoing project with long term goals until 2020 and was included into a National Programme, named ´Universe Women´ developed by the Spanish Sports High Council – Ministry of Sports. IBERDROLA, a multinational energy company is the main supporter of Women Sport in Spain through
Women, Health & Sport.
The Women, Health & Sport participants in Valladolid
Carolina Marin (first from left) with the participants in Valladolid
Badminton is one of the ten sports working daily in this national programme. This project is made possible with the cooperation between the Spanish Badminton Federation and IBERDROLA to promote female participation into Spanish badminton and Spanish sport.
The 3 ways of activation at the Spanish Badminton Federation are through these three activities:
• Spanish National League – for top players at national level
• Spanish National Championships & Spanish International – for senior and school players
• Women, Health & Sport Tour – for social players
Jaime Gomez, Development and Communications Manager at the Spanish Badminton Federation on the project, ´
All activities are for female players from all range of ages, from mini-badminton (6 years old) to super-senior (+65). We try to use this project to strengthen Spanish badminton at all ages. Of course, we have specific activations related to events where our best players at national and international level could shine and promote Badminton Spain & IBERDROLA at high level. Several activities are projected for next year and we are in close discussion with IBERDROLA on the 2018 plans and beyond.´
Sara Peñalver (in red) at one of the Women, Health & Sport tours in Spain
Esther Torres (L) and Marcela Quinteros, ambassadors of the Women, Health & Sports project with their coach, Dina Abouzeid
Badminton and para-badminton female players who are ambassadors for this project are Carolina Marin, Beatriz Corrales, Clara Azurmendi, Sara Peñalver, Esther Torres, Marcela Quinteros and Begoña Gago. They attended the tour in some of the big cities in Spain such as Mallorca, Bilbao, Malaga, Burgos and Valladolid during weekends where they promote badminton to all the female participants.
The shortlisted nominees from the ‘Badminton for Women’ initiative will automatically be the nominees for the 2017 BEC Badminton for Women Award, which will be awarded at the 6th BEC Awards Gala Night in Dubrovnik, Croatia next year. The award winner is decided from the shortlisted nominees by the BEC Award Panel in cooperation with the Women in Badminton Commission.