By Molly Magennis
Footscray’s Ian Bridge has been announced as a finalist for the coach of the year at the 2021 Victorian Disability Sport and Recreation (VDSR) Awards.
Mr Bridge coaches para-badminton and was lucky enough to go to Tokyo earlier this year as a coach for the paralympic team, where the sport debuted for the first time.
“It was kinda making a new headway for us as a sport and then for us in Australia, we’re obviously a little bit behind than all the other countries,” he said. “It was a good experience.”
Mr Bridge played badminton when he was back in the U.K, but never at a national or international level. He spent many years coaching badminton in schools and clubs, and after moving to Australia took up a position coaching para-badminton which he had never done before.
“I hadn’t done any disability coaching at that point. I started off with a blank canvas of no coaching materials for working with people with disabilities and then just started networking and found my way in trying different routines and processes,” Mr Bridge said.
He admits it was challenging at first but he was able to get creative with his coaching style and adapt to working with people with disabilities.
“Coaching with disabilities falls nicely into that [creative] arena because you’ve got to be thinking, what fits one person doesn’t fit another and it’s a real challenge,” he said.
“I had 14 people one day and I wanted to do a warmup and I looked across the line up in front of me [and] I had one person with one leg, one with one arm, a number of wheelchairs… some were old, some were young.
“It’s a real interesting one and I think it can be quite daunting, but I just thought alright, crack on with it, go for it and see how it goes from there.”
Mr Bridge said it was fantastic that there were awards celebrating and recognising sportspeople with disabilities and the people, like coaches, who support them.
While he was flattered with the nomination, he is more grateful for what the recongition will do for badminton.
“Regardless of what happens it will be good for the sport and for me as an individual it’s obviously very nice that somebody’s taken the time and recognised some of the work that you put into it,” he said.
“For me it’s another way to get badminton mentioned in a bigger arena which would actually raise awareness.”
The VDSR awards night will be held on Tuesday, November 23.
