Wynter wants to spread badminton through INSPORTS

FRESHLY MINTED national badminton champion Katherine Wynter has joined the Institute of Sport (INSPORTS) as a sporting officer.

The 25-year-old Wynter, who won the national title on four occasions, the first as a 16-year-old, said she was just happy with her new job.

“I am very happy to be joining the INSPORTS staff. I finally found a job that I like and working with the sport that I love. I can’t complain, I am happy to be here,” she said.

“I bring expertise in badminton to the table. I have been national champion for a number of years. I also bring vibrancy and personality as well.”

Wynter, who also won bronze at the Pan Am Badminton Championship in the Mixed Doubles in 2016, said badminton is at a low right now and she is excited about playing her part in lifting the sport to another level.

“When they say ‘at rock bottom’ there is no way to go but up, and a sport like badminton, there is no way to go but up. There is so much to improve on. There is so much talent out there,” she pointed out.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Wynter, who also represented Jamaica at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, wants to introduce the sport at the primary school level and improve the talent pool.

“Definitely, you can have more schools involved. Right now it’s just mostly Kingston and St Andrew and Manchester schools that are playing. St Catherine is coming on,” she explained.

“We haven’t had a school league in a couple of years now so I am not too sure about that. We have 14 parishes and it’s mainly just two that play. So we can definitely improve,” Wynter added.

“We want to try and get badminton in the primary schools. For now, it’s really just the high school and tertiary schools that play. We need to just educate them about the sport. I would like to take myself along with some other senior players, show them the sport, show them how it is played and show them that it can be really fun,” said Wynter.

“It’s just about opening their eyes to the sport and I can promise you once they start it, they are going to love it.”