Unsung Hero: Nishi Varma
Nishi Varma was not going to take it lying down when she was told she was too old to get better at badminton.
Keen to disprove the doubters, she made it her mission to demonstrate that it is never too late to hone your skills on the court – a message she has spread through coaching.
Empowering others to reach the top of their game regardless of age, gender or ability, Varma, 63, stresses that badminton really is a sport for everyone.
“I remember playing one day and I was a bit frustrated with my shot, and the person I was playing with actually turned around and said ‘don’t worry about it because at your age you’re never going to improve’, which really got my goat,” she said.
“I decided that I was going to go on a coaching course to learn the basics of badminton, and that’s how I got into it.
“It was just to say that you know you can play at a level at any age and I wasn’t going to be sidelined or allow comments like that to bring me down.
“It just elevated my enthusiasm for improving, not only in my own game, but helping others to improve.”
Varma now runs an abundance of sessions at Oakham School, ranging from juniors, adults and those with additional needs.
Through coaching, she has been able to introduce badminton to a wide range of different people, inspiring an athletic pursuit that has proved invaluable to some.
“I coached a woman who just lost her husband and it took a lot for her to come to the session,” Varma added. “She came and I held a social no strings ladies badminton session and she won.
“That gave her a tremendous boost to her self confidence, which it can do in any sport, it doesn’t have to be badminton.
“But for me as a coach, it just gave me so much pleasure to actually put somebody in a position where they could feel safe, feel good, feel better and have achieved something.
“It gave her something that perhaps the rest of the community couldn’t have given her, that sense of achievement and overcoming her fears to enter a tournament.”
Despite having spread her love of badminton to countless new shuttlers, Varma does not want to be lauded for her contributions to the sport.
“I don’t feel particularly proud or otherwise,” she said. “I just enjoy the game and I’d like other people to benefit from a sport – my sport just happens to be badminton.
“I don’t have any egotistical agenda, it’s just something where I can hopefully give back to the community.
“I have people who come to me for adult wellbeing and they have a lot of mental health issues. If I can give them a little bit of respite, and if I can enable them to make contacts and friendships along the way, then that’s to me what it’s all about.
“It’s not necessarily about the game of badminton. It’s about camaraderie, it’s about support, it’s about friendships, it’s about new experiences – and to me, that’s what it is.”
