Prepare the Golden Generation of Badminton Through Playgrounds

The Kudus District Management (Pengkab) of PBSI, together with the Bakti Olahraga Djarum Foundation, once again held the SenengMinton Festival as an effort to foster enjoyment and love for badminton at the early childhood level. The competition held on June 23 and 24, 2025, at GOR Djarum, Jati, Kudus, Central Java, was attended by 345 students from grades 1 to 3 from 23 Elementary Schools (SD) and Islamic Elementary Schools (MI) in Kudus and the surrounding areas.

Program Director of the Djarum Foundation's Bakti Olahraga, Yoppy Rosimin, stated that the organization of the SenengMinton Festival 2025 Series 1 is a continuation of the previous two events, which were positively received by both participants and schools. He hopes that by fostering enjoyment and love for badminton at the grassroots level through competitions wrapped in fun games like this, it will be the first step in nurturing and developing future athletes.

"SenengMinton Festival is one way to popularize badminton among young children in a structured manner by involving school teachers, systematically through various games that encourage a love for badminton, and massively by involving many participants. This is important to maintain the badminton chain aimed at preparing a golden generation of badminton through enjoyable competitions," said Yoppy.

The Chairperson of Pengkab PBSI Kudus, Yuni Kartika, appreciated the enthusiasm of the participants who took part in the SenengMinton Festival 2025 Series 1. He explained that this event also serves as a benchmark for elementary school students who are under the guidance of Pengkab PBSI Kudus in terms of skill progression. The schools involved have also been regularly conducting badminton extracurricular activities.

"The enthusiasm is very good because the schools participating in SenengMinton are schools that have been regularly conducting badminton extracurricular activities. We also see the development of badminton sports in each of the schools." So far, in terms of enthusiasm and quality, it has been quite good because the SenengMinton Festival has been held for the third time," explained Yuni. Previously, the SenengMinton Festival was held twice in 2024, namely Series 1 in February and Series 2 in December.

The SenengMinton Festival features seven types of competitions: Service to Target, Shuttle Run, Pyramid Shuttlecock, Throwing The Shuttlecock, Zig Zag Run, Run, and Drive Target. In Service to Target, participants perform a straight serve by hitting the shuttlecock into the designated colored target area. Shuttle Run involves running from the center point to pick up the shuttlecock, then moving it to the opposite side. The student who successfully completes the obstacle is the one who manages to move all the shuttlecocks. Pyramid Shuttlecock involves arranging the shuttlecocks in a pyramid shape according to the specified number.

Meanwhile, Throwing The Shuttlecock throws the shuttlecock into the target hole. Zig Zag Run runs through obstacles in a zigzag manner. Each student is required to run following the instructions, which are sideways, backward, and forward. Lastly, there is the Drive Target where participants hit the shuttlecock with a racket to hit a target set at a height of 120 cm and a distance of 2 meters. Participants can proceed to the next obstacle after hitting 2 targets.

Each game is designed to train motor skills, coordination, and introduce the basics of badminton techniques in a fun game format. Each school sends three teams consisting of five students (three boys and two girls) who must work together to complete each challenge. The SenengMinton 2025 Series 1 Festival also involves 200 preschool and kindergarten students from 10 schools in Kudus and surrounding areas in various games and playground activities. There is also a supporter competition from the participating schools.

Defending Champion

MI NU Imaduddin Hadiwarno successfully won the championship at the Festival SenengMinton 2025 Series 1 in the 2nd-grade elementary school category. Hendri Mariyanto, as the school's teacher, 'tips his hat' to the students' achievements. Although there was a decline from the Festival SenengMinton 2024 Series 1 and Series 2, MI NU Imaduddin still received two titles and maintained their championship in the 2nd-grade SD category.

"Yes, even though there was a decline in performance from the previous two SenengMinton Festival events, our school still became the champion of the 2nd-grade elementary school category and the semifinalist of the 1st-grade elementary school category. During the competition, we remained enthusiastic and strived to achieve the fastest time, even though other schools were also very good," said Hendri.

Meanwhile, SD NU Nawa Kartika succeeded in becoming the champion in the 3rd-grade elementary school category. The school's physical education teacher, Ainun Ni’am, admitted that she applied more intensive and regular training to her students. As a result, the process yielded positive achievements.

"In the SenengMinton Festival 2024 Series 1, we were the runners-up, but in Series 2, we didn't win any titles." Alhamdulillah, this time we were able to become champions. Indeed, we intentionally trained hard for two weeks before the event. During extracurricular activities, we were also more focused. Hopefully, in the next series, we can achieve even more victories," Ainun remarked.

The winners of the SenengMinton Festival 2025 Series 1 in each competition received trophies, certificates, and prizes from sponsors including MilkLife, Kenko, Dua Kelinci, Aice, and Hundred. The SenengMinton Festival 2025 Series 2 will take place on December 13 and 14.

Spreading to Four Cities in Central Java

Seeing the success of this event and the emergence of badminton talents who are increasingly loving and delving deeper into the sport, the SenengMinton Festival plans to be held in four other cities in 2025, namely Semarang, Solo, Purwokerto, and Magelang. The goal, Yuni added, is to ensure that both breeding and training at the grassroots level can proceed and become a supply of potential athletes to join clubs, especially in Central Java.

"Because the SenengMinton Festival is one way to capture children's enjoyment and interest in playing badminton." Because if we look at it broadly, Central Java has club development running, but the initial introduction to badminton has not yet been established. And we are looking for big cities because the interest is good, there are already many clubs," added Yuni.

The SenengMinton Festival in four cities will also collaborate with the local PBSI. This is to attract participants from schools that have an interest in badminton or already have a badminton extracurricular activity. Unlike the event in Kudus, which adopts a team system, the other cities will implement an individual system.

"In Kudus, we have team events because we already know the number of students in each school and their classifications. Meanwhile, in other cities, we don't yet know the abilities of each individual." The hope is that many first-grade elementary school students will get involved, because it is indeed better to cultivate interest and love for badminton as early as possible," Yuni stated. Meanwhile, the SenengMinton Festival 2025 Series 2 in Kudus is scheduled to be held at the end of the year.

Here is the list of winners of the SenengMinton Festival 2025 Series 1:

Grade 1
Champion: MI NU Miftahul Ulum
Runner-up: SD Unggulan Muslimat NU Kudus
Semifinalists: MI NU Imaduddin Hadiwarno and MI NU Pendidikan Islam

Class 2
Champion : MI NU Imaduddin Hadiwarno
Runner-up : MI NU Pendidikan Islam
Semifinalists: MI NU Baitul Mukminin and MIN Kudus

Grade 3
Champion: SD NU Nawa Kartika
Runner-up: SDIT Umar Bin Khathab Kudus
Semifinalists: MI Muhammadiyah Al Tanbih and MI NU Imaduddin Hadiwarno

Supporter Competition
Champion : MI Negeri Kudus
Runner-up : MI NU Nurus Shofa
Semifinalists : MI NU Pendidikan Islam