Youth Development Program launched in Hong Kong

During the recently held Hong Kong Open, MetLife, the title sponsor of the BWF World Superseries, showed its commitment to develop long-term community programs incorporating sports and health and wellness activities in different countries. This year, MetLife, in cooperation with the Change Foundation, and supported by the King and Georgie Badminton Club, launched the “MetLife Badminton – Youth Development Program”, where youngsters were taught 8 key life skills via a series of learn-to-play badminton workshops. The key life skills are:  communications, respect, responsibility, trust, teamwork, decision making, goal setting and leadership.

On November 20, 2014, MetLife organized a badminton festival in Tsim Sha Tsui, in the heart of Hong Kong, to celebrate the graduation of more than 100 young people from this meaningful program. The festival consisted of fun badminton-related games and interactive badminton action with former world-class badminton stars and local celebrities.

“I love playing badminton and am very happy to have the opportunity to improve my badminton skills through this program and at the same time learn other valuable life skills. I am also very happy to receive a badminton racket from MetLife which will allow me to continue to pursue my passion for badminton,” said one of the young participants from Ho Yu College.

“MetLife is the second largest health insurer in the region and our community outreach program is an excellent way to give children the opportunity to better their lives in a unique and engaging way.  Badminton is a fun, healthy way to share and teach key life values and skills to our next generation and is in line with MetLife’s corporate philosophy of helping to improve people’s lives,” said Mr. Ralph Brunner, Chief Marketing Officer, MetLife, Asia.

Also participating in the festival and playing badminton with the children was Mr. Thomas Lund, Secretary General, BWF, who noted, “Our youth are a key target audience for BWF to engage in order for the sport of badminton to grow in terms of participation and popularity. I am delighted that our partner MetLife shares the same vision as us and has, through its sponsorship of the MetLife BWF World Superseries, developed this initiative that not only reaches out to the youth to increase their interest in badminton but also develops key skills that will help them lead better lives.

“Young people are the future of badminton. To make badminton more popular and have more people playing badminton, we need to engage the youth and get them interested in badminton in a fun and engaging way to sustain their interest and today’s event is indeed a fun and engaging way to keep them interested in badminton,” said Mr. Morten Frost, former top men’s singles player who was also present at the festival as an inspirational sports figure.

The festival wrapped up with a ceremony where all participants received a medal and a certificate of achievement.  In addition to the recognition given to the students, MetLife also donated all the badminton sports equipment from the program to the participating schools in order to help them sustain the spirit of badminton and sports in the future.

“MetLife has been in Hong Kong for nearly 20 years and is committed to supporting local charity and community programs.  MetLife thanks all the VIPs, youths and the children who participated.  We hope to continue to serve our customers and help them pursue more from life,” said Mr. Lennard Yong, Chief Executive Officer, MetLife Hong Kong.