From being a self-confessed ‘terrible’ badminton player at school, Taffazul is now a badminton champion, combining his love of the sport with his college business studies BTEC…

Name: Taffazul Islam
Institution: Tower Hamlets
Course: BTEC Business and badminton

I am enjoying combining my BTEC Business studies with badminton. I only took up badminton in Year 10 at high school during GCSE PE and I was terrible. I didn’t know what I was doing and wasn’t any good at first. So much of badminton is about moving your feet and your court positioning and I didn’t have a clue. It was only around a year later when I got a coach that I really started to improve and enjoy it. Up until then, I played a bit of football and cricket but never took anything seriously.

I progressed quickly and won the Tower Hamlets Under-17 Badminton Championship before taking the under-19 title and winning promotion from my league this year. I train most days of the week and believe this hard work could be the key to my progression. I have also just completed a summer internship with J. P. Morgan and am keen to go on to university and either have my own business or work in finance.

I am really ambitious but I’m not sure whether I can have a full-time career in badminton. I want to get to the top of the sport but I know how far I still have to go. I would love to keep improving and start playing at regional and national level. I am hoping to play for London Metropolitan University in their national league this year but my dream is to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games. I am concentrating on training hard and getting my qualifications for now though.