No longer a sport for the elite
With rackets in hand, the dozens of teenagers on the courts of Miratus badminton school began moving in unison when Sebastiao de Oliveira switched on the samba.
He blew a whistle, shouted: “Level 2!” and as the music blasting from speakers quickened, their steps, skips and shuffles kept pace. They added shots and parries, sidesteps and shimmies — intricate, controlled movements set to a samba beat.
As crime concerns, political instability and doping scandals loomed over the Rio Olympics, the scene at Miratus painted a different picture: of sport’s transformative power to bridge economic chasms and offer respite and purpose to those in desperate need of both. De Oliveira has conjured such results by bringing an aristocratic game to this country’s poorest population.
The results are more than aspirational: while Miratus provides an alternative to the crime that is both a lure and a threat, the school also has produced Brazil’s first two badminton Olympians.
De Oliveira, 51, founded Miratus in 1998, here in the favela called Chacrinha. Favelas are low-income communities made of rudimentary, hand-built houses that are home to almost a quarter of Rio’s population.
“Badminton used to be for the rich elite,” de Oliveira said. “I made it favela.”
De Oliveira’s mother worked as a live-in maid for Afranio da Costa, a sport shooter who in 1920 became the first Brazilian to win an Olympic medal. Da Costa, later a supreme court judge, did not allow children to live with his domestic staff, so when de Oliveira was 7 years old, he was sent to live in a notoriously tough children’s home. “It was very difficult,” he said. “You had every chance of becoming a delinquent.”
De Oliveira eventually qualified as a body shop mechanic, and later became a sports assistant at a staterun high school. One day, while riding the bus, he met his future wife, Carmem Lucia, who lived in Chacrinha. Instead of moving her out of the favela when they were married, de Oliveira moved in. “It was here I could do my plan, and help other people,” he said.
His initial idea was a swimming project for local youth. He was given some land, recruited help and built the centre with his bare hands. He later decided badminton was a cheaper, more flexible sport for favela youth. The empty pool became its first court. Now Miratus is housed in a big blue building. Around 200 regular students play badminton every day.
In that converted pool, de Oliveira’s son, Ygor Coelho, started playing at age 3. “It was a natural thing for me,” he said. “I was smaller than the racket, so my father cut it to my size.”
Sixteen years later, Coelho will join women’s competitor Lohaynny Vicente, 20, as the host country’s entrants in the 2016 Olympic tournament.
As much pride as there is in producing Olympians, de Oliveira’s real mission at Miratus is to serve a wider population. In addition to badminton training, the school offers theatre workshops, English lessons, a computer room and free classes to help pass the entrance exam for Brazil’s federal universities.
“Before, I used to hang out in the street doing nothing,” said Crisliane Bittencourt, 18, who has played internationally with Miratus. “Then this became my second home.”