Tom Navarre: from badminton to humanitarian commitment with Solibad

From engineering to volunteering, from rugby to badminton, from France to Indonesia… Tom Navarre made a bold choice: putting his career on hold to join Solibad. For three months, he discovered our program in Indonesia, combining sports and community service.

A lifelong sports enthusiast, Tom, 26, grew up in Toulon and studied engineering in Lyon. After taking a break from badminton in favor of rugby, he began his career at Decathlon in Portugal. But in 2024, he decided to take time off for personal challenges and, more importantly, for a humanitarian project.

It was through the Decathlon Foundation that he discovered Solibad. Initially scheduled for a project in Brazil, he had to change destination due to local instability. He then explored other options with Solibad and chose Bintang Kidul in Indonesia, a program that had already hosted volunteers.

Bintang Kidul is an Indonesian organization that works for the education and social integration of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Through educational and sports programs, it supports children and adolescents in their personal development and offers them opportunities for a better future. Badminton plays a central role in their approach. Through this sport, young people develop essential values such as discipline, team spirit, and perseverance.

After several discussions with Dominique, the local manager, Tom prepares his stay, which begins with a first month in Jakarta.

Jakarta: Between culture shock and commitment to the recycling center

At the end of August 2024, Tom leaves France and lands in Jakarta, where he meets Dominique. During the first week, he meets the local teams and discovers the Indonesian capital.

Fortunately, his integration into the badminton community helps him find his bearings. He meets the two local teams, composed of motivated young players and caring coaches. Staying with a coach's mother—a caring woman, almost like a grandmother to him—he meets her extended family. While the welcome is incredibly warm, the living conditions require some adjustment: bucket showers, squatting toilets, hand washing. Add to this the crushing heat and mosquitoes, making nights difficult.

But it was the discovery of the dump, on the border between Jakarta and Bekasi, that had a profound impact on Tom. This place is much more than a simple dump: it's a village in its own right, where hundreds of families live amidst the waste, their survival dependent on sorting and reselling recyclable materials. The environment is harsh: the smell of waste rotting in the heat is omnipresent, and the living environment is trying.

Four times a week, Tom goes to the recycling center, where the program's young beneficiaries live. Two Indonesian students lead classes for the children, covering various educational topics. Initially an observer, Tom gradually becomes involved, giving English and math lessons to about ten young people. After class, he and the young people walk together to the badminton court to practice. There, sports become an outlet, a welcome respite from the daily grind of the landfill.

A turning point with the arrival of Loris Dufay

The last two weeks in Jakarta marked a turning point with the arrival of Loris Dufay , coach of the French para-badminton team. Arriving in September for a two-week stay as part of the Solibad program, Loris and Tom immediately formed a strong bond. They share everything: accommodation, training, and above all, a shared desire to provide technical expertise.

Loris, more experienced, structured the sessions by adding morning sessions and introduced Tom to badminton coaching. Together, they coached players like Grace and Karla, two promising young athletes.

This was a real turning point for Tom. Observing Loris's methods, he became aware of the shortcomings in the approach of local coaches. While they were warm and close to the children, they primarily focused on playful exercises, to the detriment of real technical and strategic learning.

They then decided to write a detailed report together on the observed training sessions, written in French and then translated for local coaches. This initiative aimed to provide them with concrete tools to improve their methods and structure training sessions more effectively.

This collaboration is also a powerful human encounter . Tom, accustomed to immersive travel, helps Loris come to terms with this harsher reality, particularly during his visits to the recycling center. This valuable mutual assistance has a profound impact on their experience.

While Tom quickly integrated thanks to the Indonesian hospitality, a major challenge soon arose: the language. In Jakarta, none of the local coaches spoke fluent English, which was frustrating, especially when he wanted to suggest adjustments to training sessions. The arrival of Loris Dufay facilitated this communication. By illustrating their recommendations with demonstrations, they were able to better convey their ideas to the local coaches. With the children too, English was not always an effective means of communication. However, badminton became their common language: gestures, training sessions, and demonstrations were enough to create a bond. Despite these obstacles, Tom felt at home. The warm welcome from the Indonesians played a key role: everything was done to ensure he integrated without feeling homesick.

Yogyakarta: Immersion in the heart of badminton and home

After a month in Jakarta, Tom took the train to Yogyakarta, in the south of Java, a more pleasant and accessible city. He was welcomed by the young people of the Bintang Kidul home , part of the program that combines a sports project around badminton and a living space for a dozen young people, aged 16 to 26. The latter, originally from the Jakarta dump, were able to be relocated to Yogyakarta thanks to a scholarship that allows them to continue their studies until they enter the workforce.

Tom is immediately immersed in their daily lives, sharing their shared apartment. Here, several young people speak English, facilitating communication. He also meets Ipung , the program manager, and Black , who acts as an intermediary and translator while also having excellent knowledge of badminton in Indonesia.

In Yogyakarta, Tom devotes almost all of his time to badminton, alongside some English lessons. The association manages four teams of young people from the city, who train daily, and he attends as many sessions as possible.

He forms a strong relationship with Rayendra , a young enthusiast who wants to become a coach. Their exchange is mutual: Rayendra helps him understand the intricacies of badminton in Indonesia, while Tom brings a fresh perspective on coaching.

The tournaments he attends are highlights: in Jakarta , a young player reaches the quarter-finals of a national tournament, and in Yogyakarta , a player wins his category in a regional tournament. Tom carefully analyzes their game and suggests areas for improvement.

Lack of strategy in Indonesian training

Over the course of training sessions and matches, Tom and Loris (with whom he had collaborated in Jakarta) identified a major weak point in the training of Indonesian players: the total absence of tactical and strategic learning.

Local training focuses solely on technique and physique: perfecting movements, building endurance and power. But the tactical aspect—knowing where to place shots, understanding your opponent's weak points, adapting your game to the context—is never addressed. Players evolve primarily on intuition. Even in high-level academies, this gap is striking. This is what Tom and Loris sought to convey in their detailed report, along with suggestions for improvement. They emphasized the importance of introducing specific exercises on tactics and decision-making on the field, in the hope that some coaches will draw inspiration from them.

But when Tom tries to introduce new strategy-based exercises, he encounters entrenched traditional methods and a hierarchical culture where young people don't dare ask their coaches questions. Despite this resistance to change, some young people like Rayendra are curious and open to these new approaches.

A necessary break to get going again

After four intense weeks in Yogyakarta, Tom had to temporarily leave Indonesia to renew his visa. He had been advised to take a break to breathe and regenerate—wise advice after weeks of total dedication to training and analyzing local methods.

He first spends a few days in Bali, a destination he hadn't planned but which he discovers thanks to Black, who welcomes him into his jungle home. This nature retreat allows him to refocus before heading to Thailand for two weeks with his cousin. Combining exercise and rest, this break allows him to recharge his batteries after a physically and mentally demanding immersion.

Heading for Sumatra: a new approach to badminton

Back in Indonesia at the beginning of November, Tom settled on the island of Sumatra , which is much less populated than Java. He began his stay in Padang , where he joined one of the most structured clubs he had encountered during his trip. Unlike other teams in Bintang Kidul, which were often made up of small groups of children coached informally, this club had a real gym with intensive daily training sessions, where adults joined the children to play. For two weeks, Tom lived to the rhythm of badminton, dividing his days between training sessions from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and friendly moments with passionate players.

Dominique and Black then joined him to continue the adventure in Payakumbuh , a more rural town. Here, the approach to badminton is radically different: no gym, but improvised courts in gardens, where children come to play after school. Tom notably visited a team in the Harau Valley , a spectacular setting surrounded by mountains. For two weeks, he alternated between the different teams, discovering a new side of Indonesian badminton. The technical level there is lower, but the passion and commitment of the coaches and young people are impressive. He also took the opportunity to immerse himself in the local culture through hikes, a festival and memorable encounters with a warm and open population. This region allowed him to see once again the richness and diversity of Indonesia, where more than 1000 languages and cultures coexist.

Strong bonds and difficult goodbyes

Every departure is heartbreaking. In these remote regions, some young people have never seen a stranger, and the coaches, often isolated, are grateful for the help provided. Tom knows that his time there will leave a lasting mark.

He then continued his journey to Lampung , in South Sumatra, where he spent two days with a dynamic team. Tom was able to observe their training and give them advice, while writing observation notes for Dominique and Bintang Kidul.

Then he takes one last bus to Jakarta to meet up with the young people and the grandmother who had welcomed him at the beginning of his journey. He is struck by the progress made in his absence, a fitting conclusion to this adventure.

In mid-December, he left Indonesia to return to France, with mixed feelings: a touch of sadness at the thought that this incredible project was coming to an end, but above all, immense gratitude for everything he had experienced.