North Atlantic Camp in the Faroe Islands


The 2014 North Atlantic Camp for players from U13 to U17, a Regional Project by Badminton Europe, has been held on Faroe Islands from 10-16 August. The camp took place in Tórshavn, the beautiful capital of the Faroe Islands. Tórshavn is one of the smallest capitals of the world, with a population of 18.300. 
 
24 players, from Iceland, Greenland and Faroe Islands participated in the camp while 10 coaches took part in a training course. The camp consisted of five days of training, each day with a training session that lasted 2 hours in the morning and 2 x 2 hours in the afternoon. Each day, also a seperate 1 hour coach session was held in the morning. After dinner the players enjoyed different kinds of social activities like swimming, football and playing cards.
 
During the week there was also time for sightseeing. One day the participants had a trip to Gjógv and Saksun. In Gjógv the group visited a 200-meter long sea-filled gorge, enjoyed the unspoiled village and went for a walk at the edge of the cliffs. In Saksun they went for a walk to a lagoon. On the last day of the camp, a tournament “North Atlantic Open” was played within the participating players and local players from Faroe Islands. 
 


"The North Atlantic Camp seeks to fulfil three mail goals – the first is to develop young talented players, the second is to educate coaches and finally the third is to establish a network between the players, coaches and associations in the participating countries. This years North Atlantic Camp was a succes in all three areas – where the head coach, James Barcley, lead the players and coaches in a well structured, committed and positive manner.” said Erik Engelbrecht Thomsen, the president of the Faroese Badminton Association. 

"The players were put through 6 hours of training per day. They and worked really hard on all areas of their game. All the players were great at joining in the training and trying some new techniques and practices. They really enjoyed the practices and there was a competitive edge to some of the training which really helped push the players to new levels. The Faroe Islands were a great host and provided everything the players needed so they could just concentrate on their badminton. This really helped all the players improve their badminton and a real difference could be seen in the players from the start of the camp to the last day at the tournament”, said James Barcley, head coach of the training camp.

Article and photo by Faroese Badminton Association