The charming BEC Summer School

Podcetrtek hosting the 34^th edition of the annual BEC Summer School this year brings back memories from our participants. It is without a doubt a wonderful sign when staff coaches return to the Summer School to teach, guide and share their knowledge with other European coaches. Some players even make the Summer School a family affair. 

We get a close up with Vlada Cherniavskaya (pic), Badminton Europe´s staff coach from Belarus.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.  
I’m a former player of Soviet Union and Belarus and I took part in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. My first summer school was back in 2007 and since then I have been taking part in the Summer School every year. This makes it my 8^th  year at the Summer School as a staff coach.

2.What makes you come back to the Summer School year after year? 
The Summer School is a great organized event by Badminton Europe where you have the possibility to work together with a professional team of staff coaches and with many junior players from different countries all over Europe. I learn new things from them every time.

3.What are your best memories from the Summer School? 
My best memories from the Summer Schools are that I always meet nice people each year. Thank you all staff coaches whom I was working together before andall that I am currently working together with and of course one of the best traditions of the Summer School is the great card game “Hi Jack!” 

Besides Vlada, the Oates siblings from Wales and the Villacorta sisters from Spain also have their own story about the Summer School. The Summer School is a family affair for the brothers where big brother Scott attended the 2014 BEC Summer School in Vejen, Denmark last year.

This year, he is accompanied by his younger brother, Andrew in Podcetrtek. “This is my first time in the Summer School, but my brother attended last year. He said he had a great time,many high level trainings with really good coaches, so I decided that I willtake part the year after (this year),”explained Andrew on his introduction to the Summer School.

As for Yaiza and Lara Villacorta, they mentioned that it was their teammate Natalia Rodriguez who introduced the Summer School to them and that she had a good time last year in Vejen, Denmark. In addition to that, having Natalia here with them and the encouragement from their mother were other reasons they took the decision to join the Summer School. It is Natalia´s second consecutive year in the Summer School and there are 6 players and 2 coaches from Spain participating this year.

While the participants are less shy now, we had the chance to get to know the other players better and asked ´Why did they choose to play badminton?´ and ´What are their goals being a competitive badminton player?´. 

Anne-Marie Schloesser (LUX): “I started to play badminton in 2007, I watched my friends playing and at that moment I felt like I would also like to play this sport as well.” 

Brian O’Mahony (IRL): “My friends know I work hard and train hard to better myself at badminton. They support me while playing badminton. They come to most of my matches and they also love to tease me outside of court. 

Ulfheidur Embla Asgeirsdottir (ISL): “Badminton has taught me how to live a healthy lifestyle and how to work with others. To work hard in order to achieve what I want, to be organized and to always push harder, no matter how painful it is. To be confident, and the meaning of team spirit. And I’ve also learned how good it feels when you achieve something you have worked hard for. 

Oliver Lee Nowak (DEN): “I want to become as good as possible withwhat I got. But my main goal is to become World Champion or Olympic Champion oneday. I want to achieve these goals and I would also like to get a lot of nice experiences during my badminton carrier, like friends, trips and these kind of things. For me badminton means life – itis everything to me!” 

Jose Maria Rodriguez (ESP): “I would like to achieve to be the number 1 player in Spain but my main goal is to become a World Champion in Men’s Singles one day. Luckily I don’t have any injuries during my badminton career yet. 

Getting back to the Summer School, it was an intense day yesterday. The main focus was on the tactical elements for theCoach Education participants. They delivered their lessons to the players in the afternoon and in the evening the players played the 2nd round of the relayteam tournament. Team Tom and Jerry and Team Meerkats confirmed their spots inthe finals today. The scores for the semifinals were: 

Team Tom and Jerry vs Bob and the Hunters

105   :  88 

Team Meerkats! vs Bulls

 105   :  101

The finals will be played today and the winner of this team event will receive exclusive prizes from Badminton Europe.

To follow the 2015 BEC Summer School #BECSS15, click on the links below

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Article from 14 July 2015