Day 6: Part of a greater good

Coaches are an important part of any system of sport. In particular, because they have a great part to play when it comes to expanding the sport. In a badminton society, we need the coaches to teach the newcomers, and improve the elite – both are an important part of keeping the sport alive. 

BEC Summer School-projects are proud to educate coaches for the member associations all over Europe. We receive a lot of talent which we help shape for them to become the best coaches they can be. During Day 6, we have asked the participants what they look for in a coach, which most of them replies as someone who needs to be aware of what is going on outside and on court, and be a motivator for the players both during practice and in matches. 

A coach from a previous Summer School, Katryn Gittins (ENG) says: “It is so good to just meet other coaches and just discuss ideas, and everyone will come away with something”. 

When so many different coaches and staff coaches with different nationalities comes together in one place, different ways and perspectives follow as well. And it can be challenging. Former staff coach, An Soenens (BEL) explains: “Finding that balance between different ideas and different ways of doing things is very fun, very exhausting as well, and it asks a lot of energy to find the right way of handling that.” 

In the morning, the coaches were divided into two groups, where on did their delivery sessions to the players, using what they have learned the previous days and practicing on the players. While they rest were learning about badminton tactics with staff coach Mike Woodward. 

During the afternoon, half of the players were training with the staff coaches, where they focused on different situations under pressure on court. The other half were competing in a ‘Paper tower building challenge’, where you win by building the tallest tower using only paper and tape. Afterwards, they competed in who could build the best paper plane; the winner was the one who had the plane who could fly the furthest.

For the coaches, the afternoon continued with a tactics session with Mike and, later, a technical session covering hitting skills with Jakob. In the evening, the coaches handed in their theory questions and started to prepare for their final assessment the following day. Launched in the beginning of 2012, the BWF Coach Level 1 is the first of the four levels in the Coach Education framework, and also the most fundamental one. It covers 12 modules which outlines the Basic Coaching Principles. Briefly enumerated as: explaining the basic technical, tactical, and physical elements, defining the basic elements of Coaching Methodology, and planning and delivery of progressive coaching sessions. Friday, Day 7, will be the last day for them to prove they have what it takes to pass the BWF Level 1-course. 

The players, on the other hand, had more competing to do. The evening of Day 6, was the time to finish the team tournament which they dug into on Tuesday. And the winner was: Finlandia! Congratulations to Mea Immonen (FIN), Melker Z-Bexell (SWE) and Vojtech Sebera (CZE), the winning team members.