66 players from 20 different European countries participated in this year’s Summer School in Nymburk, and it seemed that they all had a hard, but very good week in the Czech Republic. They paid attention when they were trained by the staff members, and they were all willing to learn when the participating coaches came on the court to give them instructions during the training sessions.

The 25 coaches coming from 18 different European countries had a theory session each morning before going in the training hall to teach the players the things they have just learned. For some of the coaches there were many new experiences with the game of badminton, but they all did their very best, and no one stayed outside the court, just watching. They all came with instructions to the players, when they thought something different should be done. The coaches worked very hard throughout the week, using the late hours in the evenings to plan the next day’s training sessions.

The ten staff members at the Summer School were:

Alan McIlvain, Scotland

Peter Mouritsen, Denmark

Budisantoso, Indonesia

Rainer Diehl, Germany

Jens Grill, England

Vlada Cherniavskaya, Belarus

Fran Dacal, Spain

Csaba Hamza, Italy

An Soenens, Belgium

Tomasz Mendrek, Czech Republic

Click here to see the full list of participating players and coaches.

After having worked hard for four days, the local organisers had made trip for all participants – a boat trip to the beautiful city of Podebrady, about 10 km from Nymburk. The whether was great when everybody headed for the local harbour where the boat was waiting. After one hour of sailing it was time to see the city Podebrady. Everybody went to a local castle where they were given sightseeing before heading for the centre of the town. Here everyone was given some time of their own before heading back to the boat, and back to Nymburk. They all expressed their satisfaction about the days happening, and Badminton Europe would therefore like to thank the local organisers for arranging this trip.

Because of bad whether on Wednesday evening the traditional football match between players and coaches/staff was postponed to Thursday, but when Budisantoso blew the whistle, it was easy to see that the coaches were the best prepared for the match. Despite that the players some times were up to 30 players on the pitch, the coaches and the staff were victorious by winning the match 5-2, to great joy for everybody – except the players of course.

On Friday it was time for the most important part of the Summer School – the individual singles tournament. Many great matches were played, and despite that many of the players were a bit tired because of the hard training throughout the week, everyone gave it all they got. In the end it came down to the two finals were Matevz Bajuk from Slovenia and Nanna Vainio from Finland managed to overcome their opponents, Jan Vitvera from the Czech Republic and Lauren Smith from England. All the semi finalists in the two categories were presented with presents from the local organisers and from Badminton Europe on Friday evening’s farewell party.

Another returning event at the Summer School is the coaches tournament, where all staff members and coaches get together to decide who is the best (or most competitive) of them. Once again it was Peter Mouritsen who managed to achieve the most points, and he was therefore crowned as the winner. A lot of good badminton was played in this double tournament, and everyone had a joyful time.

At Friday evening it was time for everyone to say goodbye, so the local had arranged a farewell party, where a disc jockey was playing. After the above mentioned prize ceremony all players, coaches and staff were giving their very best on the dance floor, and everybody was saying properly goodbye to each other. People really had a good evening.