It was all about para-badminton. 60 participants from 20 countries spent their weekend focusing only on para-badminton at Lisburn Racquets Club in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the 2017 BEC Para-Badminton Event last week.
Prior to the 2017 BWF Para-Badminton World Championships (KOR) in two weeks´ time and a continuation of the BEC Para-Badminton Education Course, a combined training camp for elite players and coach education course was held from 9-12 November 2017.
A first but definitely not the last
Junior Manager at Badminton Europe, Tania Teoh says:
- This is the very first time we combined a training camp and a coach education course for para-badminton. If the demand is there from our Member Associations, we are pretty sure that something similar will be organized again.
- Discussions with the various parties are ongoing for next year and we hope that our Member Associations will keep supporting such an event.
The organizing team from Badminton Europe, Badminton Ireland and Badminton World Federation
European Centralized Training Camp
Players were put to work with back to back trainings which included on and off court programmes. The on court trainings included were speedwork, consistency, playing environment and sparring. For off court programme, players went through match analysis together with Badminton Europe´s coach presenters, Kaity Hall, Ciaran Chambers and Eugene McVeigh.
BWF Disability Coaching Workshop
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) delivered its pilot BWF Disability Coaching Workshop to 19 European para-badminton coaches which consisted of theory and practical sessions for two full days. On the final day, all the coaches were assessed by John Shearer, BWF Development Manager and Lyndon Williams, BWF Para-Badminton Commission Member, expert in para-badminton coaching. All 19 coaches passed their assessments.
Strive to be better
Conor Doherty, Events Assistant at Badminton Ireland (BI) tells Badminton Europe
- Every time we host the athletes and coaches (Badminton Ireland hosted three BWF Para-Badminton Internationals) we believe the bond between our staff and the players grows. I believe that this creates an atmosphere which makes the athletes & coaches more relaxed and therefore they can concentrate more on their training and course rather than the logistics of the event.
- Organising this magnificent event in conjunction with Badminton Europe is always a great learning experience and a privilege. With each event that we host we strive to be better and we hope to provide a lasting memory with the participants
For photos from the event, click
here.