Badminton Europe (BEC) over the weekend had its board and commission meetings in Copenhagen, Denmark. Members flew in from afar to reflect and discuss new exciting plans for the future growth of badminton in Europe.
There were nine commission meetings, spanning all areas of badminton. Speaking with the board and commission members following the meetings, here is what they said.
Renna Unt, BEC Director shares her thoughts on the Major Events and Circuits commission meetings.
-We discussed a lot of things in regard to the future of events. There will be some regulation changes, with the aim to make badminton events more attractive to the media, fans and players. For instance, we would like to increase club participation for the European Club Championships.
The target is big
2020 is, of course, an Olympic and Paralympic year, which will excite and engage badminton fans from all around the world. João Matos, BEC Vice President explains what was discussed in the Para meeting.
-We looked at how to really help our members integrate Para badminton into their normal activities as we do at Badminton Europe. For the Paralympics, it is also very important for our athletes to qualify and be a part of our first participation, and then get some good results to reward everyone’s hard work that they have been doing.
Badminton Europe prides itself in its aspiration to make badminton inclusive and accessible to everyone. BEC Director Jean-Marc Serfaty shares what exciting initiatives are on the agenda in 2020.
-For Sport for All, the Shuttle Time initiative is perhaps the biggest topic we discussed. With the target being the school-age youth, we know that the target is big, as there are so many schools and pupils. So, if we are able to get more teachers, we can keep increasing the number of people playing badminton in the end.
Getting the message out
With many excellent events to look forward to in 2020, getting the message out to the world is a key element for the continued growth of the sport. BEC Director, Andrej Pohar reinforces this by saying.
-We reached some new agreements on how to continue our communication strategy. There were many new ideas put forward for the future. I am glad we can open up in these meetings, then hopefully it will lead us into new projects.
Commission member Simone van den Bergh also shared that view.
-We spoke about the different ways we can work with the member associations to get the message out to make badminton more visible throughout Europe.
Watch the video interviews with our board and commission members here.