The days of the 2013 BEC Summer School passed by very quickly. The main excitement of the last day in Vejen were the tournament for the players and the Coach Level 1 exam for the coaches.

Ruben Jille from the Netherlands won the boy’s singles tournament defeating Matthew Weddicombe of England in the final. Welsh Ellen Mahenthiralingam beat Ann Knaepen of Belgium to win the girl’s singles title. The 2013 BEC Summer School concluded on Saturday after one week’s intensive training in Vejen, Southern Denmark.

After the coaches as well successfully finished the course, the time came for the Karaoke Party. The evening turned to a nice goodbye party.

The participants left Vejen on Saturday morning, with nice memories and new skills and experiences which they will be able to use in their future careers as players or coaches.

We are looking forward to seeing you at 2014 BEC Summer School!

The tournament's results:

Boy's singles
1. Ruben Jille, NED
2. Matthew Weddicombe, ENG
3. Ward Van Boven, BEL

Girl's singles
1. Ellen Mahenthiralingam, WAL
2. Ann Knaepen, BEL
3. Ema Cizelj, SLO

We have collected some final quotes from the participants.

Jana and Nina, Austria, Players
We think the summer school is great, as we got a lot of quality training. We as well had a lot of fun as we had some outdoors activities, because you can get tired if you have to stay in the hall all the time. I like to train in the groups, as we could spare with players of the same level.  We enjoyed a lot as well to work with a variety of staff coaches and coaches, because we received a lot of feedback from them. The good thing about the BEC Summer School is as well that we met a lot of players from all around Europe. At home we will continue working on the skills we learned / tips we got at the summer school together with our coaches back home. After the summer training we hope to start the season with the tournament in Langenfeld.

Richard, England, Coach Education
I enjoyed the coach education a lot. Jo was really good, coaches were helpful and the players are good to work with. I enjoyed shadowing the coaches, as they coach different from the coaches back home and that was a good experience for me. We had quite a lot of theory, and I am not a big fun of that. Back home I work full time as a coach, and I will definitely try to integrate the new knowledge in the trainings – like asking the players about what the think, how the feel, rather than just telling them what to do. If I compare the BWF Education with the English coach education, during the BWF Coach Level 1 education we get more time to work on court with the players instead of just having theoretical lessons with coaches and educators only. I would definitely like to continue with the BWF coach education  - so joining the level 2 course next time, if I pass this course.

Vlada, Belarus, Staff Coach
This was my 6th BEC Summer School.  I had a unforgettable time here in Vejen. The training was very useful for everybody. It was a hard work for everyone, but at the same time we had a lot of fun. I enjoyed my stay here a lot. The sports center here has very good facilities, so we could do a lot of activities of court as well (football, basketball, running, strength training, beach volley, swimming, speedminton …).  I find that the program, which was a bit different this year, very effective, as the players got more individual training from the staff coaches. A good thing was as well that almost all the players got to train with all the staff coaches, so the players could get different feedbacks and different tips for their development. I was glad to see the very good attitude and willingness to work hard from the players as well as the coaches and staff coaches. I would like to thank all the staff coaches, players and coaches for a great week in Vejen.

Fionnuala, Ireland, Player
I learned a lot of new technic and trick shots. I like the way the camp has been organized, as we had enough time in the hall but also we’ve done quite some out of court activities. I met players, coaches from everywhere. I even got to learn some of the foreign languages, for example French and Slovenian. I think that the facilities here are very good, I especially liked the time we spend on the trampoline, and in the swing pool. I will take back home the new technical skills and try to work on it back home, as well as use all the routines.  I would definitely come back sometime in the future.