The 2015 BEC Summer School is tailored for the junior European players and professional coaches wannabes. This one week Summer School expects sore muscles, exhausted participants but following the phrase, `No pain, No gain´, they are ready for the challenges as they know being tired is temporary but knowledge gained is permanent. 

The first day of the Summer School kicked start well as the participants woke up to a sunny Sunday. Motivated and settled after their arrival on Saturday, the participants had a day packed with 4 training sessions, 3 meals and a tournament in the evening. Participants were split into two groups during the day – the players and the coaches. 

Players started their court training with warming up session combined with music led by Mike Woodward, Badminton Europe´s staff coach from England. As for the 24 coaches, they started their day in a classroom with theory lessons led by Jeroen van Dijk, Badminton Europe Development Manager and Head of the BWF Level 2 Coach Education Course in Podcetrtek. 

When the theory part was completed, the coaches then joined the players on court for some practical tasks. There was plenty of interaction among the players and coaches while they trained and practiced. The players were very enthusiastic and co-operated very well with the coaches. Although the sun is out and going for a dip in the pool is more tempting, these players know their main goals here in the Summer School – to learn and to improve their badminton skills. 

“It is my first time in the Summer School, but my brother attended last year. He had a great time and there were many high level trainings with really good coaches, so I decided that I will take part the year after (this year). We just finished our first training, it was hard but I enjoyed it. So far it met my expectations based on my brother´s recommendation and I am looking forward to the upcoming days,” explained Andrew Oates, player from Wales on how he got to know about the BEC Summer School. 

In addition to the daily schedule, the highlight of the day was the first round of the team tournament. The players competed against each other in 8 teams. This tournament will be played during the week with the relay team event system, where each team tie consists of 5 matches and each match consists of 21 points. The match is won by the team which reaches 105 points first. This relay team system is a new system currently being tested by the Badminton World Federation with a possible integration at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games. The 2015 BEC Summer School is honored to be the first ever event to test this system. 

“We found the team event very interesting in this new way. It makes the team get together and fight for every points, as you never know who is going to win, even if you are down with a lot of points, your team still has a chance to catch up. So there was a great atmosphere and team spirit during the game,” commented Mark Gannon, player from Ireland. 

The winning team of this tournament will go home with exclusive badminton equipment from Badminton Europe. So stay tuned for the semifinals and finals in the next few days. Here is the summary video of the #BECSS15 Day 2:

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