General

A Great BEC Congress in Podcetrtek
Date: 4/19/2016 1:04 PM
Published by : Tania Teoh
People say, ´time flies when you are having fun´ and this is no exception at the 2016 BEC Congress. Although the days were long with numerous badminton discussions, meetings and sharing sessions, the four day congress passed by so quickly. In a glimpse of an eye, all the delegates, staff and guests were already back home.

The 2016 BEC Congress which consisted of the BEC Members´ Forum, the 49th Annual Delegates´ Meeting, the 4th Awards Gala Evening and the Board of Directors´ Meeting ended on Sunday. Let us take a look at some highlights of the congress:

Members´ Forum

A total of more than 60 delegates and participants attended the two day forum where multiple badminton related topics were presented by external experts and BEC staff. For the first time ever, a badminton practical session was introduced during the forum this year. Delegates had the chance to show their badminton skills on court, experienced playing badminton on sports wheelchairs and had a great session of ´Fit´minton´. ´I do not play that much badminton these days but I still occasionally try to make time to play. Being able to play here (in Podcetrtek) with our colleagues and sweat it out is a brilliant way to break the ice and socialize with everyone. I enjoyed it a lot,´ said Michael Watt, CEO of Badminton Ireland when asked about how he felt after the practical session.


 


To download the Members´ Forum materials, click here.

49th Annual Delegates´ Meeting

The 49th Annual Delegate´s Meeting (ADM) was attended by 38 Member Associations, BEC Board of Directors, BEC staff and several distinguished guests. The meeting started on time as all the registration was completed before 10:00 am. The ADM started with a welcoming speech by Gregory Verpoorten, BEC President and a report by Brian Agerbak, General Secretary of BEC on the office matters. The BEC Directors then took turns to report on their Commissions. The stage was opened to the floor for questions and comments after completion of every Commission´s report.

BEC President, Gregory Verpoorten renewed his mandate until 2019 by acclamation as did Vice President, Andrey Antropov who will remain in office until 2018. During this years´ ADM, an election was also conducted to elect new Directors to join the current BEC Board of Directors. Directors were elected as follow:

Emma Mason (SCO) – until 2020
Martin Kranitz (GER) – until 2020
Peter Tarcala (SVK) – until 2019
Klavs Andreassen (DEN) – until 2019

´I applaud all the delegates for their cooperation and a very productive ADM. The ADM went very well and we managed to cover all the topics in the planned time frame. Congratulations also to the newly elected Directors and I look forward to working with them. Welcome on board and I hope that our Members will continue the great cooperation with us. Plenty has to be done to improve our sport in Europe and with the new Board of Directors, I am positive that our team will only be stronger,´ stated Gregory Verpoorten, BEC President.

4th Awards Gala Evening

The evening of celebration was attended by more than 100 people in the congress hall of Terme-Olimia Hotel in Podcetrtek. The guests of the evening consisted of our delegates, BEC partners and guests, local organizers and the award winners.

To read more about the 4th Awards Gala Evening, click here.

The Award Winners are:

BEC European Male Player of the Year 2015: Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (DEN)
BEC European Female Player of the Year 2015: Carolina Marin (ESP)
BEC European Young Player of the Year 2015: Anders Antonsen (DEN)
BEC European Para-badminton Player of the Year 2015: Bartlomiej Mroz (POL)
BEC Senior Player of the Year 2015 : Gitte Sommer (DEN)
BEC Women in Badminton Award 2015: Carolina Marin (ESP)
BEC Coach of the Year 2015 : Fernando Rivas (ESP)
BEC Technical Official of the Year 2015: Ernest Robinson (FRA)
BEC Hall Of Fame: Morten Frost (DEN)

After the award winners were announced, the evening ended on a high when the next host for the 2017 BEC Congress was announced. BEC turns 50 next year and BEC 50th Anniversary will be celebrated in fashion in Prague, Czech Republic. 

 

Input from our delegates and guests

´It was a pleasure for Marian Stan, Maxim Carpenco and me to meet with everyone here and the other partners at this event. I hope this is just the beginning of a solid relationship between us. Thank you again for the meeting. I hope to be able to cooperate with you (BEC) in the not too distant future.’ Irina Serbina from Moldova.

´Thank you again for all the information provided and your support during my stay in Podcetrtek,´ Matjaz Pecovnik, General Secretary of EUSA.

´Attending the congress while being the local organizer at the same time was not an easy task. However, we managed to pull through and delivered the congress. I would like to thank BEC for the great co-operation and we look forward to the next projects that will take place in Podcetrtek this year,´ Matevz Srekl, General Secretary of Slovenian Badminton Federation.

The next BEC events which will take place in Podcetrtek are the 2016 BEC Summer School in July and the 2016 European Senior Championships in September this year. `All in all, I am very delighted with the whole congress. The Slovenian organizer and my staff worked very well together. I look forward to seeing everyone again in Prague for BEC´s 50th Anniversary!´ Brian Agerbak, General Secretary of BEC on how he felt about the whole congress.

To view the photos of the 2016 Congress, click on the links below

49th Annual Delegates´ Meeting

4th BEC Awards Gala Evening

Photos by Badminton Europe and Marian Stan.

©badmintoneurope.com. All rights reserved.

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