Scott Thomas Waddell is only 17 years old but has a life full of badminton in his home country of Scotland. Day-to-day, he attends Glasgow’s School of Sports and is a part of the Scottish U-19 squad, but Scott is always looking for new opportunities to become a better player and saw this Centre as great opportunity for a full-time career in badminton.
He picked up the racket when he was nine years old and has been in love with the sport ever since, so when this opportunity came along he had to take it:
“When this sort of opportunity comes about it is very rare, I think, and the prospect of this Centre of Excellence is really good. So, I think it is a really good project to be part of, and I am interested in it because I think it is the right step forward for my badminton and to get to where I want to be in the future.”
His life in Scotland revolves around badminton, but for him, this centre is different than the projects back home:
“I think the centre is different because there are more players, more players to spare with; there’s different styles and different ways of training. And I think that is the sort of environment we need to be in because if we are just training with the same people every day we are not getting anything different.”
About the training at the camp, Scott says he enjoys working with different coaches and different players. They have done training that he has not done before, and everyone is very friendly which creates a very relaxed but also professional environment.
Scott was supposed attend the camp with another Scot, but due to illness she had to cancel. But travelling alone was not a big concern of his, he actually enjoys the independence the trip has given him:
“(..) I am still quite young, it is nice to just come here by myself and learn how to do things myself without people saying “do this, do that”.”
Danish roots
One of the players he looks up to is Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark. He is someone he respects not only as a player but also a person:
“(…) he is one player I think is so respectful and he is not arrogant. He just works hard all the time, and although sometimes he doesn’t get rewarded for it. He’s just so down to earth. Like, he tries his hardest and even when it doesn’t turn out to be for him he is still very, very respectful about it. And he is just a very good player.”
Besides having a Danish player as his favourite, Denmark is not unfamiliar to Scot, who, with a Danish mother, actually has relatives living in the country. So if the camp is decided to be located in Denmark, he would not mind moving from Scotland:
“(…) it would suit me almost because I also have family here. But even if it was somewhere else, a different country, just living abroad and having experience which is very rare, it would be very nice I think. “
The goal on the long term for the young Scottish lad is to become a full-time badminton player and get to at least the top 40 or 30 in the world.
“(..) If I can go above that - then great – but I just want to bring the best out of myself and make sure that I leave no stone unturned.”
The most important thing to him is to get the best out of his badminton, and he recognizes that a lot of people already have sacrificed so much, so for Scott there is no point in stopping now.
The camp concludes tomorrow and if Scott can attend the Centre of Excellence will not be decided yet. In 2017, Badminton Europe will organize two additional pre-selection camps before the centre starts up in September. The players will receive a letter from Badminton Europe after the pre-selection camp, with word of their future in the Centre of Excellence-project.
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