The sport of badminton has a new doctor. Kenneth Kruse Larsen from Denmark finished his doctorate from Aalborg University’s (AAU) Department of Health Science and Technology, in March.
Larsen, 60, is a Teaching Associate Professor at AAU in Denmark and based his thesis on recognition and appreciative cultures in sports associations. Larsen has conducted his research ‘Recognition in sport clubs’ in the local badminton club Aalborg Triton, where he is coach for the team in the first division in Denmark.
- In a period of 7 months, I gathered empirical data so that my thesis, amongst other things, could contain a tangible suggestion or guide to how sports associations and badminton clubs through inclusion and delegation of responsibility can contribute to developing people with high self-esteem – people who are involved, participating, motivated, happy, and at the same time, players that above all also will perform better on court, Larsen says.
The newly hatched ‘doctor in badminton’ is a former high-performance player and national champion in men’s doubles. He has a past as national coach for Denmark, Italy, Iceland and Greenland, and is the author behind the material for BWF’s Coach Education Level 3, in which he has taught level 3 coaches, as well.
Recently, the Danish associate professor has been elected into the board of Team Denmark, which is an organisation that handles the overall planning of high-performance sport in Denmark. He is also in the board of Badminton Denmark, with the responsibility of elite and talent development.