Anders Thomsen, currently the assistant coach of Spain's national team, has revealed that mindset is important if Europe aims to compete with Asia in badminton.
The Dane spoke to Badminton Europe following a session, coaching the girls at the Women's Singles Camp, that gets underway this week at Badminton Europe’s Centre of Excellence in Holbæk.
A good first impression
Thomsen is confident that although there is a lot of things to improve on, it is possible for Europe to be back up with Asian countries in the sport.
The experienced coach who has worked with the defending World Champion, Carolina Marin, was impressed with how the session went.
- I cannot make them world class players in one day, but that is not the goal.
I want them to think about their training and to ensure that they have the right mindset, Thomsen said.
- The girls are here to improve, and they have trained very well. It is important, if we want to keep up with the Asian countries, that we need to improve on a lot of things, he added.
- I was trying to put some ideas in the heads of the different girls. So hopefully, they can compete with Asia in the future.
All heading for the same goal
Thomsen is happy with the representation of Europe at the training camp and believes that it is a step in the right direction.
He is, in attendance with his players, Beatriz Corrales and Clara Azurmendi, at the Women’s Singles Camp in Denmark.
- I think a lot of countries should be represented here, we are missing a few but we have a good number of high-quality women’s singles players here, he said.
- We are all striving towards the same goal and that is to be back up there with the Asian countries and I have told the girls that and we have had some interesting discussions about that.