Badminton Europe (BEC) recently organized two events in one location in Beek, the Netherlands with the support from Badminton Nederland and Badminton Duovereniging Veenendaal. The back to back events were the 2nd BEC Para-badminton Education Course (21-23 October 2016) and the BEC Para-Badminton Commission Meeting. (Sunday, 23rd October 2016).

Full group photo at De Haamen Sports Hall

´Getting better in Beek´ is indeed the right statement for the 2nd BEC Para-Badminton Education Course (2nd PBEC).  Based on the pre-event article published on September with the title ´Getting Better in Beek´, 37 motivated coaches from 18 Member Associations did not only get better in their coaching skills and knowledge but they also broaden their para-badminton network.

`Getting Better in Beek´ article can be read here.

The coaches were exposed to a slightly different course programme this year where there was a `Combine´ and a ´Split´ session on Day 2, the practical day. The ´Combine´ session consisted of High Performance and Development coaches working together with mutliple discussions and sharing of knowledge while the ´Split´ session was conducted with specific topics tailored to the respective groups.

Theory and practical sessions at the 2nd BEC Para-Badminton Education Course

Lyndon Williams (WAL), Course Leader on the course programme, ´The different structure we used this year enabled Development coaches to gauge themselves with their High Performance colleagues from other countries. On the other hand, High Performance coaches were introduced to more specific on court techniques and tips to enhance the performance of their elite players. We took some of the feedbacks from last year´s course and worked accordingly to the coaches´ needs. As a whole, I think it worked well. There is still plenty to do around the course programme and we look forward to know how the participants felt about the course once the results from the online feedback form have been compiled´.

The 2nd PBEC started on Friday and ended on Sunday (21-23 October). The turn out of the course this year was great. The course was attended by 4 new Member Associations, namely Bulgaria, Estonia, Portugal and Romania. From the 37 coaches, 9 coaches were returning coaches who attended the first edition in Veenendal, the Netherlands.

Quotes from the returning coaches

Anton Ivanov (RUS) - National Para-Badminton Coach, ´Lots of impressions, communications, new contacts and fun. Everything was organized as good as possible. This year I performed as a presenter for a few sessions while attending the course and got unforgettable unique experience. To tell the truth the most enjoyable moment was to get positive feedback from the participants. It motivates me. Thanks a lot to Badminton Europe for giving me this opportunity´

Annie van Daal Pothoff (NED) - National Para-Badminton Coach, ´I have enjoyed both editions and have learnt a lot. All the information shared is very useful for the development of para-badminton and I look forward to put the things I have learnt in this course to use´.

Quotes from new coaches

Alina Michaela Popa (ROM) - Shuttle Time Teacher, ´I will go back to my country and start developing para-badminton, combining with my Shuttle Time knowledge´.

Aigar Tonus (EST) - BWF Certified Coach Level 1 Tutor, ´It was an extremely interesting weekend in Beek. Para-badminton is still very new in Estonia but after attending this course, I will discuss further with our National Badminton Federation on the para-badminton development plan in Estonia´.

´It has been a hectic weekend combining both events in Beek prior to the 2016 BWF European Para-Badminton Championships. Despite the strain that having multiple activities simultaneously caused the local oganizers, together, we delivered both the course and meeting as planned. A huge ´Thank you´ to Badminton Nederland and Badminton Duovereniging Veenendaal for organizing and liaising the needs of these two events´, stated Tania Teoh, BEC Junior Manager who was on site during the whole duration of the course and the meeting.

The invitation to host the 3rd BEC Para-Badminton Education Course will be sent to all the Member Associations in the first quarter of 2017. See you next year at the 3rd BEC Para-Badminton Education Course.

The para-badminton commission met for the second time this year on the Sunday, 23rd October immediately after the completion of the 2nd PBEC. The meeting was chaired by Badminton Europe (BEC) Director, João Matos and was attended by five commission members and a staff from the BEC office.

The BEC Para-Badminton Commission in Beek

Part of the meeting discussions were:

• BEC Para-Badminton Strategic Plan
• 2017 Para-Badminton calendar and activities
• BEC Scholarships for female representation from para-badminton
• Other subjects related to European para-badminton

Torsten Berg (DEN), para-badminton commission member on both events, ´Happy to say that both in my view were very successful. I like the good spirit that Tania and Lyndon created during the course´. Torsten joined the course on the Saturday and managed to take part in The Quiz, the traditional activity of the education course.

The next para-badminton commission meeting will take place in January in Copenhagen, where the headquarters of Badminton Europe is situated.

To view the full Para-Badminton Commission, click here.

To read and download the course materials, click here.

To view the photos from the 2nd BEC Para-Badminton Education Course, click here.