One month after the opening of Badminton Europe’s (BEC) high-performance training centre, Centre of Excellence (COE), and the players are already starting to feel at home in Holbæk.
21-year-old Lilit Poghosyan moved from Armenia and is now one of the 16 players that are living permanently at the COE near Stenhus Gymnasium.
- From the day, I received the e-mail that said I was an official member of the Centre of Excellence I started to think about how it was going to be coming here, she tells Badminton Europe.
- It’s really good [here]. It’s like a dream come true, I can’t even explain.
A professional life
It took some time for the Armenian to get used to the high quality and quantity of the training. But now, one month in, she is getting a hang of it.
She describes the trainings as intense, but she enjoys the style of the coaches and, in general, the professionalism surrounding the project as a whole.
- It’s really professional. I feel like I am a professional badminton player and this is my life, this is my professional life.
Tough start
Like with any big changes in life, Poghosyan also had a tough start when she moved from her home to a foreign country.
There were mornings where she would wake up early because she was really nervous. To calm herself she would just remind herself why she has come here in the first place:
- Despite all the hardships I have to keep on going and, actually, I enjoy the process. The journey is more important than the goal.