Each year, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) invites its five Continental Confederations (CCs) to their headquarters in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and hosts ‘Continental Confederation Events & Development Workshops’. This year the BEC Centre of Excellence was presented as a facility which was open for players from all over the world.
From 26-29 September, Badminton Europe (BEC) joined Badminton Asia, Badminton Oceania, Badminton Africa and Badminton Pan America at the annual meetings for CCs organised by BWF.
Basically, these CC meetings and workshops serve a dual purpose as they represent the opportunity for BWF to update the five Continents on progress in Events and Development, while the CCs also seek feedback and comments from BWF on activities in their respective Continents.
- The meetings also provide a very important opportunity for the Continental representatives to meet with each other and share best practices, challenges and opportunities, BEC Director Emma Mason explains.
BEC General Secretary Brian Agerbak concurred stating that these meetings were vital to ensure unity and to explore synergies where the six organisations could complement each other for the better of badminton in the Continents and globally.
Holistic view
The workshops is divided into ‘Development’ and ‘Events’, where BWF speakers, employees and Council members, presents different sessions. The results of the BWF Members Survey 2017 was also presented for the participants.
- These were the first CC meetings that I have attended and, generally, I found them to be very well structured and positive, Emma Mason tells Badminton Europe, as she represented the European confederations during the meetings, even though being a member of the BWF Council.
Her role was to assist the General Secretary, the Senior Manager and Managers in presenting Europe’s position on a variety of issues relating to Events and Development, to listen to the other Continents' opinions and try to find common solutions for shared issues.
- I consider the opportunity to speak with and hear the other Continents opinions on a range of issues was also very beneficial as it allowed me to have a more holistic view of the current opportunities and challenges in our sport on a global basis.
Finding inspiration
Brian Agerbak has been attending these meetings for a number of years and added that he continued to find inspiration in these meetings:
- These meetings are a witness to the expansion we have seen in our sport over the years not least with our school project called Shuttle Time and within the area of Coach Education, he explains.
- This year I was especially motivated to present our development with the European Centre of Excellence where we offer a high level, sustainable training environment for European MA’s but also to our fellow CCs.
BEC was in total represented by General Secretary Brian Agerbak, Senior Manager Jimmy Andersen, Manager Zsofia Horvath and BEC Director Emma Mason.