Badminton Europe Confederation is delighted to announce a new arrival to the Centre of Excellence (COE), as Swedish teenager Alexander Rydström joins the COE in Holbæk.

The seventeen-year-old joins after completing a one-week scholarship with the COE and will continue his development as a badminton player in Holbæk.

One for the future

Badminton Europe’s COE Head Coach Jeroen Van Dijk has revealed that Rydstrӧm has joined to get experience playing with older players as well as developing his game.

Van Dijk stated that he is delighted with the progress of players joining the COE at this current time and is hoping for more in the near future.

- Alexander is still a very young player so he is still relatively new to the whole scene, so his program will differ from others at the COE and he will focus on development, then eventually he will start to play in Danish tournaments.

- The progress is going well. We want to have 24 players, we have one more now, but our target is 24 players into the COE.

Read: David Walsh joins the COE

A new opportunity

Rydstrӧm revealed to Badminton Europe how impressed he was with the COE when he arrived on a scholarship and said that the attitude of everyone at Holbæk was a big part of his decision to move.

The Swede was quick to praise the players and coaching staff at the COE and believes he will learn a lot during his time at Badminton Europe both on the court and just as a person.

- I was going to school here in Sweden and the training at Badminton Europe's COE would be a good opportunity to improve myself.

- It is professional and in the beginning, I thought I might not be old enough, but I fit in here and everyone is very friendly, which is very important for me.

- It is a big opportunity for me to improve myself as a badminton player by playing with other players at the COE, they can teach me a lot just by being around them.