Badminton Europe has once again offered scholarships to women working in badminton.

Badminton Europe is offering annually scholarships of €500 per year. The Member Associations are invited to nominate one person in all of the four categories:

1) Participation in the BEC Summer School as coach at the coach education
2) Participation in the BEC Annual Delegates’ Meeting and Members’ Forum
3) Technical Officials participation in the BEC Umpire Course
4) Participation in BWF Para-Badminton International tournament.

A lot of new information
In April 2019 four scholarships were offered to administrators from four different Member Associations for participating at the BEC Congress. One of the scholarship participants at the BEC Congress was Jeanette Svendsen from Norway.

- I got a lot of new information, and some of it I would not have got, if I did not go to the Members’ Forum (part of the BEC Congress). “Imagine 2023” has a lot to do with the things I do in Norway, so that was interesting and important to me, Svendsen said.

- I know who to contact now. Not only in Badminton Europe but also in other countries. Now I also know on what level other countries are and what they are good at. Before I came, I had no clue to be honest, but now I have.

European level
The purpose of the Women in Badminton Scholarship programme is to increase female representation in activities within Badminton Europe where a lack of female participation has been identified. Mercedes van den Eynde from Belgium also received a scholarship from Badminton Europe for the BEC Congress.

- It was nice to meet colleagues from all around Europe. I listened to a lot of people, who know the sport, and the info sessions from Badminton Europe were very useful. They presented some big announcements, and it is always interesting to see things like this, because it comes from a European and not national level, van den Eynde highlighted.

- You get a lot of information and you learn a lot as a scholarship recipient, so I will for sure encourage other people to apply, she added.

Scholarship for Summer School
Seven coaches from seven different Member Associations received a scholarship for attending the RSL BEC Summer School in July 2019. Development and High Performance Officer at Badminton Europe, Luca Crippa, was on site in Slovenia during the Summer School, and he is confident that the participants got valuable information during the course.

- The RSL BEC Summer School is the longest running development activity at Badminton Europe, and we are pleased to also include this activity into our scholarship program and through this engage more women in our sport, Crippa said.

- I am sure that all the participants got new skills and know-hows that they can use moving forward in the coaching career, he added.

Read more about the scholarships here