Badminton Europe is creating links with the National Training Centres of excellence within the Member Associations. The idea is to certificate those centres that have the required standard and to cooperate on offering training for talented players from other Member Associations by awarding scholarships. Badminton Europe has confirmed eight Certificated Training Centres all around Europe.
 
Dutch player Ruben Jille (pictured) got a Scholarship to practise at the Certificated Training Centre in Odense, Denmark. Here you can read the report about his stay in the Southern part of Denmark.

"I really had to push myself to the limit"
 
A big part of this year’s summer preparation took part in Denmark. I first started at the 2013 BEC Summer School in Vejen, and after that I spent two weeks in Odense at the Certificated Training Centre. I arrived on Saturday the 20th of July in the early morning, but I started practicing on Sunday because I was very tired. I have had no things to complain about, everything was arranged very well and there have been not any problems.

When I arrived in the apartment, which was 15 minutes from the hall by walk and 2 minutes from the city centre, I took a nap to be sure I was ready for the next day.

On Sunday the trainings started in the beautiful badminton hall. Anders Skaarup was responsible for the doubles players, always nice to have a top player as a coach and be able to get some handy tips from him.

From Monday on, my trainings were given by head coach Lennart Engler. Every training started with a 20 minute warming up, with stretching included. To really be 200% ready we did some games to warm up, but at full power because everyone was eager to win! After those games we started with the exercises. The trainings contain a lot of and 2vs1 flatgame and defence exercises and 3vs2 or 2vs2 games with some special rules. One of the things I liked the most was the high level that each training had, the sparring in Odense was amazing.

On every Wednesday and Friday we had multishuttle. The multishuttle training in Odense is completely different than I normally do. We had to work for 45-60 minutes on your own without changing. Some short breaks in between, but no long time to really recover totally. These sessions were really challenging because you really had to push yourself to the limit, and even cross the limit.

I enjoyed ever single moment at the training, even though it didn't always played at my best.

I would like to say many thanks to Badminton Europe for providing me with a scholarship and giving me the opportunity to stay in Odense. I'm very sure I learned a lot in only two weeks and I really hope I will come back next summer!

Go to our Development page to find out more about the Certificated Training Centre of Badminton Europe.
 
If you are an international player and are interested in receiving a Scholarship please contact your Member Association. Read about the criteria to apply for a Scholarship here.

Article by Ruben Jille.