On Day 5 we focus on the joy that badminton brings the players and coaches, and how this joy works as their drive to work harder. Why do you play badminton? What gets you out of bed and on the court in the early mornings? Day 4 touched this subject, when we asked what dreams and goals the players and coaches possesses. But let us not forget the main factor to it all is because it is FUN.
In a week full of hard work, Day 5 had a more “relaxed” and social schedule since there was only one session of training. After breakfast, the players were divided into two groups and switched between practicing doubles counter attack with the staff coaches inside, and playing volleyball and football outside.
In order to be able to explain and demonstrate the different hitting techniques later on in the practice, the coaches had a technical session with Jeroen and Jakob in the morning.
After training, Summer School-t-shirts was handed out for the official group photo session. As you can see for yourself in the first photo above, it was very successful. And the participants were rewarded with lunch and afterwards they were off to Aqua Luna water park to enjoy the nice weather and all the crazy water slides.
In the evening after dinner, the traditional football match between coaches and players commenced. Unbelievably, the coaches managed to win AGAIN. Their eternal winning streak lives on for another year – they have still never lost a match to the players. The final score was 3-2, and the winning goal was made by staff coach Helen Ward (ENG).
The aim for this Summer School is not mainly to create better players and coaches, but also for them to make friends and acquaintances from countries all over the continent – and in this matter, build a stronger badminton society in Europe.
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