The 2014 North Atlantic Camp for players from the age groups U13 to U17, a Regional Project by Badminton Europe, has been held on Faroe Islands from 10 to 16 August. The camp took place in Tórshavn, the beautiful capital of the Faroe Islands. Tórshavn is one of the smallest capitals of the world, with a population of only 18.300. 
 
24 players, born '98-'02, from Iceland, Greenland and Faroe Islands participated in the camp while 10 coaches took part in a training course. The camp consisted of five days of training, each day with a training session that lasted 2 hours in the morning and 2 x 2 hours in the afternoon. Each day, also a seperate 1 hour coach session was held in the morning  After dinner there were all kinds of social activities like swimming, football, playing cards and more.
 
One day there was a trip to Gjógv and Saksun. In Gjógv the group visited a 200-meter long sea-filled gorge, enjoyed the unspoiled village and went for a walk at the edge of the cliffs. In Saksun the group went for a walk to a lagoon. On the last day of the camp, a tournament – “North Atlantic Open” – was played for the participating players and local players from Faroe Islands.

"The players were put through 6 hrs of training a day and all worked really hard on all areas of their game. All the players were great at joining in the training and trying some new techniques and practices. They really enjoyed the training and there was a competitive edge to some of the training which really helped push the players to new levels”, said James Barcley.

The Faroe Islands were a great host and provided everything the players needed so they could just concentrate on their badminton. This really helped all the players improve their badminton and a real difference could be seen in the players from the start of the camp to the last day at the tournament”, Barclay added.

Article and photos by Erik Engelbrecht Thomsen.