Badminton Europe organised its first ever combined BWF level 1 + 2 coach education course in close cooperation with the Italian Badminton Federation (FIBa - Federazione Italiana Badminton) and the BWF. The course took place from 22 to 29 November 2014 in the Palabadminton arena in Milan, Italy. Mike Woodward (BWF), Ian Wright (BWF) and Jeroen van Dijk (BEC) lead the course as Tutors.

"It was a very intensive course. The participants have been pushed very much as our schedule was tight. We have been in the hall for at leats 12 hours each day. The Palabadminton arena in Milan offered us great facilities. I would like to thank the Italian Badminton Federation for their help and their hospitality", says Badminton Europe's Development Manager Jeroen van Dijk.

This course is designed for former top players and the main focus is on how to coach. Top players have a high technical knowledge but do not necessarily know how to teach this to other badminton players. The 14 participants from 8 different countries delivered several training sessions on which they received immediate feedback from the tutors and other coaches who were taking part. This helped them to get a better understanding of themselves and the way they are coaching. It also helped them to identify the areas that they can improve. The delivery of training sessions improved day by day and became more tactically then technically. The seven day course also covered the areas on what to coach technically and tactically and theoretical lessons on the performance factors lifestyle, psychology and physical.

The participants:

Tina Riedl (Austria)
Stewart Carson (Ireland)
Ruth Killkenny (Ireland)
Kasperi Salo (Finland)
Lasse Lindelöf (Finland)
Jyri Aalto (Finland)
Gaspard Frédéric (Belgium)
Wisnu Haryo Putro (Italy)
Henrik Tóth (Hungary)
Ales Forjan (Slovenia)
Saško Zrnec (Slovenia)
Roland Brunner (Italy)
Luigi Izzo (Italy)
Olivier Fossy (France)

More information regarding the Badminton Europe coach education can be found here.