Alan Raftery is 28 years old from Coventry in the United Kingdom. When he is not working at Badminton Europe as the new Communication Officer, he loves to play sports, games and travel. Alan speaks Polish through his Polish-Irish heritage.
He has had a passion for Badminton from a young age, but first got a taste for media during his school years, when becoming a radio presenter on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire. Covering current events, cultural topics and sports news, where he had of course a weekly Badminton section.
Studying Psychology at University and then a Business Psychology Masters, he went into working in student recruitment, employer liaison and then the library at the University of Warwick. Throughout his studies and work, he continued growing his involvement in Badminton through the university, local club and becoming a Volunteer Writer at Badminton Europe.
Commenting on how he became a volunteer writer for Badminton Europe, he said
- I woke up one morning to see lots of messages from my friends about the opportunity, as they knew how much I loved Badminton. So, I applied! I wrote a piece about the national championships happening across Europe at that time. I know I wrote too much, but I think my enthusiasm came through as I was successful.
We asked Alan how he feels making that decision to apply
- Honestly, it has had such a positive impact on my life. I was a volunteer writer for around a year and a half. It was great fun and I was even able to help out at my local tournament, the All England Open in Birmingham, which was a fantastic experience, interviewing all the top players. Now I am sitting here in Copenhagen as the new Communication Officer and I could not be happier
- It was something that I did not expect when becoming a volunteer writer. So, I urge anyone to apply, as you never know what will come your way further down the line