After months of preparation and waiting the EU funded Badminton Coaching Education project (ADVANCE) kicked off.
On 12 February 2021 Badminton Europe (BEC) and the partners in the ADVANCE project met all together for the very first time at a virtual kick off meeting, which was followed by a meeting on 17 February, where the focus was project management and coordination of the first step of the project: the Training Needs Analysis.
- First of all, we are very happy receiving the support from Erasmus+ and from the EU. It is a very important project for us, and after the kickoff meeting with our partners, we are off to a very good start. I am very excited with the enthusiasm I feel from the partners, General Secretary of Badminton Europe, Brian Agerbak said.
Three Member Associations onboard
ADVANCE, led by BEC, counts on the collaboration of six big entities which have assumed their role as a partner of the project. Three of the Member Associations of Badminton Europe are part of the project: The German Badminton Association, Badminton Scotland and Badminton Netherland.
Two educational institutions, the University of Cyprus and the National University of Physical Education and Sports Bucharest together with the International Council for Coaching Excellence have also joined the project.
- We all come in with different backgrounds and different competences. It is important to have the badminton knowledge, but in terms of the research that has to be done and the analysis, the academic background of our partners can really help us as well, the General Secretary mentioned.
Exciting end product
The first step to be taken is to create the Training Needs Analysis. The analysis will focus on getting information from different target groups (coaches with different experience, dual career aspects for players who already have or intend to go the coaching pathway, educational managers from existing coaching systems), which should all be used for constructing a 10-month coaching education and an online European Badminton Coaching platform.
- In the short term, I am looking forward to start shaping the project and getting the analysis done to understand in which direction we are heading. It is the first part of the project, but I am excited about the process and certainly the end product and having the first course, Agerbak stated.
- It is an exciting project, and we need to make sure that the end product will serve us and the European badminton community for many years. It is important that we conduct a proper research and make sure that we make use of best practices from what is already established in terms of coach education in order to build a unique and holistic product.
Through the Erasmus+ Sport Collaborative Partnership program, the European Union support the project in the period from January 2021 until December 2023.