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Badminton talents at CLS
This week a lot of very talented badminton players are at CLS. All are students at the Glasgow School of Sports in Scotland. This sport school offers sport programs for five different sports. Badminton is one of them. Now this badminton group is here to have an extensive trainings week.
Alan McIlvain is training the pupils for two weeks. 21 pupils from the school are joining this badminton camp and they differ a lot in age, from 12 up to 17 years old. The pupils from 15 year and older stay at Club La Santa for two weeks, and the younger players stay only one week. But still it is quit a step for the younger ones to be away from home. Alan: “Yes it is, but it is good that they can get used it. And they know me and the other coach for a few years already, so they know us well and they trust us. And they know each other, because they are at school every day with each other.”
Besides the pupils from Scotland, two badminton players from Belgium are also here with them. They could join this training camp because Alan will become coach of the Belgium national badminton team in January. He knew these two Belgian players already, because he has been to some trainings camps in Belgium, where he has seen a lot of players. And this way he can train them a little bit already. |
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 The school has been organizing trips to CLS for five years now. They started coming here when Alan started teaching fulltime at the school. He already knew CLS because he had been here before with the national Scottish badminton team, of which he was assistant coach. At that time some of the pupils of this school already joined the camp. “So we had a joint camp. And I decided that this was a perfect place for us to have a badminton camp.”
The pupils who are following the badminton course at the school and are joining this training camp all play badminton on a high level. Alan: “They all certainly want to represent their country and even do better. And at least 15 of the pupils who are here now play on an international level in their age group.” Glasgow School of Sports is the only school in Scotland who offers a badminton program. Not all the pupils live in Glasgow, and because they do not have accommodation at the school, a lot of students have to travel many hours every day. “So they have to make some big sacrifices.”
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 Alan used to play badminton himself and he explains us that he actually became a badminton trainer by accident. “Some people thought I was good to train with, so they asked me to train them. And then slowly I began from there.” He got his coaching certificates and became very good in his job. “I have always wanted to be the best I could be. So as a player I realized I could do no more, but I love badminton so much, that I wanted to be involved some other way. So as a coach I realized I could go further.”
Alan is sure that this camp improves their badminton skills and overall fitness. “I know, because every year the pupils do a fitness test before they come here and afterwards. Here fore we use the bleep test. The results always improved and that is the reward of the training. And this is the main part of this camp, to improve their overall fitness.” Of course badminton is the main activity at CLS, but besides that they also do other sorts of training to improve this overall fitness. For example they train on the track to do some sprints and they use the beach volleyball courts to do some footwork exercises and body weight circuits. “At this volleyball court we also play shadow badminton, so they pretend there is a shuttle and make up their own moves. This is really hard work on the loose sand.” |
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 The pupils just finished their last tournament before Christmas, where they had good results. And at the end of January they will already compete again in the Junior National Championships and some of them in the Senior National Championships. That is why they are doing some hard work now. “This training camp falls in a very good time.”
Alan had different reasons to come to CLS: “the reasons for which we like to come here are: one, because in Scotland the weather is pretty horrific at this time of the year. So for things like running around the lagoon and outdoor training it is perfect here, because we couldn't be doing that in Scotland at this moment. Secondly the badminton courts are of a very good quality. Besides there is so much to do here so the children don't get bored. And finally for me as the adult in charge, I like the fact that there is nothing nearby, so I know that they are all safe in here.” Alan also likes the fact that there are so many Danish and other nationalities coming, because that means they can usually get sparring partners. “Usually we play badminton against a few good players from a Danish sport school which is normally here at the same time as us.” Alan has been on training camps in Malaysia, America and all around in Europe; “but for me this is by far the best venue.” |
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 He is sure that the school will come back again next year, because it has become an annually event. “And I honestly can't think of a better venue for us to have a training camp.” Because Alan will become coach of the Belgian National Badminton Team, he will move to Belgium and will not be working at this school anymore. But if the Glasgow School of Sports asks him to provide training at this camp again, he might be back next year with them as well. |
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We wish Alan all the luck with his new job in Belgium and hopefully the pupils can fulfill their dreams and can represent their country as badminton players!
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