Olympic medallists Chen Jin and Huang Nanyan provided expert guidance for 57 players from six teams at a BWF Youth Athlete Development Training Camp in the runup to the BWF World Junior Championships in Nanchang.
The three-day camp (26-28 September) was organised by BWF and supported by Olympic Solidarity and conducted with the help of Chinese Badminton Association and local partners. While five of the teams – Cook Islands, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Peru – were funded by Olympic Solidarity, Northern Marianas was supported by Badminton Oceania.
Given that the teams are still in the developmental stage of elite badminton, the emphasis of the camp was on fine-turning basic skills and techniques, while also introducing them to match tactics in singles and doubles. Apart from Chen Jin and Huang Nanyan, the coaching team consisted of former Singapore coaches Chua Yong Yoo and Jiang Yanmei, and assisted by BWF Development Manager Erica Khoo, BWF Assistant Development Manager Tracy Tan and BWF Head of Educational Programmes Sharon Springer.
Chen, men’s singles world champion in 2010 and bronze medallist at the London 2012 Olympics, and former coach of the Chinese national team, conducted the drills in singles.
“They come from different backgrounds, It’s a good learning opportunity for them to grow together,” said Chen. “(The first day) it was about getting up their level, but (second day) we are doing simulations and preparing them for the relay event.
“My session was about skills and technique and footwork – junior players have to focus more on that.”
Huang Nanyan, women’s doubles silver medallist at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, led the doubles sessions and sounded positive on the outcomes of the camp.
“It’s a good experience because there are many developing countries involved and this is a good opportunity to promote badminton in those countries,” said Huang.
“I focussed more on doubles. The training in China would be different from what they are used to. The opportunity to mix around and watch them is interesting and we could see improvement over these two days.”
Coach Team: Yong Joo, Yan Mei, Nanyan, Chen Jin (left to right)
Coaches and participants were thrilled with the opportunity. Cook Islands coach Danny Brent Simpson said the camp had provided a window into elite level training.
“The kids have enjoyed themselves and it’s an eye-opener because they can see the difference between levels and how hard they need to train,” Simpson said. “The kids enjoyed themselves. It was good to get a refresher. It was good just to see where the other countries are and socialise and see the drills. There are a lot of positives. When you come to these tournaments you want to take as much as you can.”
Following the sessions by Chen Jin and Huang Nanyan, a two-day BWF training clinic was conducted on 8-9 October by Chinese men’s singles legend Zhao Jianhua for 52 players from various teams.
Zhao, world champion in 1991, lent his expertise by offering insights on how the players could improve their shot-making by focussing on feel rather than pure technique.
Northern Marianas player Lina Tsukagoshi was among the participants.
“It’s a good experience because I’m young and I can use this in future. I think the clinic is pretty good, I’ve learnt a lot,” Tsukagoshi said.
