The Badminton Confederation Africa (BCA), in close collaboration with the Egypt Badminton Federation (EBF), recently conducted a Badminton World Federation (BWF) Level 1 Coaching Course, in Cairo, from the 2nd to the 9th of April 2021. A total of 12 National coaches comprising of 9 men and 3 women attended the course including one coach from Sudan. The BCA sponsored the participation of the coach from Sudan in line with their strategic plan to provide developing countries with opportunities to build their capacity. All the other participants were drawn from local clubs and National Team Players. This also was another great milestone for BCA, the just concluded training on 9th April 2021, marked the debut for BCA to conduct BWF courses in Arabic language.
Since 2015 the EBF has conducted two BWF level one courses, so far a total of 16 Egyptian Coaches including 12 men and 4 women have been trained.
Hosting of this course provided the much-needed momentum to resume badminton in the country despite the Covid 19 restrictions. The Level 1 course was an eye-opener to many of the participants and provided them an avenue to learn and broaden their coaching skills.
Bassam Tahseen, a national ranked junior and senior player said: ” Although I am studying Physical Education at the university, specializing in badminton, I have learned a lot from the course. There were so many aspects of coaching that I didn’t know before.” ~ Bassam Tahseen, BWF Level 1 Coaching Course, Egypt
The current African champion in Women’s and Mixed Doubles, Doha Hany was also one of the participants in the course: ” We have gained a lot of knowledge and science which we will implement in our training with children. I am happy to attend such a course.”
The BWF Coach Education Level 1 is the first of the four levels in the Coach Education framework. Launched at the beginning of 2012, it is the most fundamental course for Badminton Coaches. The course consists of 13 modules – outlining the Basic Coaching Principles including What to Coach, which explains the basic technical, tactical, and physical elements; and, How to Coach, that defines the basic elements of Coaching Methodology; and Planning and Delivery of progressive coaching sessions. Once a coach successfully completes Level one, they can now enrol for Level two and subsequently Levels three and four. However, the Level one course should enable one to train badminton.
Keeping with the momentum, on the 9th of April, the BCA, in collaboration with the EBF, organised an “AirBadminton Promo Launch” at Baron Empain Palace, one of the most beautiful and iconic landmarks in Egypt. The BCA’s main aim of using Baron Empain Palace as the venue for the launch was to introduce AirBadminton in Egypt, to showcase one of the beautiful landmarks in the country, and to achieve its mission in marketing Egypt as one of the prime locations to host international AirBadminton events, with the support of the EBF and local authorities, soon. The launch was fully supported by local sponsors in Egypt and was held in conjunction with the commemoration of the International Day of Peace and Sports whose aim is to unite people, in this case, through the AirBadminton event.
The event was graced by officials from the BCA, EBF, and the Egyptian government led by the Minister of Youth and Sports himself, His Excellency Dr. Ashraf Sobhy. Also present was, Dr. Aya Medany member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athlete Commission and Chairman of the Egyptian National Olympic Committee Athlete Commission. The attendance of the ministry officials showed the great support and commitment that the Egyptian government gave to the new sport.
The day’s program included a visit and photoshoot of the Baron Empain Palace, an introduction to Airbadminton and a friendly competition. The friendly competition consisted of a ‘hybrid’ Mixed Team Relay Event with 2 teams. Each team consisted of 7 players (5 females and 2 males) and 5 matches (1 Men’s Doubles, 2 Women’s Doubles and 1 Mixed Triples) were played up to a total of 50 points. All the participants enjoyed and had an incomparable experience inside a historic and amazing venue.
This mix AirBadminton and the historical place, Baron Empain Palace, created a great interest among the top government officials and the public leading to a very positive image for the sport.
“The National federation is quite happy with the outcomes of the activity, the Air Shuttle V1 performance was satisfactory, and the friendly competition was well received by the participants” EBF President Mr. Hesham Eltohamy. He added: ” From the experience gathered today, we plan to have more activities on a larger scale at another historical site.”
Other partners who made the event a success included the Ministry of Youth and Sports, G- Global for marketing and Business Management, Tatweeg Sports News, and Local Authorities at the Baron Empain Palace.
