When I was a teenager, I regularly came to the hall with the red floor – Horsens Badminton Club.
Then I left East Jutland for good, and the big club on Sognegårdsvej shrank. Disappeared from the top ranks among youth and senior.
A handful of years ago, the trend began to reverse. Jeppe, youth chairman, has just said that they now have over 300 youth members, over 650 members in total, 23 youth trainings with youth coaches on salary.
On salary, I asked a little wondering?
What about volunteering, I thought?
As Jeppe explained – “We offer them a job in the club, rather than them having to take a job in Netto”.
I know it from my own son – working WITH pay does not necessarily go beyond the effort, the “dedication”, or the responsibility. My son cycled in all kinds of weather and at very early times the 6 km out of town, to the suburb of Ørslev near Vordingborg to take care of his job in Netto.
The young people, here at HBK, also fit their coaching job with great commitment, despite the salary.
Just like Badminton Denmark’s Chairman Tore just got approved an increase in his annual fee from DKK 51,000 to DKK 180,000 at the Board of Representatives meeting, which was held online here earlier in the day and which I followed on my way from South Zealand to East Jutland.
This weekend there is a club championship for all age groups, from Miniton, which started this morning at 9.00 with playing on smileys, not on points, to U9 at 10.00, U11 at 11.00, U13 at 14.00, and U15 and U17 tomorrow , starting at 9 p.m.
It requires organization and structure to run club championships under the current restrictions.
But it can be done.
Thanks to Jeppe for telling while eating his fries.
We ❤️ Badminton!
Badmintonbladet.dk
Per Damkjær Juhl
