The Coach of the Year 2026 has been found. This year the award goes to John Poulsen from Vallekilde-Hørve Gymnastics Association Badminton for his many hours at the club as a volunteer coach.
Badminton Denmark and DGI Badminton can now announce the winner of Coach of the Year 2026, which this year goes to John Poulsen from VHG Badminton.
The prize is awarded each year to a coach who manages to be a rallying point in the club and who stands for the values of badminton, such as joy, development and community. The coach is enthusiastic and contributes to a strong training environment, is aware of his own, others’ and the club’s development and has an eye for his club as a whole.
As a volunteer coach at the club, John manages to be a rallying point and care for the community across ages and levels, where he creates space for everyone – both on and off the pitch. As a coach, John spends many hours at the club every week, and he listens to each and every player and makes sure that the training is fun and developing for everyone.
John epitomizes the values of the sport of badminton and what it means to be a good coach. That is why he is awarded the prize as Coach of the Year 2026.
“Receiving the award is recognition of what you do and confirms that what you are doing is more or less right. It is a big pat on the back for both myself and of course also for the club, who put many hours into this to do it as well as we can,” says John Poulsen.
He was surprised with the award last week at home in VHG during what he thought was going to be a normal youth training session, but suddenly there were over 50 people with flowers, flags and speeches, he says:
“It caught me off guard – also that I was nominated at all. When you go to rallies and team matches with the children, you see that there are a lot of talented people walking around. So yes, it caught me off guard. I was very surprised when they suddenly stood in the hall with flowers and all kinds of things.”
The other nominees in the Coach of the Year 2026 category were Ramus Carøe Christensen from Viborg Badminton Club and Luka Bay Hammer from Nr. Lyndelse Badminton Club and OBK.
Thank you to all three for your great efforts in the clubs.
John Poulsen will be honored as Coach of the Year 2026 at the VICTOR DM in Sønderborg on Saturday 7 February 2026.
