This whole week is really dominated by one thing only: the last days of Mr. Kim as national coach of the Dutch selection. Approximately a year and a half ago he came to the Netherlands to lift badminton in our country to a higher level. When I look at myself then for sure I’ve learned a lot from the Korean trainer.
When he started with us it was not always easy to understand his way of training and coaching. The exercises were often totally different from what we were used to and sometimes even his explanation left much to be desired. It was a difficult period, but reasonably quick there was a changeover. As I, as a men’s double player, worked with him every day I got familiar with it at some point. All exercises always have the same position to start with: look where your opponent is and direct the shuttle to where he isn’t standing or as he could say so beautifully: “See player first, hit in empty corner.” Above all Mr. Kim has brought a lot of innovation and it was very much needed. I hope that the three men’s doubles pairs can continue this way of training. Right now it is important to keep it, until a worthy successor to Mr. Kim is found. Tonight at a farewell dinner in Arnhem we say good bye. Almost the entire selection takes him out and of course we bought him a nice souvenir.
Marco Borsato, a Dutch singer, once wrote a song with the title ”Afscheid nemen bestaat niet”. Which means “There is no such thing as a goodbye”. I like to stick to that thought, but next week it will be completely different again. The majority of the selection will then be in Rome for the Italian International, but Dave and I will be staying at Papendal to continue training under the guidance of the Technical Director who will fill the empty space from next week onwards.