The past days my last blog was published on most Dutch badminton sites and I’ve seen a number of comments. Therefore I have written a brief reaction in general terms.
In my blog I gave a profile description of a possible successor to the departing Mr. Kim. I also mentioned that I and a bunch of others from the national selection consider it unlikely that his successor will be of Dutch descent. I never said that the coach will definitely not be a Dutchman.
In one of the comments my knowledge of foreign countries and cultures was questioned. I think I know quite something about it and enough to be able to judge. I soon will be 24 years. I made my first trip outside Europe together with my parents when I was 1 ½ followed by many other trips outside Europe. I have played tournaments abroad for about 12 years now. As a junior player I regularly played in France, Germany, Denmark and England. Since I am member of the senior selection I have travelled throughout Western Europe, parts of Eastern Europe and to the major badminton countries in Asia for tournaments and an odd training camp. In all those years I had the opportunity to experience and taste much of different cultures and to witness, in Asia for example, how trainings are performed and how the sport is perceived.
I have also seen three foreign coaches coming and going. The first was a Dane. Unfortunately I did not have much chance to work with him because I was still a junior player at that time, but Davis from Indonesia and Mr. Kim from Korea, I have experienced from the beginning to the end of their contract. In spite of the good experiences that I and the other members of the selection have had, we came to the conclusion that a coach from Europe will be more effective and be able to help us best in the future. Of course any European culture is different from the Dutch, but it will come at least closer than the Asian culture. I think we need to find someone who, as far as culture is concerned, is closest to us. Furthermore he or she should be innovative in the way of training and coaching and be knowledgeable when it comes to the mental aspect of Europeans.
Fact is that the whole of badminton in The Netherlands will benefit from a National Coach who can make and implement his policies and who contributes to an increase of the performance level of the players. That is what I sign for!