In January 2023, Hong Kong teams have been spending great occasions to do shuttlecock training in Hanoi (Vietnam) and Hagen (Germany)
Ha Noi (Vietnam)
Hagen (Germany)
David Zentara (Coach in Germany)
At first we (the german coaches) want to say, that it was a pleasure to meet and train the HK youth team. It was an exiting time for us. We had 3 days with 6 hours training. The first day we had a technical training and a muscle-stabilization training. On the second day we had a running (endurance) training and 3 hours Matches with and versus german teams/double/mixed (+ Gergö from Hungary). On the third and last day we had again lot of technical training and coordination training. It was hard - but good for all of us! I am sure we could show them a lot of new exercises and games with the shuttlecock. Of corse the most different between the german (or european) style and the HK (or chinese) style is the inside kick. In my opinion its a good option to pass to a smash player, but in single for the first touch to defend a strong service you cant use it. The age and level were very different, which was good to show our young players how is the level in their age in HK. All of them has a good basic to get a top shuttlecock player, if they stay motivated and start to work very disciplined on their fitness/physical level. We wish them all the best for their hard way to become a champion and i hope to meet them on the court one time. Out of the gym we meet talented and interesting characters. Some of them are very good in drawing, others in singing and others could be a comedian. We used the free time for Bowling, 3D-Minigolf, sightseeing in Cologne (chocolate museum, cathedral of cologne) and nightseeing in Düsseldorf and had a lot fun together, even we were tired from the hard training before. (Not only one car ride in which not all players and coaches slept ) In the end we can say it was a nice experience, which we would love to repeat. We all were tired but happy, after this intensiv traing camp.
© Photos/videos from Hong Kong / Germany / Vietnam shuttlecock