Our trip from Ireland to Aalborg started at 2am on Friday the 21st of August 2009 and finished on Saturday the 22nd of August at 5pm; less than one tank of diesel later. Eve spent the first 3 days with me before flying home.
Without wanting to point: Denmark is the bit that looks a bit like an upside down Italy. If you can think of it as a face (looking to the right) with a small pointy hat; Aalborg is at the bottom of the hat. Aalborg is a sport city with a population of just over 120,000 people. It's a nice place, easy to get around by foot or bike and is quite lively.
The badminton coaching course is hosted by the Aalborg Folk High School. This makes running the course economically viable. The school is heavily subsidised by the state. There are 85 students this year. Some are sports students, some are using the year as a transition year and some are coaches in training. The disciplines are quite diverse; there's badminton, horse riding, swimming, handball, basketball, strength training, personal training and others. The numerous staff at the school are very friendly, open and experienced; our team leader has 3 Olympic gold medals in handball. The food at the school is excellent. The accommodation is shared room, shared showers, and the building is in good decorative order but a bit dated.
There are 6 people on the teaching course for badminton. The others are from Finland, Poland, England, a guy from Sri Lanka, and a Danish guy. Proper classes start from next monday. Kenneth Larsen, "Mr. Badminton" is running the course with the assistance of 3 people: Stewan, a former student and coach, Agnese, another former student and olympian, and Maria, also a former student. The course itself is the highest badminton qualification available in the world, offering a DBF( Danish Badminton Federation) level 3 diploma, Badminton Europe level 3 diploma and a Danish Sports Association level 3 diploma. In Kenneth's words "It doesn't get any better than this".
The first week of the course was a general introduction week, culminating in an "Intro Party". We did agility exercises, played football, explored the town, had our first few classes and started our danish singing experiences, amongst other activities. Most of these activities were carried out by the entire group. The Danes seem to love singing together.
The Polish guy is my roommate and he is looking for coaching, so we agreed to do some training at 630 three mornings a week. There is a local gym, which was 400DKK to join for the year (8DKK = 1 euro). Once I get shuttle feeding and games sorted I should be all set. There is an opportunity to train everyday at about 430. The course will have some physical demands also, so it'll take a while to build up a routine.
The only niggle I have is with injuries. I picked up a small right knee injury just before leaving Ireland. The beds here are softer than I'm used to and I've had quite a bit back pain since I've been here. Running around soccer pitches after fit young lads has also left me with a minor groin strain in my left leg. Hopefully I'll get these sorted in the next couple of weeks with some gym work and active recovery. Must check my anti-ageing cream, I don't think it's working..
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