Three BAV players along with other top junior players across Australia, were granted the opportunity to attend the National Junior Under 15 Squad Training Camp in Sydney early last month. BAV coach and National Junior Coach Lenny Permana was also there to coordinate the camp with the help of some famous international players. The players also formed an Australian team to compete against New Zealand in a friendly test match which they won 13 games to 10.

We've invited our BAV players Kaitlyn Ea, Ross Audley and Ryan Venpin to share their experience:

I was so excited when I heard that I would have the chance to go to another training camp in Sydney, like last year. I knew that this camp was a great opportunity to improve myself as a better badminton player and also to make more friends from different states. And the fact that Lenny would be there as the National U15 Coach was a bonus. I was eager to go back to Sydney to make more enjoyable and valuable memories.

Once I was at the stadium and observed all the Australian and New Zealand players, it came to me as no surprise that they were all very talented which set the standards very high. The training sessions were good and we learned some new strength and conditioning exercises. But I was very disappointed in myself as I did not play my best during the test matches against the New Zealand players. This got me thinking that, after the camp, I really need to train harder and prepare myself better so I can do well in future tournaments.

Back at home, I aim to better manage my time for my studies and training sessions so I can do very well in school and in badminton. I hope that with some guidance from coaches, I will be able to progress further as a badminton player.

- Ryan Venpin

The Under 15 Training Camp was an experience I will never forget. From training hard with Lenny to watching international superstars play the Super Series, it was an amazing week for all of us. I was really excited for the training camp and was also really looking forward to finally seeing friends from all around Australia that I hadn’t seen for a long time.

The training was pretty full on. We did about 2 hours twice a day and watched the Super Series around those times. I finally realised after Lenny telling me over and over, that if you want to succeed at a high level you have to train very hard and put in a lot of effort. I found this out on the first day of training when I started falling behind everyone else because I was too unfit. I have brought this back to normal training on Sunday’s at Kilsyth and have started putting in a much bigger effort and trying to push myself with physical work and stamina building.

I believe that the training camp helped me a lot and has shown me where I need to improve. It has also given me insight as to how the top players from around the world play so that I can try to play like them and succeed more in badminton. It was a great privilege to represent Australia playing against New Zealand and also to carry the bags for the finalists of the Super Series.

- Ross Audley