This year, the Swedish Youth Games (November 14th to 17th in Malmö/Sweden) represented a U15 event in which the German Badminton Association (DBV) took the lead. Six male and female athletes made up the German team in Malmö and gained valuable experience for the upcoming 8-Nations U15 tournament, which will also take place in Sweden from February 20th to 23rd, 2025. However, the venue will then be Uppsala. Like the Swedish Youth Games 2024, the 8-Nations U15 includes an individual competition as well as a team competition.
“We look back on an exciting team and a challenging individual tournament. In the team tournament, our players reached fourth place, and in the individual tournament we were able to reach three quarter-finals: one in girls’ singles, one in boys’ singles and one in mixed doubles. Helena Huang from TV Hofheim and Frederik Volkert from SSW Hamburg made significant contributions to the results mentioned. The good atmosphere and support between the players on and off the field created a very good atmosphere in the team and new friendships were formed,” concluded Fabian Gruss. The state coach of the Hamburg Badminton Association (HBV) looked after the young aces in Malmö together with Mathias Jauk (state coach of the Thuringian Badminton Association, TBV) and Franklin Wahab (state coach of the Hessian Badminton Association, HBV).
At the Swedish Youth Games, the top European nations Denmark and France were represented with numerous athletes, as was tournament host Sweden. “We were able to achieve victories against all nations – in the team competition and/or in the individual competition – although the exceptional players from the Danes also showed the limits of our best players at the end of the tournament,” said Fabian Gruss. The newly qualified trainer from the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) added: “Across both competitions, our best players were challenged both playfully and physically at the highest level and, in addition to winning, gained valuable experience. For everyone in the team, the view of the European elite of the year has been sharpened.”
The U15 age group is increasingly proving to be an important milestone in the long-term development of players’ personalities: During this time, it is important for the athletes to set the right course and, for example, B. to further increase the training volume and to make changes to the environment if these prove to be useful. As Fabian Gruss emphasizes, the DBV’s federal base and junior base network offers a perspective in this regard. “With the changed conditions, we then have to catch up with the leaders,” said the 34-year-old.
The next steps for the DBV U15s are an open U15 course in January 2025 and the aforementioned eight-nation tournament in February 2025.
The following players took part in the Swedish Youth Games 2024:
- Leni Klara Bonnemann (BV Wesel Rot-Weiss)
- Helena Huang (TV Hofheim)
- Krittika Roy (TuS Schwanheim)
- Swara Krishna Santosh (TG Unterliederbach)
- Mira Sun (TuRa Niederhochstadt)
- Ruby Xu (TSV Bemerode)
- Alexander Franzke (BC Phönix Hövelhof)
- Yutong He (ESV München)
- Leo Luo (1. BV Maintal)
- Timo Reichel (1. BV Mulheim)
- Gleb Stepanzow (BSpfr. Neusatz)
- Frederik Volkert (SSW Hamburg)
All results can be found online at https://swedishyouthgames.com.
