Badminton: Shuttle coach Dharshana Fernando going great guns in Canada

Former Sri Lankan national badminton player Dharshana Fernando is going places as a professional badminton coach in Canada.   Known as Coach Fernando in Canada, he established his own world class coaching academy 10 years ago, known as ‘Fernando’s Youth Badminton Academy’.   He recently returned after a successful coaching tour to Costa Rica and Colombia in Central and South America.   He was invited by the respective badminton associations of these countries to conduct high performance training programs for their national teams.   “Badminton is at a growth stage in these countries and I am proud to be associated with them to take the sport to the next level. Soccer is their national sport and I have developed a plan to promote badminton with the younger generation to make the sport popular. In addition I have also identified few players to take the leadership role and coach badminton in schools, clubs etc. This program is known as the train the trainer programme,” Fernando stated after his tour.   Fernando further said that this is the second visit to Costa Rica and he has invitations from countries such as Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Chile to conduct training programmes.   “Balancing time is crucial with my work, badminton activities and family,” stressed Fernando, who has over 47 years of experience in the sport and still trains him-self for world masters’ championships.   Fernando says it is an honour to be invited by several countries and he says he has worked hard towards getting certified in badminton coaching, updating himself with training methods and also visiting countries such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Denmark to learn the latest training methods in badminton coaching.   He says that still he gives the credit to Sri Lanka and for his Sri Lankan gurus for teaching him the basics in badminton.