A woman with her heart on her sleeve. An open-minded badminton coach, who cares about players. A great co-worker, who inspires.
Meet Luana Marino!
I had a pleasure to work alongside Luana Marino for a while. We worked for BVRP and we shared few projects. Together we spent countless hours talking about our work, sharing experience, ideas, brainstorming, in order to bring the best ideas and solution into reality. We organized plenty of badminton workshops, camps and tournaments. No surprise that she was the first female badminton coach I have invited to join Go Girl Project. Her positive energy is contagous!
In order to introduce this badminton coach to you, I have asked Luana few questions about her sport journey. Enjoy!
How did it happen that you started to play badminton?
I did a lot of sport when I was a kid. On one day I decided to accompany my friend to the badminton training and I had so much fun there that I decided to stay.
What do you like about badminton?
All you need for playing is a racket, a shuttlecock and a court to play on. Badminton is the fastest racket sport in the world and for me it is so much more than only a sport. It also brings people together, as it is a highly interactive activity with passionate community behind it. Players tend to attend badminton sessions frequently as part of their weekly schedules and you’ll likely become good friends with many of the players. In fact, I probably met most of my best friends through badminton.
How was your life as a badminton player?
I trained once per week and the more time past the more time I spent in the hall or gym. My week simply consisted of training, going to tournaments, learning for school and give training to younger kids. The tournaments were like a big family trips. Every trip had the same process: packing your stuff, driving to the location, staying there for 2-3 days, eating together, support each other during matches and driving back home again.
However each tournament was a slightly different experience.
What was your experience as a female player?
In fact, I had a really balanced group of female and male players in the training. When I had a problem with training, or at school or some private issue, I could always turn out to someone from my training group and get help. They’re like a second family to me.
Why have you stayed in sport? After your graduation you worked for BVRP and now you study to be a teacher. In the meantime, you still play and coach.
After graduating from high school in 2017, I decided to do an FSJ in BVRP. It was by far the best decision in my life. I never thought I could learn so much in one year. During the week, I was in the hall from 6 in the morning until 10 in the evening. I led trainings with different age groups and during the weekend I went with players to tournaments. I organized training courses or together with clubs I arranged school events. It was a year full of experiences!
During this year, I was able to gain a lot of experience as badminton coach. I worked with different age groups, and with different clubs. I picked up and learnt few things from other coaches: Christian Stern who accompanied me during my voluntary year and Oliwia Zimniewska who was full of ideas for training. I could list countless coaches and players, who have helped me develop because everyone I have met has influenced me in some way.
Last question: what are your plans for future?
My next step towards the future will be my Bachelor’s thesis. After that, I will do my Master’s and then hopefully start my internship at school. Apart from that, I will still try to give training besides work and continue to play badminton myself. Because I can’t do without badminton – the sport simply means too much to me.
Every woman’s success should be an inspiration to another. We are stronest when we cheer each other on.
Serena williams
Working as a badminton coach, sometimes can be quite difficult. It requires many different skills and wide knowledge about sport. You have to improve and learn all the time in order to do your work better. Working with kids brings a lot of joy, but at the same time it can be really frustrating. In such situation you need your coworkers to help you find good solution. To support you, when you struggle and you feel helpless. You also need them, when your head is on fire from all your great ideas and you need to share them with someone.
I hope that you have such people on your team. And if not? Create that team!