Piumika Fernando, a badminton coach based in Canada, conducted a coaching programme at St. Thomas’ College, Bandarawela recently, targeting young and aspiring talents of the school.
A former world champion in Racketlon, a combination of four racquet sports – badminton, squash, table tennis and tennis – Piumika also functions as deputy head coach of Fernando’s Youth Badminton Academy in Canada, founded and headed by her father Dharshana.
The training programme conducted by Piumika mainly covered important facts like winning strategies in badminton, injury prevention and rehab of most common badminton injuries, as well as on advanced training techniques on and off the court.
The training programme conducted by Piumika was a follow-up to the two-day workshop conducted by Dharshana earlier this year in March at the same venue.
Following her father’s footsteps, Piumika too had been actively involved in badminton, as a player and now as a coach and trainer. She is A Level 2 certificate holder of the Canadian National Coaching Certification Programme.
“I’m delighted and overwhelmed by the positive feedback from the Old Boys’ Association of St. Thomas’ Bandarawela, following Piumika’s training programme. I’m sure it benefited the young players of St. Thomas’ College.
“Usually I conduct this programme annually to assist my alma mater as a way of showing my gratitude. I’m even happier that my youngest daughter took the trouble to come forward and conduct a follow-up programme even during her vacation,” said coach Dharshana Fernando.
