Guyana recently hosted an International Table Tennis Federation/Para Table Tennis (ITTF/PTT) Level One Table Tennis Course, which was staged at the Malteenoes Sports Club.
Organised under the auspices of ITTF High Performance and Development, the Course Conductor on duty was the host nation’s Shavin Greene, the General Secretary for the Linden Table Tennis Committee and a teacher at the McKenzie High School.
It was the first such initiative led by Greene, who had qualified following his attendance at Course Conductor Training under the guidance of Ramon Ortega Montes, ITTF Continental Development Manager in 2017, his efforts being supervised by Carlos Esnard, the ITTF Pan American Development Manager.
“For me as Course Co-ordinator it was truly a pleasure to work with this group of participants, key was the enthusiasm their willingness to learn, attention to details and the sacrifices made over the five days before the Christmas holidays. My central main focus was to follow the ITTF philosophy and be as practical as possible in having the participants develop skills, which will allow them to understand the concepts of coaching. I think we were able to achieve this over the days of the programme since I am sure those receiving their certificates will categorically have competency in the skills necessary to be a Level One ITTF certified coach,” Greene explained.
Overall 15 students attended, with 10 meeting the required level; now they must complete 30 hours of coaching with five hours being supervised in order to gain their certification.
“My plan is to continue to work with them in collaboration with the Guyana Table Tennis Association in key projects in their schools and communities, in view of having them complete their certification hours and bringing new players to the fore from their areas,” Greene added.
After an intense five days appreciated by all, Yoganand Singh, a former player, was most positive in his assessment, highlighting the fact that the course had been conducted in great detail and that the facilities provided had been of a high standard.
It was a similar reaction from Osafo Dos Santos, a Physical Education teacher at Guyana’s leading secondary school, Queen’s College; he stressed the value of the practical sessions as well the greater understanding gained with regards to Para table tennis and tournament organisation.
Positive views were also echoed by Trevor Jocintho, a teacher at a primary school in Port Kaituma. He had travelled several miles to be present. It was the same response from Michael Benjamin, Robert Bostwick and Jude Jude McLennon who all journeyed considerable distances to attend.
Godfrey Munroe, President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association, shared his reaction.
“Shavin has truly demonstrated that he is a very competent Course Conductor; he exhibited great understanding and knowledge of the material, provided great examples, was very clear, precise and concise in the methods used, he has been a revelation. Furthermore, having Shavin will allow us to develop and accelerate our coaching structure, we will now be able to host many more certification programmes. The plan is to host more ITTF certification coaching programmes in 2019 for coaches’ development,” Munroe stated. (ITTF)
