Notícia

Table tennis in New Zealand is one sport that is heading in a positive direction. They have a highly motivated team of coaches and administrators with a strategic vision; furthermore, they will be staging the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in 2008.

I was in New Zealand last week and I felt that something exciting was just around the corner for table tennis in the small nation of four million people, located in the southern most part of the Pacific Ocean.

New Zealand, perhaps better known for their rugby skills, are not hoping that the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in 2008 will be the pinnacle of their work but will be the launching pad for bigger and more exciting projects for the sport in their country.

Mike LOFTUS, their new Chief Executive Officer, believes the potential for table tennis in New Zealand is very exciting. "We are developing a strong coaching structure, we have an excellent infrastructure, we have a growing Asian population in the country which means more participation in the sport and most importantly we have a highly motivated board", he explained. "So, I am quite confident New Zealand can one day be a table tennis force to be with which to be reckoned."

"Importantly, we have just developed our strategic plan for the next five years, which includes starting a Table Tennis Academy within the next three years", Mike LOFTUS continued. "Competing in more international competitions and hosting more and more international competitions is also envisaged."

After having seen his presentation I felt confident that he had everyone inspired to reach such goals.

Another person who is working hard for the future is Table Tennis New Zealand's High Performance Manager and Coaching Director John STAPELTON. He was the man responsible for Table Tennis New Zealand winning the right to host the World Junior Championships in 2008, as well as Oceania's first World Junior Circuit event in 2003.

"We have coaching as one of the highest priorities right now, we need to develop an elite group of coaches if we hope to achieve our goals" he stated. "In fact we are very happy with the ITTF Coaching Accreditation System and we are aligning our system to the ITTF one".

In fact this was the reason I was in New Zealand, to help conduct their first ever ITTF Level One Coaching Course.

Now, to say it was successful would be an understatement. Twenty seven participants joined the inaugural course and all felt it was a very useful starting point on their pathway for further coaching knowledge.

However, it was the feeling from the course that was the most exciting factor. I had a feeling that these coaches shared the above vision for table tennis in New Zealand. Also, that their attendance at the course was just a small step in their progress to become elite level coaches and to one day be part of an organization that hopes to see Table Tennis in the elite of International Table tennis.

Obviously to make it into the elite of international table tennis will take a mammoth effort but with the group of people who have the thinking vision, I have a feeling that they just may do so.

From: www.ittf.com and www.tabletennis.gr