THE annual ‘Teach them young’ table tennis camp, organised by the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), started yesterday morning at the National Gymnasium with over 30 participants in attendance.This year called the Fifty Shades of Games Table Tennis Camp, the event is a developmental programme targeting youngsters wanting to get involved in the sport of table tennis.
According to national tennis coach Linden Johnson, the number of participants is expected to grow to around 50 persons by the end of the week.
The four-week camp which ends on the August 12 aims at teaching participants the basics in order to move on to becoming competitive table tennis players.
“This is actually about breaking the barriers to get players involved in table tennis. Teaching them the fundamentals.
The fundamentals are most important and that’s what we’re working on right now. In any sport as long as you don’t have the basics the players don’t really last too long, so that’s one of the areas we’re reinforcing.” Johnson noted.
Another objective of the game is to spot those players who are particularly talented in the sport, with many of them going on to becoming national players.
“It’s a talent-spotting thing also, because we look to see the talented ones, and they go on to play nationally. Eighty to ninety percent of the persons who make the national team are persons who came from camps like these.” Johnson said.
The camp caters for persons of all ages, thus far attracting players as young as 4 years and as old as 18 years.
Training sessions are being conducted by Johnson himself and two other coaches. Sessions are held every Monday to Friday from 10:00hrs to 12:30hrs.