By Joe Chapman

NATIONAL Sports Commission (NSC) table tennis, Lynden Johnson, has termed his short coaching stint last week in Linden “a plus for table tennis in Linden” and felt that things look bright with regard to the development of the sport in Region 10.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport shortly after completing his final session at the Mackenzie Primary School, Johnson stated that “this programme is a plus. As a matter of fact, this programme was to have happened ever since last year, but because of examinations and other stuff that had been going on in schools, we had to push back the date to early 2018.”

The Ministry of Education/NSC conducted the Schools Development Table Tennis Coaching Programme from last Monday through Wednesday where targeted students between ages 6 and 11 years. Only 24 students were allowed from each school (12 boys and 12 girls). The two venues used were the Mackenzie High School auditorium and the Mackenzie Primary School.

The broad objectives of the programme were to: develop and improve the level of table tennis in schools, help students with the basic skills and to be better prepared for future tournaments, train a nucleus of students to be prepared for CXC exams, increase the number of participants involved in table tennis by 25%, identify players for future tournaments, create an integrated coaching programme that will incorporate coaching education and player’s development, and motivate and encourage schools and players to join forces and work in partnership.

Each school was entitled to one session of one and a half hours and those schools invited were: St Aidan’s, Wismar Hill, Christianburg, One Mile, Watooka Day, Coomacka, Amelia’s Ward, Regma and Mackenzie Primary.

“I feel the turnout and support was really great because we had about nine schools participating and each school had about 24 students, twelve boys and twelve girls as planned. I think it was a plus for table tennis in Linden,” said Johnson.

According to the longstanding table tennis coach, who is also an accredited International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) high ranking coach, “The coaches involved were Linden’s ITTF Level One Howard James and Shavin Green and we also had two candidates, Maurice Cummings and Ron Inniss who have to complete their practical hours to obtain their Level One Certification.”