By Faizool Deo

CUBAN table tennis (TT) coach, Osdain Romero Garcia, started his two-month stint on Monday in Guyana and according to the President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Godfrey Munroe, he is already making an impact.

“He has great knowledge and expertise, and has already pin pointed some key elements that are required to be worked on.”

The GTTA was able to secure the services of the ITTF Level One coach through diplomatic engagements between the Cuba Table Tennis Confederation Development Support Program.

The Cuban, who is the coach of Caribbean U21 singles champions, Daniela Fonseca and Livian Martinez, has also worked with Paralympic athletes.

Romero Garcia is not just a table tennis coach; he has a degree in Sports Science and Physical Education and a diploma in High Performance training, which, according to Munroe, will assist in taking the sport to the next level.

“With the central aim of structuring Guyana’s national team training, Mr. Osdani Romero Garcia will work with the GTTA’s national teams at the mini, pre-cadet, junior and senior levels and talent identification programmes in view of improving our player’s technical and tactical development and performance.”

According to the local head, plans are already in the pipeline to have the coach return in early January to continue working with the national team players at all levels in preparation for key international engagements.

TAKING THE SPORT FORWARD

Munroe stated recently that the GTTA decided to improve the structure of its programme via the international route.

“The GTTA has recognised that while significant investments have been made by the association to provide training and certification opportunities to develop coaches through the ITTF certification provision for which GTTA has over 100 hundred certified coaches in the ITTF database, this has not translated to many coaches working.”

He said that the association’s inability to get local coaches to work together for the betterment of the players, and the divisive environment created by some coaches with their agendas have hurt the sport.

“This (lack of support) has negatively impacted the implementation and limited the rate of success of key programmes, more particularly our national team training at the pre cadet, cadet, junior and senior levels and has constrained the association’s efforts in structuring our national teams’ training and our developmental efforts.”

Coach Osdani will also identify specific needs and outline individual programmes to help players in their development.  The GTTA is hoping that they will be able to use the same structure moving forward.

Romero Garcia seems to have impressed the GTTA president, due to his drive, coaching skills and work ethics.

“[He] is very enthusiastic about impacting the players’ development, and his energy has already started to take effect. He wants to work outside the normal hours to be impactive,” Munroe added.