10/1/2008       

Situated on the southern banks of the River Plate, Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, the third largest conurbation in South America and a bustling, busy city.

It is like any other major city a hive of activity and currently it is a hive of activity for table tennis.

The home for the South American Under 13 Championships from Wednesday 17th to Tuesday 23rd September 2008; immediately after, it was also the home for a training camp organised under the auspices of the Latin American Table Tennis Union.

Course Members
Held at the High Performance Centre on Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th September 2008, a total of 70 players from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and the host country Argentina attended.

The course was led by the experienced German coach Martin Adomeit with Carlos Esnard, the Technical Director of the Latin American Table Tennis Union and local Argentine coaches assisting.

Organisation
“Each day the coaching was divided in two sessions in the morning and two in afternoon”, explained Carlos Esnard. “Also Martin Adomeit conducted seminars to discuss theoretical and practical aspects of table tennis in order that players are able to progress to a high level.”

Potential
Furthermore Martin Adomeit was delighted with the young players he saw on duty.

“Martin explained that he believers table tennis in Latin America is progressing at a very fast rate”, continued Carlos Esnard. “He identified the Dominican Republic’s Eva Brito, Chile’s Loreto Galaz and Venezuela’s Gremlis Arvelo alongside several players from Paraguay and Argentina as being players to note.”

Far Seeing President
A successful course and much credit must go to Dr. Néstor Tench, the President of the Argentine Table Tennis Federation; his positive app[roach is taking table tennis in the country into a new era, an era of hope, a very positive era.

Practice in progress at the training camp in Buenos Aires.

Photo courtesy of Carlos Esnard