by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Venue for the whole week was predominantly the Namibian Table Tennis Federation’s hall, except for two sessions which were held at the Sports Klub Windhoek.
“The objective of the training camp was to further develop junior players within Namibia, the national association had identified this as the core focus of the association and as part of their development plan”, said Hisham Ismail. “A total of 32 players, 24 boys and eight girls attended the training camp, so it was important to divide the players into three groups with three different training sessions; also players from outside Windhoek, Rehoboth High School, attended at weekends.”
Three training sessions were held each day, the first from 2.00pm to 4.00pm; the next from 4.00pm to 6.00pm with the concluding session being from 7.00pm to 9.00pm. Additionally a 30 minute physical training session was arranged each day.
Each day started at 2.00pm owing to the fact that school finished at 1.00pm.
Matters began with matches being played, in order to assess the level of the players; a suitable itinerary was organized which included warm-up routines, attention to technical items, footwork practices, services and tactics. Finally on the concluding day of the training camp, a tournament was staged.
“The parents encouraged the players to co-operate with the Federation in order to help raise their standard of play”, explained Hisham Ismail.
A successful visit with Hisham Ismail grateful for the support he had received.
“Thanks to all the members of Namibian Table Tennis Federation, especially to Mr. Ramon Hansen the President of the Federation and to the Vice President Mr. Rudi Saunderson; they did everything possible to make the amp a success”, concluded Hisham Ismail. “Also, my thanks to the ITTF Development Programme for holding this camp to develop table tennis in Namibia; it fulfilled a very important role of the ITTF Education and Training Programme.”
The Boys’ Singles event was won by Wayne Green who beat Yannick Bohn; the counterpart Girls’ Singles competition by Bregida George who accounted for Kaitlyn Beukes in the title deciding contest.
