03 Dec 2017

Situated on the northern mainland of South America but a member of the Caribbean Community and when sport is concerned always associated with that part of the world, Guyana was the recent home for an ITTF/PTT Level One Course.

Staged in Georgetown, the country’s capital city and organised under the auspices of the ITTF Development Programme in conjunction with the Latin American Table Tennis Union, proceedings commenced on Friday 17th November and concluded on Tuesday 21st November.

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Venue for the whole itinerary was the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the home earlier this year in April for the Caribbean Junior and Cadet Championships. The expert on duty was Ramon Ortega Montes, alias “Moncho”, the Development Officer for the Latin American Table Tennis Union.

“There is a plan to have table tennis in 150 schools around the country in Guyana It´s already been implemented, with this course, we will have more well prepared people that will be able to run table tennis at the schools”. Moncho

A total of 17 students attended of whom one was female, the group comprising a range members from a variety of backgrounds including a teacher and professional coaches. They travelled from various parts of the country, in addition to Georgetown, notably course members journeyed from Linden and Upper Mazaruni.

“I enjoyed the course, I have learned so many things that now I will able to use with the children I have in my school.” Maurice Cummings

“I already have passed Level One and Level Two; I came to do the course conductors course and even so I still learned many things; especially how to explain, demonstrate, observe, analyse and take decisions. It´s a very useful material to put in practice in my club with the players” Dwain Dick

“I know that I need to work hard after I finish this course and I will do it, in my region with coach Shavin Greene, we are ready to coach”. Ron Enniss

“I´m from a region far from Georgetown, Upper Mazaruni and we don´t have many chances to be able to attend such kind of courses. I taught myself to play by myself and it´s good that now I have learned all the basic technique and I will be able to implement it in my game and also to teach.” Raphael Hunter

“I´m school teacher and I´m used to teaching, I´m also table tennis player, now I will use the knowledge received to teach table tennis at my school, thank you coach Ramon”. Kunta Waddell

 São Paulo – ITTF/PTT Level One Course
Photos: courtesy of Ramon Ortega Montes

High Performance and Development Ramon Ortega Montes