26 Jun 2018

Organised by Goran Munivrana, PhD, ITTF Sports Science and Medical Committee member, the second practical part of the Table Tennis Study Programme was successfully organised at the University of Split in Croatia from Sunday 17th to Sunday 24th June 2018.

A university degree study programme in sports coaching, especially designed to suit the needs of table tennis players and coaches, the project was initiated two years ago at the Faculty of Kinesiology; it is supported by the International Table Tennis Federation and the European Table Tennis Union.

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

Overall, a total of 20 students from 16 countries have enrolled, the initiative having connected more than 20 recognised universities, institutes and academies worldwide.

“The main theme of the second year practical week was “Methodology and basic training principles of coaching high performance players”, which has included topics dealing with both technical, tactical and conditioning aspects of training high performance table tennis athletes.” Goran Munivrana

Notably present was Richard Prause, Sports Director of the German Table Tennis Association and Jasna Rather, who when known by her maiden name Jasna Fazlic, was Women’s Doubles bronze medallist with Gordana Perkucin at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games. She is currently the Para Programme Director for USA Table Tennis, as well as at the Texas Wesleyan University head coach. Also present top complete the illustrious names was Zoran Djokic, an expert on physical conditioning fotable tennis.

The students who attended were: Vasiliki Fragou (Greece), Matas Skucas (Lithuania), Soma Fekete (Hungary), Jovan Stojsin (Serbia), Alejandro Aponte (Venezuela),Bjarni Bjarnason (Iceland), Wisanu Wattayawong (Thailand), Steve Riley (Fiji), Jason Luini (Italy), Erik Ansnes (Norway), Dominique Plattner (Austria), David Oresnik (Slovenia), Tomislav Kolarek (Croatia), Patrik Rosc (Slovenia).

Sports Science Goran Munivrana