Cyprus is moving forward, that is the clear message from the Cyprus Table Tennis Association.
They
are making a major effort to promote table tennis schools; in
particular targeting the major cities of Cyprus: Nicosia and Limassol.
In
March and May 2009, further progress was made with seminars involving
Elementary School Teachers being held in order to create more potential
coaches.
Seminars
The first
seminar took place in Tassos Papadopoulos, Eleftheria Sports Stadium in
Nicosia, on Saturday 21st March with 45 teachers being present; all
were prepared to offer table tennis in their physical education
lessons.
On Saturday 9th May in Limassol, the second seminar
took place at the Tsirio Sports Stadium. The majority of the 17
participants were teachers who wanted to include table tennis in their
physical education lessons; some were members of local table tennis
clubs and two of them are also table tennis umpires.
Each seminar was thorough in content.
Content
Registration
was followed with a power-point presentation which included a brief
history of the game, the basic equipment required and the need for
creativity.
The principle that "every table is a table tennis
table" was encouraged plus information on the basic grip, strokes and
how to maintain the interest of children were explained.
Furthermore, tournament organization was included with a question and answer session bringing matters to an end.
Great Interest
"During
the course, all participants showed tremendous interest and motivation
to learn as much as possible", explained Vicky Eleftheriade who
alongside Marinos Voukis, directed the course.
"From the
anonymous course evaluations it can be easily extracted that all
participants were very satisfied with the overall quality of the
seminars", continued Vicky Eleftheriade. "They enjoyed the use of
videos, the power-point presentation and specifically enjoyed the fact
that they were introduced to both theory and practice."
A very worthwhile project and all left in confident mood.
National Programme
The
two seminars are linked with the "Table Tennis Educational Programme"
(TTEP), which has run for the last four years and has proven very
successful.
"The National Team coach visits elementary schools
if the number of tables is sufficient or schools visit the association;
the lessons last about one and a half hours.
The effect is that
some children are chosen for training with the National Association’s
coaches and thus have a good grasp of the basics before selection.
Bright Future
A
major step for the development of table tennis in Cyprus is well
underway and the prospects for the future look extremely bright thanks
to the efforts of the National Association and in particular, Vicky
Eleftheriade and Marinos Voukis.
Source: www.ittf.com
