Since 2007 para table tennis has been part of several ITTF Level One Coach Education courses. At the recently held course in Mexico City, Beijing Paralympian Maria Paredes was on the spot herself supporting the Course Conductor and teaching the participants how to train players with a disability.
The prospective coaches learnt about the classification system, about techniques and sat even in a wheelchair to test.
Every Coach Able to Teach Disabled Players
The venue where the course was held, has been built for the 1968 Olympic Games. “The majority of those who attended work as coaches in the various provinces”, explained Course Conductor Carlos Esnard. “All came in an effort to improve their knowledge of table tennis as well as learn the skills needed for Paralympic sport.”
ITTF Co-ordinator of Development Programmes Leandro Olvech says about the education for para table tennis: “The goal is that coaches have a general idea.”
In order to feel what it means, the participants in Mexico sat in a wheelchair to see the table from a different viewpoint. “When coaches have ten children in the training and one with a wheelchair they must not be afraid of that”, Olvech hopes. “The training shouldn’t be parallel but integrated.”
More Experts Needed
At the Level 1 Course in Mexico City, Panamerican champion Maria Paredes, a wheelchair player with Paralympic experience, supported Course Conductor Carlos Esnard at one day.
Whenever possible at ITTF Level 1 Courses, an additional day for para table tennis is scheduled. “As much as we can we try to offer combined courses”, Olvech says. However, this is not possible each time. “We don’t have enough Course Conductors yet”.
Since 2007 the ITTF Development Programme tries to incorporate the para table tennis in these courses. Meanwhile there are eight Course Conductors able to teach para table tennis, but it is still not enough compared to over Course Conductors for able-bodied players.
Now Olvech hopes to increase the number of para coaches. “We try to train as many as possible of the 50 coaches we already have, in order to get multi-skilled coaches.”
Source: ittf.com
