April 25, 2011

ITTF Seminar

Yesterday we finished the four-day ITTF Level 1 Coaching Seminar (April 16-17, 23-24). I want to thank the 14 coaches who participated: Carmencita "Camy" Alexandrescu (NV), Benjamin D. Arnold (PA), Changping Duan (MD), Jeff Fuchs (PA), John Hsu (MD), Charlene Liu (MD), Juan Ly (FL), Vahid Mosafari (MD), Dan Notestein (VA), John Olsen (VA), Jef Savage (PA), Jeff Smart (MD), David Varkey (PA), and Shaobo "Bob" Zhu (PA). All passed, and pending their completion of 30 hours of coaching (including 5 hours of "supervised" coaching with an ITTF certified or other high-level coach), will become ITTF certified coaches. As I told them, they will be ITTF coaches, and Cheng Yinghua, Stellan Bengtsson, and Dan Seemiller are not!!! :)

Article and photos should be out in a few days.

We covered a lot of material in the 24 hours of the course. I spent a lot of time mimicking bad technique as the coaches figured out what was wrong. Sometimes I felt like I was lecturing too much; other times the coaches joined in and we had great back-and-forth discussions of technique, tactics, and other table tennis topics. In addition, all 14 coaches gave a 5-10 minute coaching presentation on a randomly-assigned technique. Each presentation was followed by a discussion and analysis, both on the substance and the presentation itself. Here's a rough listing of items covered:

  • ITTF and USATT certification process
  • ITTF coaching program
  • Coaching responsibilities and ethics
  • Generic coaching principles
  • Coaching beginners
  • Coaching in schools
  • Skills circuits
  • Warmup
  • Multiball
  • Grip
  • Ready position
  • Stroking techniques (forehand and backhand drives, looping, blocking, pushing, flipping, lobbing & fishing, smashing lobs, and chopping)
  • Footwork
  • Beginning and advanced serves
  • Receive
  • Training programs
  • Physical training
  • Nutrition
  • Sports science
  • Sports psychology
  • Running junior programs
  • Equipment (especially different rubber surfaces)
  • Tactics against different surfaces, grips, and playing styles
  • Doubles tactics
  • Umpiring and rules
  • Running tournaments

There will likely be a ITTF Level 2 Coaching Seminar in the U.S. sometime next year. Now that something like half of the ITTF coaches in the U.S. will be from the Maryland region, we're going to lobby for it to be held here!

And congrats to Seminar Doubles Champions Jeff Smart & John Olsen and Runner-ups Bob Zhu & Juan Ly!

Freestyle table tennis

Here's a minute and a half of music and freestyle table tennis on tables, cars, and whatever else was handy for Adam Bobrow and friends.

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