17 Dec 2013

The Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) and the Botswana National Olympic Committee organised an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and Para-Table Tennis (PTT) level one course to improve both the coaching skills and the standard of table tennis in Botswana.

The six-day course ended on Monday, December 16. Sixteen local participants were awarded certificates.  Ten of the 16 coaches passed and will be issued diplomas after training players for 30 hours. The other six, who did not succeed to the other level, were given club coaching certificates.

Speaking at the press brief held at St. Joseph’s College on Monday, ITTF representative, Kaka Lawson, said his organisation’s main aim was to give all the continents a chance to develop their coaches. Lawson, who was also the course instructor, said ITTF provided many courses that benefited table tennis associations in member countries.

Lelentle Mokhupuki, the public relations officer for the BTTA, said the association wanted to come up with quality coaches who could teach children from grassroots level. “We realised its high time we came up with skillful coaches who can help us grow,” she said. Mokhupuki said BTTA’s aim was to begin at primary schools because it was the stage where children could acquire skills at a young age.

She said the course included a training camp where the coaches were taught multidisciplinary skills. She commended the coaches for doing well. One of the certified participants, Tirelo Tshipinare, expressed delight over his achievement.

He said his plan was to teach at primary schools and transfer the skills he had learnt from the course. “My work from here is to train players for 30 hours and get my diploma certificate” he said. Tshipinare acknowledged his instructor by saying that he felt honored to have been taught by such an experienced teacher. ENDS