BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH less than two months before competition at the 2011 Pan American Games Qualifiers, the St. Kitts and Nevis table tennis team has already entered training camp.
The team is scheduled to leave the Federation on May 22 for Guadalajara, Mexico where they will compete among the top table tennis players from across the world.
According to the Chairman of St. Kitts and Nevis Table Tennis Association (SKNTTA) Technical and Development Committee, Kevin Hope, early preparation is necessary for the athletes.
He informed that five athletes are currently training at the Conaree Community Centre and they had started eight weeks ago.
“Coming out of the Technical Committee, we have a group of four coaches who are responsible for our strategic planning in terms of the preparations. We’re focusing on the physical preparation of the athletes as well as the technical and practical aspects of the game.
“We’ve observed that we have a lot of seasoned players and very often we develop bad habits in the technical. However, in order to develop these weak areas, we have with us Calvin Lake, one of the most experienced coaches in the Federation, lending assistance to the team’s head coach Nicholas Swift,” Hope explained.
SKNVibes was also informed that since the start of training, the athletes’ performance has significantly improved.
“What we find with a number of our athletes, is that they are engaged in multiple sports and, as a result of table tennis being in dormancy stage at one time, we haven’t really been able to have them as active. What we have observed in the past several weeks of training is an increase in the players’ confidence. This is because of the reputation of the technical and tactical exercises, and the athletes are becoming more confident.
“Similarly, we’ve observed the mental strength and this has resulted in the mental exercises that they’ve been involved in. This form of exercise prepares them for any sort of quick play and fast reaction during a game,” Hope further explained.
Hope, who is also the team’s assistant coach, said that plans are in the pipeline to continue with early preparations for future tournaments in order to keep the athletes in a competitive mode.
It was further revealed that the SKNTTA plans to get the players involved in a number of local competitive matches.
“Going forward as part of preparations for future Pan AM Games and other competitions, we are hoping that we can use the opportunity of the players competing among themselves and others players in the public domain to create an awareness campaign for the sport. This is because many people are still not familiar with the sport. We intend to have our athletes do periodic showcases to bring people out. This will also help to keep our players in a competitive mode, because we need them to play competitively,” Hope said.
If successful at the Qualifiers, the team will advance to the 16th Pan American Games scheduled for Guadalajara, Mexico in October 2011.
