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Herefordshire Table
Tennis Coaches Association Chairman: S.Goulding, Esq., Secretary: H.Jutle, Esq. |
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Hereford Table Tennis Club | Hereford League | County Table Tennis Association e-mail: jutle@btinternet.com |
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*** FREE ROADSHOW ***
Herefordshire Table Tennis Coaches
Association
List of Active Coaches:
|
Level |
Name |
Telephone |
Coaching at |
|
3 |
Harry Jutle |
01432 342552 01981 512801 (Work) |
Whitecross High School Hereford Table Tennis Club |
|
3 |
Mark Stubbs mark.psl@btopenworld.com |
01885 489019 M-07763 747492 |
Hereford Table Tennis Club |
|
3 |
Steve Watkins |
01432 356722 M-07970 952364 |
Bishops High School Hereford Table Tennis Club |
|
2 |
Dave Gough david@gough6428.freeserve.co.uk
|
01594 542609 |
Hereford Table Tennis Club |
|
2 |
Norman Merchant |
01568 760391 |
Leominster Table Tennis Club |
|
2 |
Rob Davies |
01432 273588 |
Hereford Table Tennis Club |
|
|
Jon Sheers |
01432 359351 |
Whitecross High School |
Sports Hall,
Whitecross High School, Baggallay Street, Hereford, HR4 0EA.
- Wednesday 7.30-10.30pm - League matches (Sep-Apr)
- Friday
7.00-8:30pm - Coaching - ALL WELCOME
- Friday 8:30-10pm - Club Night - ALL WELCOME
For latest details, advice or chat contact
Steve Watkins or Dave Gough, or just turn up at the club. Also check clubs for contacts
around the County.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERNATIONAL
TABLE TENNIS COACHING COURSE MANCHESTER 1997
This course was to start on Saturday 26th
April at 9.00am. Because it was early in the morning Steve Watkins organised
accommodation for us from Friday evening. Plans were made to leave Hereford at
3.30pm- this proved to be impossible due to road works, which caused traffic,
jams all around Hereford. Delays were introduced by first Dave Gough arriving
late to pick me up, and then travelling to Steve’s place. We eventually managed
to get on the Leominster road by 5pm when the car was able to travel at a decent
speed. We kept to the A49 all the way to join onto the Motorway at J8 to head
towards Manchester. We came off on J3 and found ourselves disorientated, but
managed to map read and found our accommodation not too long afterwards. After
settling down Alan Wilson came calling and gave us venue and bus information,
because he’d arrived much earlier and had seen today’s matches, and was staying
in a Hotel nearby. By this time it was fairly late so we went to a local food
shop to sample "Doner Kebabs". This was a first for Steve and he
enjoyed it, whilst Dave and I had our reservations because we had tasted
better. Due to dietary requirements Alan did not have the kebab (lucky devil).
After this small walking tour it was to be an early night.
We arrived at the venue nice and early,
but there appeared to be chaos everywhere. Due to one reason or another the
course was delayed by an hour. We went through the queuing and clearance checks
and even managed to find our classroom- we were amongst the first to arrive. Things
started to settle down soon after 10.00am and Gail McCulloch started the course
with an outline and Don Parker was our first guest. Don talked about Captaincy.
I’m not going to list all the things he talked about because they are in the
notes. One of the things he mentioned was regarding the rule "No coaching
during the game", but it does go on. He said you could get around this by
the use of body language, for e.g. applauding positive play, head down for
negative play. Don was with us for another session on the last day where he
emphasised the role of the coach. He drew a spider diagram with everyone
around, i.e. Player, Physiotherapist, Psychologist, Physiologist, etc... with
the Coach in the centre. His main message was that the coach must always stay
in control. Don was enthusiastic and open in sharing his ideas and answered
questions with conviction because of the knowledge and experience he has built
over the years.
At the end of Don’s second session Lisa
Lomas, the English Ladies number 1, came in for a question and answer session.
Don was also present and supported Lisa where needed. Lisa thinks the lottery
should help greatly to bring youngsters along into the game with schemes such
as Top sport.
Gail McCulloch covered a session on Match
Analysis and imparted ideas how this could be carried out. She also said that
we should get the students to carry out these exercises. The result of our
match analysis was that the service was short, with backspin. The rally length
was also short and most the points were won by topspin.
Michele Gadal covered the final session on
the first day and impressed on us that as coaches we should always be aiming
for a higher level of excellence, irrespective of the standard of our players
at any one time. He then expanded how to achieve this, and finally finished the
session with a question and answer forum. Michele held a second session with us
on Wednesday (30 April), where he continued on the theme training for
excellence. He explained that a coach’s job is to make the player complete so
that he relies on himself, thereby making himself redundant. He held a final
session with us on the last day adopting a question and answer format. Michele
impressed me with the amount of knowledge he has and is able to communicate effectively.
He has a friendly easy going manner, but is a great professional to the Game.
He gave us so much information, yet in small concise chunks, that it’s only now
I realise how much.
At the beginning of the second day, Sunday
27 April, we were introduced to the Head coach of the Chinese Ladies team Mr.
Zhang Xielin who through an interpreter answered our questions. The Chinese
mainly concentrate on speed rather than spin, but with the changing game have
also incorporated other styles. Table tennis in China is very popular because
all schools have table tennis facilities, which are cheap compared to other
sports. Talent at primary school is spotted by Teachers and passed onto
coaches. They also train much more and for longer periods. In order not to lose
the penhold style they have at least one penholder in each regional squad.
On the last day, Shu Huang, who was a very
good player and coach in China, led the Fifth session. This was a question and
answer session. Shu explained that the Government decides on the suitability of
a coach, through tests and exercises. Any who pass will then go to University
for a year, 2 years, or 4 years course to learn physical education and
technical aspects of the game. Shu’s opinion of the English juniors is that
they need to increase practice and adopt the right technique.
On the second day, Sunday 27 April, we met
Glenn Osth an ex Swedish coach for many years, who coached Jan-Ove Waldner, and
has just joined the Germany team. Glenn went through coaching philosophies and explained
how he plans his coaching sessions. The most important factor, he explained, is
to be flexible. With all the coaching and support available to a player, the
single main factor to a player's progress is how much the player puts in
himself (75% from player and 25% from support/coaching). Glenn took us again on
Monday leading the second session. This time he concentrated on techniques,
grip, and play. He explained the modern game is aimed at putting pressure on
the opponent to make mistakes, by attacking first, hitting the ball hard with
lots of spin. We had a final session with Glenn on Tuesday on match analysis.
He gave us exercises and sent us in-groups to study matches and come back later
to see the results. There was a lot of thought put into preparing for this
exercise by each group. We learnt things happened so fast that it was very
difficult to record or follow the matches. Later when we met up again, the
exercise had taught us that we looked for too many things. Glenn gave useful
tips and impressed on us that we need to focus on one thing to begin with. Work
in teams and decide beforehand what you are looking for. Analysis after the
match is extremely important for both the coach and player with feedback. Glenn
has such an in-depth knowledge of the game that I believe he could easily have
taken the course for the whole week and still has a lot more knowledge to
impart. His attention to detail is very precise, but he can then again expand
on any topic. My brain by now was near saturation point.
On Monday we were introduced to Sue Shirreffs
a physiologist at Aberdeen University who gave a presentation on the effects of
dehydration and rehydration on performance in sport. Basically if you feel
thirsty you are already in dehydration state and your performance has been
affected. Regular fluids should be taken which include salt, glucose and
carbohydrate, which are effective in reducing fluid loss and help in
rehydration. We saw sue again on the final session for the day and she talked
about Creatine. Her conclusion on this was an increased performance recovery in
repeated high intensity exercise where there is a short recovery, but no
improvement in prolonged exercise in multiple sprint games such as football,
hockey, etc..
On Tuesday we met Peter Hirst, a former
English National coach, who is now employed by the New Zealand team. Peter led
the first session of the day and we were impressed by his down to earth and
simplistic approach. He finished the session giving the overall picture. We saw
Peter again on Wednesday at the final session of the day. He explained the role
of coaches on what to do before and during an event. He also outlined the
common mistakes and how they should be tackled.
Colin Clemmett, who is the chair of the
I.T.T.F. Rules Committee, led our first session on Wednesday. This was a
question and answer session. Colin said rule changes are very difficult to
make, as a 75% majority is required. Experiments are being conducted to see if
the game can be slowed down, such as using a larger ball, increasing the net
height, increasing the size of the playing surface, to try to make the sport
appeal to the public.
Nicky Jarvis started the first session on
Thursday and covered advanced techniques. Nicky is a former England No.1 player
and is a top-level coach. He concentrated on practical techniques of advanced
forehand and backhand illustrating each part of the body and its use.
Kenny Owens led the second session on this
last day. He is a physio for the US team. Kenny explained prevention of injury
by understanding the role of muscles in the cause of pain, dysfunction and
disability. Kenny said the game is becoming increasingly violent from the body
point of view, and the players tend to suffer from common injuries to shoulder,
back, neck and knees. When muscles contract they remain tight and create
fibrous scarring and the repetition movements' damage the existing damaged
fibers. Kenny discovered 2 ways to counteract the muscle contraction and thus
inhibit injury. Stretch the muscle by pressure application, which creates a
vacuum to allow blood circulation, hence improving the health of the tissue.
Basically you need to find the tight fibers, press and hold pressure for 10
seconds and release. Repeat this on the entire length of the fibers. Kenny also
talked about the importance of a good diet. Kenny then demonstrated his art on
the coaches who had aches and pains, who then were miraculously cured! Kenny
had a big queue of people to operate on, including our Dave. After a while I
started to feel sorry for Don Parker because he was waiting to start his final
session, and Kenny was in full flow.
Dave and I travelled home on Thursday
night with Nick Turner, who arrived on the previous day (Thanks for the lift
Nick). Steve stayed to see the end of the Championship, and also volunteered
his services. We visited the venue again on Sunday to see breath taking level
of table tennis, a trip I had organised earlier.
This course has made me realise that coaching
is not easy and requires dedication, determination, technical knowledge,
patience, and commitment, to name just a few. The game is ever evolving. When
we first learned to become coaches, the emphasis was on teaching accuracy play
at the beginning, and to slowly build up speed and power. The first stroke to
teach was the Backhand push, this being the easiest stroke to learn. Through
this course we have learned that this teaches to play safe rather than playing
to win the points (especially under pressure). Watching the World class players
no one plays just to keep the ball in play. The great players try to win the
points right from the start- they do not take a game to warm up, as happens at
a local level, they are ready at the table because of good preparation earlier.
I believe we have to alter our coaching strategy to teach attacking style from
the start. I have introduced this at the Champion Coaching Scheme currently
running at Whitecross High School at the moment, and early signs are certainly
encouraging.
We have also picked up very helpful
knowledge from Kenny Owens. Trying his technique on myself I have found and
cured lots of aches and pains, which were beginning to affect my health and
sport. I was beginning to put these aches and pains down to old age, but now
feel great and am able to excel further in sport. Sue Shirreffs made us aware
of the need to avoid dehydration, because it affects performance.
The standard of table tennis at these
championships was amazing- how they can hit the ball so hard, how they spin the
ball so much, how they can disguise the spin on the ball, and after all that
they can still manage to have the odd rally (most points were won within 4
strokes, usually 3). Serves were kept short, low and tight to stop the receiver
from attacking first, (by trying to make the second bounce on white line). The
first player to get a strong topspin in usually won the point.
I do find it a great pity that the sport
is not publicised and supported here as in some other Countries, such as China,
Germany, Sweden, Belgium, to name a few. Don Parker told us that 200 million
viewers watched the Men’s Team Final on Wednesday. This is by far the biggest
viewing compared to other sports worldwide! I heard a Wimbledon commentator the
other day mention with pride, a Worldwide-viewing figure of 40 million. The
coverage of Table Tennis by the media was DISGRACEFUL. One story did attract
media attention and that was Don’s daughter Katy at the age of 13 years old was
the youngest competitor ever to enter the World Table Tennis Championship. We
managed to have photographs taken with her and have them printed in the local
press. I hope things will improve with an injection from the lottery, and look
forward to the day Table Tennis is accepted on par with other popular sports,
such as Football, Athletics, Tennis, Snooker, etc..
I have thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a great
deal from the course, and am confidant of passing on the knowledge to others. I
must thank our sponsors for the financial aid, without which the course would
have been extremely expensive to us individually. Thanks also go to Steve and
Dave for not only the learning experience, but for the laughs as well (Steve’s
into GREEN bananas, and a secret ham eater). Joking apart I will always try my
best for the game.
Course Duration: 26th April-1st May 1997
Report by Harry Jutle
