National Table Tennis Sport Academy to benefit youth players across six regions
The Guyana Table Tennis Association has submitted their proposal for the nursery development of the sport to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport which will introduce new players to the sport.
The National Table Tennis Sport Academy, once launched, is set to benefit approximately 150 to 200 youth players categorised by age and skill level.
The sport academy is the brainchild of Minister of Sport Charles Ramson Junior as part of the “bottom-up” approach to developing sport.
Godfrey Munroe, President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association noted that the significant presence of the sport across the regions has helped them develop their systematic approach.
"Our model basically looked at where we could have introduced the nursery academy firstly. So they had about 6 regions we could commence immediately with coaches in those regions."
Table tennis is currently active in Regions two, three, six, seven, 10 as well as Georgetown and East Coast in Region four.
"So if we can fund those coaches. We have equipment there so we can basically expand the nursery in a holistic way.”
“We would need equipment for those coaches to work and train and provide a stipend for them so they can be remunerated for their services."
Munroe said.
The Association expects to conduct the academy in line with the school term, with training for students for approximately three months at a time in nine months of the year.
They will however, look for ways to keep the youths engaged in the sport during the breaks.
'The central plan that we have is that basically, we roll them into a talent identification programme for development and training. In addition to setting up and establishing regional centres that will bolster the whole pyramidal structure we’re looking to establish.”
Currently, only three of the 12 core sports have launched their nursery academy, namely; squash, badminton and volleyball.
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