PingSkills had a treat tripping down the Victorian coast to the beautiful country town of Warrnambool. We ran a training session for the keen and talented members of the newly formed South West Academy Table Tennis program. Players for the academy have just been selected with the lucky players being given an unprecedented opportunity to improve their skills over the period of their scholarships.

The Academy is the brainchild of the Warrnambool Table Tennis Association President, Mark Taylor. It has been set up with the aims of both developing the current squad of talented juniors as well as developing a Table Tennis junior elite development model in South West Victoria that can be used in the future in other regions of Victoria. Their aim is Victoria but this is something that I am sure will be of interest to clubs all around the world, especially those in remote areas.

Training for players outside any metropolitan area is a problem table tennis players the world over face. Through the setting up of the Academy, the program hopes to find a way to bridge the geographical divide. Of course the hard work of actually putting in the time and effort still needs to be done by the players, but at least now the opportunity exists.

Program

This will be done through several coaching sessions by various coaches over the two year period. Players will also be taken to tournaments around Victoria as well as having some training in Melbourne. The sessions will comprise both group training sessions as well as some individual work.

The Academy will also assist the players with their physical preparation as well as the sport specific skills. The same weekend saw the squad undergoing a muscular skeletal screening as well as setting some benchmarks for their physical performance through fitness testing. This is all done through the South West Academy of Sport.

During the session Jeff and Alois went through some key issues for the players such as basic stroke production, Balance and Serving. These basics will ensure the grounding of the players is solid to move forward into the coming years.

Local coaches the key to ongoing development

The other key feature of this program is to ensure that there are suitably trained people in the area that can carry on the work when people such as us are gone and tucked away back at home. The success of the program will not only be the development of these players in the South West but also the ongoing success and prosperity of the junior program in the area. To this end it was great to see four stalwarts of the South West area there and taking part in the program. People like Darryl Lacey, Chris Paulin, Simon Johnson and Trevor McDowell will be the key to success over time as they will be able to monitor more closely the progress of the players and assist them on a regular basis.

PingSkills looks forward to working with these players and seeing them grow as players over the next couple of years.

PingSkills with members of the Academy Table Tennis squad

Jeff Plumb & Alois Rosario PingSkills, Hamish Porter Warrnambool, Ben Taylor Warrnambool , Nathan Caruana Hamilton , Daniel Roberts Hamilton , Emma Manderson Warrnambool, Matthew van Rooy Warrnambool , Jacob Lenehan Warrnambool , Justin Field Hamilton, Brandon Lacey Hamilton