Coaches from Leeds, Keighley, Hull, Skipton and Halifax gathered at Keighley Table Tennis Centre on Sunday for an informative and enjoyable CPD day with Northern Area Coach Development Officer Sally Shutt.

The day started with an invigorating session of Aerobic TT delivered by Steve Rowe from Wigan as part of the module on ‘Coaching Women and Girls’. This was very timely as Sport England have just revealed their new campaign ‘This girl can’ to try and engage more females in sport and activity. The session was well received by all the coaches who were asked to partake in a session of Aerobic TT and then were given the history and rationale for the project which has been endorsed by Butterfly, ESTTA and several national Table Tennis Associations. The coaches were encouraged to introduce the sessions to their local schools and clubs and advised that they could apply for ‘Sportivate’ funding to support delivery. Sally also presented on the different technical, tactical, physical and psychological approaches required to coach females.

Back to Basics was next on the agenda and local youngsters from Haworth Hawks kindly offered their services for the coaches to get involved in delivering sessions including basic stroke techniques and footwork. The presentation included discussion on the importance of introducing fundamental movement skills (agility, balance and coordination) and gameplay skills (anticipation, adaptability) in the initial learning stages.

The final module of the day was Coaching in Competition which covered the basics of ‘cornering’ and also had the coaches analyzing some videos using ‘hand notation’ to try and work out appropriate tactics.

All coaches who attended received CPD certificates showing the modules covered which also counts towards the current Table Tennis England licensing scheme.

CPD days covering the same modules will be taking place on Saturday 15th November at Swerve TTC, Middlesbrough and on Sunday 16th November at Garstang TTC. Places are still available, to book click here for the application form and send to Sally Shutt, North Area CDO – [email protected]