After the successful staging of the ITTF Level Two Coach Education course in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) has appealed to the world table tennis ruling body to consider the country for more training for coaches.
20 coaches drawn from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tunisia participated in the one-week training, which was supported by Olympic Solidarity organised under the auspices of ITTF High Performance and Development.
From Sunday, May 12 to 17, an ITTF Level Two Coach Education course was held, while ITTF Level Two Course Conductor Training took place on Saturday, May 18 to Sunday, May 19 at the Liberty Stadium.
The exercise was conducted by Egypt’s Ahmed El-Dawlatly, ITTF Expert and Course Conductor Trainer.
According to the Secretary-General of NTTF, James Eakyns, a total of 20 students attended representing four African countries. In addition to the 15 local participants, three course members traveled from Ghana, one from Tunisia and one from Burkina Faso.
Most notably the member from Tunisia was Ramzi Marbrouk, the Africa Development Manager, whilst Paul Tiendrebeogo, the recently appointed ITTF West Africa Development Officer, was the Burkina Faso representative. Also, Bello Nosiru, a well-known Nigeria National Team Head Coach, attended.
“The importance and benefits of the coaching course cannot be overemphasized. The course will further enhance the knowledge of the coaches as well as abreast them on modern techniques of the sport. The NTTF hopes to maximise the window of opportunities created by the course. We look forward to having more ITTF courses in Nigeria,” James Eakyns said.
