SVGTTA to spread sport far and wide

The executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association (SVGTTA) is on a mission to get more people involved in the sport and has set certain targets to bring about this objective.{{more}}

At a media briefing last Monday at Olympic House, president of the SVGTTA Tyrone Jack spoke of plans to this end.

“We intend to spread the game at least 20-fold over the next four years and provide a pathway for young table tennis players to develop the skills necessary to live healthy productive and successful lives,” Jack stated.

“To be successful, we would need in excess of 50 table tennis boards, including other table tennis accessories,” Jack advised.

He revealed his administration has been engaged in fruitful discussion with supervisors at the ECGC (Eastern Caribbean Group of Companies), who have agreed to assist with the donation of plywood and the manufacturing of local tennis boards from the plywood.

Jack noted that it is necessary to have a greater spread of the game, as research done in 2013 showed that the active playing population has fallen to less than 0.05 per cent.

However, he said that the trend is going through some changes with the holding of several competitions – including the re-entry of the secondary schools’ competition last year, after an absence of 12 years and with the introduction of the primary schools’ component this year.

“We remain grateful for the efforts of the Department of Sport, AVESCO and the Sean Stanley Academy over the years in keeping table tennis alive,” Jack commented.

Jack, however, lamented the absence of the club system to implement inter club and league competitions.

He is hopeful that the Development of a National Sports Structure (DNSS), which is an Olympic Solidarity project currently being carried out by table tennis expert Georg Silberschmidt of Switzerland, will, in the shortest possible time, address this shortcoming.

Silberschmidt has the task of re-shaping the sport in St Vincent and the Grenadines through the DNSS.

The Swiss national stated that as part of his framing of the DNSS, he will in January embark on a pilot programme on the Grenadine island of Bequia.

“We will start there in the beginning of January at five different schools, the Police Youth Club, the community centre … We chose Bequia because it is a small place,” Silberschmidt explained.

Silberschmidt also proposed the overhauling of the SVGTTA’’s constitution and the holding of another level one coaching course and an advanced level two course during the first quarter of 2016, integral components of the DNSS.(RT)