by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
A total of 14 students from the local area plus one member who travelled from Virginia attended.
American Youth Table Tennis Organization
“Once again the American Youth Table Tennis Organization assisted in the promotion of this event but unlike previous years, where their Director Ben Nisbet was a co-ordinator, on this occasion he was a participant”, explained Sydney Christophe.
Ben Nisbet was one of several notable names who attended. He is one of the coaches from the Westchester Table Tennis Club. Also from the Westchester Club, Kai Zhang, brothers Rahul and Rohan Acharya in addition to Rawle Alleyne, Robert Roberts and Adnan Medunjanin, were all present.
Furthermore, Idi Lewis, the Guyana National attended; he was visiting New York.
Putting theory into practice in Flushing (Photo courtesy of Sydney Christophe)
Mandate for promotion
“The American Youth Table Tennis Organization mandate of promoting table tennis in the schools was further strengthened when New York City Public School teachers Pema Wangdak and Ying Ou participated”, added Sydney Christophe. “Both said they loved the course and expressed what it meant for them developing the sport in their school.”
Prominent names and there were more.
“USA World Hopes player Len Yang, who joined the course at the last minute, said at first he was coerced by his dad to take the course but later admitted that he wanted to help his school develop a table tennis programme”, continued Sydney Christophe. “Jason Wang from the Wang Chen Table Tennis Club was also happy he took the course.”
Ready for action at the Chinese Community Center (Photo courtesy of Sydney Christophe)
Sharing and learning
Furthermore Yanny Villanueva from the Chinese Community Center attended as did Inshin Park of Korean Table Tennis Club in Flushing.
“The atmosphere was one of sharing and learning as coaches spent many hours studying the manual”, concluded Sydney Christophe.
Notably Howard Sang, Chair of the Chinese Community Center addressed the group on the concluding day urging all to promote table tennis in their various areas.
Course members study the ITTF/PTT Coaches Manual (Photo courtesy of Sydney Christophe)