by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

The expert on duty for the week long itinerary was Francisco Seijas, a coach whose name is synonymous with table tennis in Venezuela; in particular he has guided the country’s Women’s Team to success. Players such as Elizabeth Popper, Fabiola Ramos, Luisana Perez and more recently Gremlis Arvelo have competed in the Olympic Games.

Home for the course was the capital city of Caracas with the premises of the Venezuelan National Olympic Committee being the venue with, in addition to the host nation, coaches from Colombia and Ecuador attended.

It was the third such course organised in Venezuela in recent times and was very much a follow up to the initiative which Francisco Seijas had conducted just under one year ago.

In December 2015 he led an ITTF Level Two Coach Education course; the further course to be staged early this year in May when Ecuador’s Freddy Almendariz conducted a Basic Umpires and Basic Referees course.