by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
A total of 11 students attended proceedings in the Parque del Este Stadium, eight men and three women, travelling from various parts of the Caribbean country.
In addition to Santo Domingo, course members travelled from La Vega, Moca, Distrito Nacional, Bayaguana, San Pedro de Macoris, Sanchez Ramirez and Salfedora.
All were welcomed by Juan Vila, President of the Latin American Table Tennis Union and President of the Dominican Republic Table Tennis Federation. He encouraged all to make the most of the opportunity afforded.
“Welcome to all of you for this important course, I am sure this course will help us all for the future.” Juan Vila
The Parque del Este Stadium is a full time venue for table tennis and has hosted the ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals and ITTF World Cadet Challenge in addition to the Latin American Championships and Olympic Games Qualification tournaments.
“I am happy to see to all of you again at this course; for sure this course will help to improve the local tournaments.” Freddy Almendariz
A successful course and there was a most positive response from all concerned; there were no exceptions; notably Hermogenes de la Paz, an International Umpire, wanted to extend his range of knowledge.
“Thank you for this chance, I learned a lot and I will use this knowledge for my next tournaments.” Hermogenes de la Paz
Equally, Ricardo Vargas, a professional photographer, wanted to extend his expertise.
“The course was good, I was able to learn with Freddy Almendariz; I will try to study more and start to work in local tournaments to get experience. In August I will go to Korea to study and I will try to continue there with my preparation.” Ricardo Vargas
Successful students but the most successful of all, the one with the highest marks was Victor Hernandez, at the moment the Chair of the Umpires and Referees in the Dominican Republic. He is International umpire and intends to sit the Advanced Rules Examination in order to become an International Referee.
“The most important thing on this course was pay attention to the explanations and study hard, I can now understand many situations I would like be an International Referee in the future.” Victor Hernandez
Matters concluded with Juan Vila and Jorge Herrera, Treasurer of the Latin American Table Tennis Union, presenting the certificates and all being thanked for their efforts.
A total of seven students passed course.
The participants were: Sergio Caraballo, Hermogenes de la Paz, Santo Garcia, Victor Hernandez Braimy Mendez, Kelvin Peralta, Heriberto Reynoso, Arisleidy Rodriguez, Christopher Soler, Johenny Valdez, Ricardo Vargasards
