by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Theme for the week was methodology and basic training principles for coaching youth categories, alongside the methodology of technical and tactical training.

Additionally, the long-term development and conditioning of physical abilities of youth players through planned and organized training processes, was addressed.

Notable speakers with extensive coaching experience were Richard Prause, Sports Director of the German Table Tennis Association and Neven Cegnar, the European Table Tennis Union’s Development Manager.

Furthermore, Professor Miran Kondric, Chair of the ITTF Sports Science and Medical Committee addressed those present, as did Professor Damir Sekulic and Professor Goran Munivrana; their expertise was universally welcomed.

Participating students were Yijie He (China), Vasiliki Fragou (Greece), Matas Skucas (Lithuania), Soma Fekete (Hungary), Jovan Stojsin (Serbia), Alejandro Aponte (Venezuela),Bjarni Bjarnason (Iceland), Wisanu Wattayawong (Thailand), Steve Riley (Fiji), Moatazbellah Gharib (Egypt), Jason Luini (Italy), Erik Ansnes  (Norway), Dominique Plattner (Austria), David Oresnik  (Slovenia), Tomislav Kolarek (Croatia), Darko Arapović  (Croatia), Patroc Rosc  (Slovenia), Koji Kimura  (Japan)