New coaching structure in place

Thanks to the strong endeavours of the Malta Olympic Committee and the Malta Table Tennis Association, the country became the first to benefit from an Olympic Solidarity course in table tennis coaching which came to a close recently.

The association now boasts 35 Level One or Level Two instructors all qualifying after an intensive course, spread over 10 weeks, led by UK coaching expert David Fairholm.

Fairholm, a former national coach for England and Scotland, is now fully employed with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). His job here was the development of a coaching structure, something he had already done for 25 other countries worldwide. His next assignment is in Vanuatu.

"The Malta association can now bank on a sound coaching structure," Fairholm said yesterday.

"We've worked really hard these past couple of months or so but the results were encouraging.

"What we did here was to see that table tennis gets a wider base. It could have been easier for me to instruct a couple of players and focus solely on them. But we preferred to go for a new coaching system. We now have various qualified persons to do the job all with a specific programme to follow. That should attract more to the sport."

The course attracted the interest of 40 who hailed from different quarters - players, coaches or school teachers.

"This was a fantastic group," Fairholm said. "I've been told you don't get that much for other similar courses in other sport. The association is really in good hands now."

Fairholm was critical though on our schools as he reckoned students were not physically active enough. Most were unfit for sports.

"I've been around the world for most of my life now," he said.

"I've visited schools in New Zealand and China and there were no problems there. Malta, it's different. Schools here are reluctant to change schedules and slot in more physical education lessons. I had the occasion to talk with others who were interested in introducing other sport in Maltese schools but they always found a brick wall waiting when they tried.

"This is something serious and a problem which needs to be add-ressed. There are few opportunities in Maltese schools. They should play a better role in sports.

"We have to be realistic here. Can Malta ever achieve excellence in team sport? That's difficult I guess.

"But in our sport it's different. Table tennis can be played anywhere and indeed not an expensive sport compared to others."

Joe Cassar, MOC secretary, agreed. Schools should give a better contribution to sport. There were projects in the pipeline and the introduction of Activity Teachers should help, he said.

"Coach education is the future to all sport," Cassar noted.

"The Olympic Solidarity has now turned its attention on this matter and results are beginning to show. Our athletics association has already benefited from this before and now it's table tennis."

Table tennis features regularly in GSSE sport and other major competitions. The MOC follows all table tennis activities carefully. Cassar added Maltese players could also feature in the next Olympics through an invitational system.

MTTA president Joe Borg Cardona said his organisation's aim now was to see that the game gets a wider spectrum, adding that new centres will be opened in future apart from the Overseas League headquarters in Valletta.

World championships

Simon Gerada, Edward Baldacchino and Alex Soler will represent Malta in the 47th World Championships in Qatar, next month.

Baldacchino, the 32-year-old national champion, will be joined by the upcoming Soler and elite player Gerada, currently figuring in the Swedish league with Kalmar.

Mario Genovese, the national coach who also played in Sweden during his playing career, will accompany the team along with Borg Cardona during the championships between March 1 and 7.

Meanwhile, it was announced that 12 international umpires will be attending a course next month in Malta. Canadian Adham Sharara, the ITTF president, is expected to visit the island during the 10-day activity, starting in mid-March.