Table Tennis Australia’s revamped National Development Camp was proudly hosted by Table Tennis Victoria at MSAC last week, with forty of the countries promising young athletes training and learning from the Assistant National Coach, Simon Gerada.

The new camp began as an idea between TTV’s Claire Montgomery and Table Tennis ACT’s Dennis Makaling who also took on coaching roles for the week. The pair were aiming to have juniors from their states train and practice together before the idea was turned into a full National Camp.

The success of the camp has led to excitement about future development programs for Aussie juniors, the next instalment is looking likely take place in Mandurah a week before the 2020 Junior National Championships in Western Australia during the July school holidays.

With the technique of the juniors in attendance already strong, the camp aimed to help make the small adjustments that will hopefully take their abilities to the next level.

“We weren’t teaching specific technique because they all had very good grounding already. It was the small things, like getting your foot back a couple of inches, bend your knees a little lower, lean forward and so on that we worked on,” said Montgomery.

“We did it this way because the only way for them to get to the next level is to get these minor adjustments right.

“You also have the kids from States that have never been able to get forty kids together to train, so they’re getting the benefits of training against juniors that they would only ever get to see once a year otherwise.

“This was probably one of the best trained group of kids to come out of all the States in years, you normally only see a couple of really good juniors, but this group had a lot of strong players with excellent technique.”

Victoria’s Spencer Yap and Inaaya Khan were two of the juniors who spent the week at MSAC and were thrilled with the experience.

“The camp this week has been really great, it’s been really inspirational. They’ve given us lots of tips that can help us in the future,” said Khan.

“I’ve been able to learn how to play against pimples which was something I struggled with and wasn’t really able to do before the camp and now I’m much better.”

“I honestly believe that this camp is pretty great, this is my first time, but I am really enjoying every single moment of it as I’m playing stronger opponents every single time and working on my shots,” said Yap.

“Meeting other people from different States has been really great too, I’ve only met a couple of people maybe once before but now I get to really know everyone.” 

In exciting news, more National Camps like this are being planned to take place every year with the goal of growing numbers. If all goes well, 2020 and beyond will be in an exciting time for the developing talent of Australian table tennis.

In another great step forward for junior table tennis, applications for TTV’s 2020 Junior Scholarship Fund, supported by S-Trend, will soon be open. It will see Victoria’s elite juniors be able to apply for funds up to $500. The Fund is geared around providing support for junior entry level pathways, and development opportunities. The application form for the scholarship is attached at the bottom of this article.