Development needed to lift table tennis
NATIONAL high-performance coach for Fiji and Thailand, Steve Riley believes there is a lot of loopholes in Fiji Table Tennis that needs to be addressed.
He emphasized the importance of education in all levels of table tennis.
The former national representative led a Fiji Table Tennis Association training program in Suva recently where he focused on key areas such as discipline, professional and equality.
The collective goal was to get the players engaged and start their build up to upcoming Olympic Games.
“Table Tennis is more than 60 per cent psychological, it’s a lot of things from that to physical attributes. When I take someone to the Olympics, I want them to look like an Olympic athlete,” Riley said.
“I want education for them, sports science starts at the youngest level to try to get them thinking. We need coach education, administrative education, and things like that so that we can reach the sustainable goals that the government wants, that I want.”
Riley added that a collective effort is needed to really elevate the sport to where they envision it to be.
“We should be able to run programs without needing sponsors and we don’t have to put our hands up begging for money every time. We should be able to grow the sport, have maximum participation and get people asking about what’s next.”
Table Tennis is one of the nine sports aimed to represent Fiji at the Paris Olympics in July.
The federation will be selecting three men and women to take part in the ITTF- Oceania Olympic Singles Qualification that will be held on May 10 at Noumea, New Caledonia.