The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) has, through the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), secured the services of an ITTF level one-certified coach, ULTM umpire, and Female Coach of the Year 2017: Candacy Mc Kenzie, to serve as Schools Table Tennis Coordinator/ Coach to support and work with its “National Table Tennis for Schools” National Athlete Development Pathway project.
Candacy McKenzie working with student-athlete schools
This project was birthed as a collaborative effort between the following entities: Guyana Olympic Association; National Sports Commission; Guyana Teachers Union; Government of Guyana, through its various agencies; and the Ministry of Education’s Regional Departments of Education in Guyana, based on proposals made by the GTTA.
The project forms key developmental projects aimed at providing equity access mass participation targeting athletes at ages that are more adaptive to feed to the GTTA talent identification and selection programmes, creating a sustainable pathway for the sport to grow.
This project, which is rooted in 11 of the 16 Guyana Teachers Union districts and targets students between the ages of 6 and 13 years old, has seen more than 200 teachers from the selected schools being trained in the ITTF 12-hour supervisory level ITTF training programme by National Table Tennis Coach Linden Johnson.
Ninety Stag elite training tables and balls and racquets procured by the Guyana Olympic Association have been distributed to selected schools.
However, a key ingredient is the initial model concept proposal is missing due to funding limitations: provision of coaches, which would have seen 11 ITTF-certified coaches being hired and utilised to work with 106 schools in the districts/schools.
This resulted in slower implementation of the project, given that the GTTA had to rely on the intervention of a steering committee and volunteer coaching and National Sports Commission support, with Linden Johnson conducting coaching programmes for teachers and students in addition to some intervention coming from the GTTA.
This had seen ITTF-certified Coach Candacy McKenzie making key interventions in schools over the last year.
However, through a Guyana Olympic Association Pan-American Sports Organisation (PASO) grant negotiated by the Guyana Olympic Association, which provides funding to the Guyana Olympic Association to assist national federations with their coaching and development programmes, the GTTA, like a few other sporting disciplines, was able to put forward its proposal and negotiate coaching support grant, which will see a stipend being provided for a School’s Table Tennis Coordinator Coach to be hired for one (1) year in the initial phase, to assist the GTTA with the implementation of its National Table Tennis for Schools project.
While the provision of one coach is not adequate, given the initial concept of the proposal was to have a coach for each of the 11 districts, the GTTA will seek to utilise the resource in a strategic manner, visiting more schools to ensure they each establish a team.
Some of the duties Candacy will perform as Schools Table Tennis Coordinator Coach include, but are not limited to, visiting the districts to assess progress being made, and making intervention; ensuring schools are utilising the resources provided; implementing a policy for the program; establishing school teams at the various age groups; providing recommended coaching intervention during curriculum after schools and weekend type programs; ensuring teachers previously trained are engaged to assist with supporting the programme; providing support to assist with tournament coordination in school competitions; and identifying talent for training programs of the GTTA, among other duties.
