Cementing Sports Structure Sows Seeds for Senegal

Under the direction of experienced Frenchman, Sylvain Chermette, the education of coaches, detecting young talent and organising regularly training sessions was the basis of the programme.

Education, as with any ITTF Development Programme course, formed the basis of the curriculum; therefore, encouraging those involved in the world of education was a priority.

Teachers and students plus coaches from the national federation form the majority of the clientele and in order to spread the word to as many educationalists needed to be reached.

Travel
In order to achieve this goal, in addition to holding courses in Dakar; Sylvain Chermette visited regions of Thies and Diourbel plus Saint Louis, a city protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site”.

The end result was that over 150 people were certified as school coaches.

Nurturing Talent
Increasing the number of coaches was one of two major aspects of the Frenchman’s work, the second was organising matters with the national federation to detect and nurture promising players.

On arrival Sylvain Chermette saw a group of 20 players practising regularly under the guidance of national coaches; the input required was to increase technical and tactical knowledge plus organisational matters in order to raise the level of play.

Enhancing quality was of prime importance.

Basic Principles
Attracting more young players to the sport of table tennis, raising the levels of play and introducing more coaches to the national programme were the basic principles of the course.

Now, the mantle passes to the Senegal Table Tennis Federation to build on what has been taught; there is no short cut to success, it is long hard and winding road but if the spirit is willing, the destination can eventually be reached.

The seeds have been sown.