Elite Phase 5 Underway
The Sussex Junior Elite Centre continues to be popular and successful in developing a number of the county’s hottest young prospects. The players are making steady progress and 15 have so far signed up for Phase 5
Phase 5 follows hot on the heels of an excellent Summer Week run by Nicky Jarvis at Horsham TTC’s Greenway base. Nicky was supported by Brighton sparrer and multiball specialist Wen Wei Xu and it was fantastic to see the progress made by a number of the young players. Chichester ‘pocket rocket’ Lois Peake particularly excelled but also notable was the application of Tim Holtam’s Brighton City contingent.
Phase 5 of the Elite Centre will be focussed on getting the players back into a consistent rhythm as the new season kicks in and then introducing more irregular footwork. Phase 6 will be geared towards supporting players to peak for the English National Championships with more emphasis on match preparation and match practice. The indicative programme for up to Christmas is outlined below.
Indicative Programme
Phase 5
Session 1 (6th Sept)
- After knock/warm-up Craig to run some service presentations
- Craig to bring his video camera along
Over first 4 weeks (6/13/20/27 Sept)
- emphasis to be on consistency exercises
- plenty of service work on dedicated table – 2 players for 30 min spells
- Marc and Martin to oversee group until other room becomes free for Marc to do 1 to 1
4th and 11th October
- Go to regular footwork exercises
18th October
- irregular footwork and matchplay
Phase 6
1st Nov – match preparation and tactics workshops
8th Nov – psychology workshops (Tim Holder) and matchplay / parent workshops (Holder)
15th Nov – dummy matches (tournament conditions)
20-21st Nov = English National Champs
22nd Nov to 6th Dec (3 weeks) = ‘experimentation phase’
- Martin to bring/use Alliance camcorder
- Behaviour / motivation analysis
- Marc – You Tube analysis
- Serving / receiving / irregular
13th Dec – assessment week
Sussex Junior Elite Centre Launched
A number of talented youngsters from Sussex and its neighbouring counties are benefitting from the newly launched Sussex Junior Elite Centre, a performance programme that has been organised by the Sussex Table Tennis Alliance, the development arm of the Sussex County Table Tennis Association, and funded by a Sport England small grant.
The Elite Centre, based at Imberhorne School in East Grinstead, is running weekly on Monday evenings 7-10pm and has drawn from a pool of around 20 invited youngsters coming from all over Sussex and as far afield as Dartford in Kent. In school holidays the programme is operating in full two-day camp format in the 11-table capacity venue.
A high quality coaching team has been put together to get the best out of the players, consisting of the ETTA’s South-East Regional Coach, Craig Bryant; the ETTA South-East Regional Disability Coach, Martin Jezisek; and ex full-time professional coach Marc Burman. Other coaches are also attending on a guest basis, for example Nicky Jarvis heading up the February half-term camp. As the programme develops it is planned to engage more local coaches to gain the experience of being involved in a high performance environment.
However it has not just been the quality of the coaching that has made the Elite Centre a hit. A pool of 10 county standard senior players has been recruited to provide sparring support. These include topspinners of the calibre of Ritchie Venner and Mayur Majithia, defensive brick walls like Barrie Gilbert and combination bat exponents such as Andy Meads. Brighton-based penholder Wen Xei has added some oriental mastery to the proceedings as well as providing some of the meanest multiball in the business. With players such as Helshan Weerasinghe (current top ranked U13 boy) and Yolanda King (current U18 English National Champion) peppering them these chaps have needed to be at their sharpest!
There is also a significant sports science input with St Mary’s University College, London contributing support in aspects such as sports psychology, biomechanics, physiology and nutrition. So far ex-England Men’s Team sports psychologist, Tim Holder, has delivered small group sessions linked to developing a tougher mentality in key match situations and this input has been particularly well received.
In a formal feedback exercise that followed the first four sessions the respondents were positive about their experiences, with all participants indicating ‘good’ or ‘very good’ in respect of both their enjoyment and progress levels. Obviously it will take more time to evaluate the impact of the Elite sessions in supporting the players to sustainably yield improved results in the competitive arena!
Programme Administrator, Ian Ford, has been particularly pleased with the early progress of the initiative, suggesting "Putting all the pieces together for an operation like this has been challenging but all the individuals and partners involved have been great and there’s a real team feel about the delivery. The youngsters are certainly responding with real focus and energy to reward all the effort invested."
For further information about the Sussex Junior Elite Centre contact Ian Ford on 07764-146338 / Ian.ford@horsham.gov.uk or visit www.sussextta.co.uk . A few places still exist for additional junior players in the South-East to join the programme so if you consider yourself talented and East Grinstead is in range for you please contact Ian to express your interest.
