JTTA aims for activity before regional tournaments | Sport

The JAMAICA Table Tennis Association (JTTA) is focused on preparing the country’s teams for the upcoming Caribbean Championships for both seniors and juniors through local tournaments and national team training.

“We plan to have a tournament at least every quarter. We want to get at least two in this first quarter to get things going,” said JTTA President Andrew Lue.

“We also know that our Caribbean Championships are in March for seniors and juniors.”

Carifta gold medalist Lue added: “That means we have to have trials and a squad in training, hopefully at least eight weeks before we go to both tournaments, and in that time we hope to get at least one, hopefully two tournaments to meet the performance requirements and so on to see where the athletes are so we can pick the team.”

Of the 2022 season, which was highlighted by a Caribbean 10 medal performance at the Mini and Pre-Cadet Championships in Guyana, he assessed: “Despite the challenges, I think we had a very successful year. The juniors performed well regionally, and we got teams training for all age groups and we had different clubs regularly have their own little tournaments and the good thing is that we were able to evaluate our level of performance. and let’s see how we can plan better things for this year.”

According to my reading, the way forward is clear.

– We have to invest a lot in our junior players. The future of table tennis in Jamaica now really lies with the younger players and that’s why we need to think about how we can give them opportunities to go to camps and compete regionally and abroad and get them really good coaching programs. “

Local coaches received praise from the president.

“We also need to recognize the efforts of the local coaches, especially at the younger age groups where we see a lot of potential emerging in the under-11s, under-13s and under-15s, so we need to capitalize on that and see how we can get help to support the education that is provided locally .”

He is also looking forward to the continuation of the high school, elementary school and preparatory school competitions.

“We’re looking forward to the preparation and grassroots championships as long as we can participate,” he said.

“Last year we had the problem that the schools were not ready because of the pandemic.”

The youngest players made Lue smile by filling empty tables at the President’s Trophy held at GC Foster College last November.

“As soon as the table was free, you had the youngsters play table tennis between matches,” he grinned. “There is enthusiasm.”