Masterclass will round off successful fortnight

THE VisitGuernsey Festival of Table Tennis comes to a close this week with the four-day junior masterclass run by top English coaches John Hilton and Paul Ingham. Twenty-eight youngsters, nine from the UK, will be given tips and advice on various aspects of their game ranging from technique to their attitudes.

'We are lucky enough to have seen them in competition for the past few days so we've been able to identify each individual's strengths and weaknesses and now have the opportunity to work on them which is great,' said Hilton.

Last year Hilton and Ingham instructed the senior masterclass and acknowledge their approach has to differ for this week.

'Unlike many of the senior players the youngsters often only have minor deficiencies in their technique that you can work on because they've all received good coaching from an early age, so a lot of our job this week is to work on the mental aspects of their game,' said Ingham.

The pair will incorporate the same methods they adopt when coaching the North West junior high performance squads when they use video analysis this week to study each player's technique.

'Working with them like this for four days is perfect as it helps us to make the necessary changes to their game. Often if you only work with them once a week, by the time you see them again they've played in competitions and started with all the bad habits again,' said Ingham.

The masterclass will round off a very successful two weeks in the eyes of festival director Mike Johns.

'The whole thing has gone really well and it's been an improvement on last year, which we thought was excellent, and the senior masterclass held last week by Alan Cooke was one of the best we have ever had,' said Johns.

Already Johns is thinking about next year's festival and how to improve even further.

'Originally when we started this festival we were looking at doing it for three years and if it had progressed sufficiently in that time we would expand it, but I think we are probably at that stage already after just two.

'The improvement in the local standard we have seen for the two years we have come here has just been tremendous so hopefully we have contributed in some way.'

Further good news for Johns is that the Wales competition which clashed with the Guernsey tournament and festival this year is to change its dates for next year which increases the possibility of attracting more top English players alongside the likes of Alan Cooke, who romped to the title.

'Hopefully if there's no clash with the Wales tournament a few more players will look to come and we'll make sure they know what great facilities Guernsey table tennis has to offer.'