April has been another extremely busy and productive month for the Coach Development Team, with a wide range of activity taking place across the country and online. Throughout the month we have continued supporting coaches, clubs, educational programmes, and player development environments through CPD events, mentoring, club visits, practical workshops, and national conference support.

A message from Steve Brunskill, Coach Developer –

“It has been fantastic to see the continued growth in engagement with online learning, alongside the enthusiasm shown by coaches wanting to improve, share ideas, and continue developing their environments.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended events, contributed to discussions, and continues to support coaching and player development across England.

We started the month with an online CPD session focused on Adult Coaching and exploring the key differences involved when coaching adult players compared to younger athletes.

The session generated excellent discussion and engagement, with coaches sharing experiences from their own clubs and environments. Topics included:

– Understanding adult motivations for participation
– Adapting communication styles
– Creating enjoyable learning environments
– Managing mixed abilities within adult sessions
– Retaining adult players within clubs

The turnout for the session was extremely positive and the feedback afterwards was excellent, with many coaches highlighting how relevant and practical the content was for their own coaching environments.”

ITTF Coaching Conference and World Team Championships

The month finished with the ITTF Coaching Conference held at the Bobby Moore Centre in London.
The Coach Development Team, including Evie Collier, Steven Brunskill, and Add Kwakkelstein, attended in support of the event and had the opportunity to listen to and learn from some outstanding international presenters.

Guest speakers included:

• Liu Shiwen
• Jörgen Persson
• Joo Sae-hyuk
• Additional international coaching presenters and experts including Liam Pitchford.

The conference provided excellent opportunities for learning, discussion, and networking around modern coaching, player development, and high-performance environments.

Alongside the conference, the team also had the opportunity to attend the World Team Championships at the Copper Box and Wembley arena and watch world-class table tennis in London.

Sheffield Filming Project

During April, Steven Brunskill travelled to Sheffield to support a filming project involving the Strength & Conditioning tutors who work with England players. Plus, some videoing of some basic techniques to be used alongside the coaching qualifications.

The filming included educational content linked to physical preparation, movement, and performance support, alongside additional technical filming work focused around table tennis techniques and coaching demonstrations. These resources will become available to members in the future and form part of the ongoing work to improve the range and quality of coach development resources available nationally.

DiSE Camp Delivery

Steven Brunskill, Add Kwakkelstein, and Development & Education Manager Evie Collier were also involved in supporting the DiSE Camp programme during April.

The camp, organised by Paul Johnson, involved approximately 20 high-level junior players and provided a fantastic learning and development environment.

Across the day, several practical coaching sessions were delivered both in the classroom and within the playing hall. Steve also delivered a practical multi-ball session as part of the programme.

The standard of players attending was exceptionally high and it was excellent to see so many talented young athletes working within a focused and professional training environment.

Feedback from the event was extremely positive and the collaboration between coaches, staff, and players created an excellent atmosphere throughout.

Speed Accuracy Online CPD

The following day, another successful online CPD session was delivered, this time focusing on Speed Accuracy and its importance within player development.

This proved to be one of the most popular online sessions delivered so far, with excellent attendance numbers and highly positive feedback from coaches attending.

The session explored; the relationship between speed and control, accuracy under pressure, decision-making within rallies, progressive practices and training ideas

Coaching Players with Different Abilities – Online CPD

Later in the month, Add Kwakkelstein delivered an excellent online CPD session focused on coaching players with different abilities within club environments.

The session explored practical strategies for; managing mixed ability groups, adapting practices and tasks, supporting individual player needs, keeping sessions inclusive and engaging, differentiation within coaching sessions.

The session was extremely well delivered and again attracted strong attendance numbers. Feedback from coaches was very positive, with many highlighting the practical value of the ideas and strategies shared.

Looking Ahead

As we move into the next phase of the year, the Coach Development Team will continue focusing on:

• Expanding online CPD opportunities
• Supporting clubs and coaches nationally
• Developing practical learning resources
• Strengthening coach mentoring support
• Supporting inclusive coaching environments

The continued growth in engagement and learning across the coaching community is extremely encouraging and we look forward to supporting even more coaches over the coming months.

Upcoming coach development events: