January 27, 2009
Kiribati Provides Scott Houston with a Successful Start
 Bright Young Talent in Kiribati Photo Courtesy of Scott Houston |
Courtesy of ITTF From Thursday to Monday, January 8-19, 2009, Tarawa, the capital, was the host of an Olympic Solidarity Course, which comprised a Junior Training Camp and an ITTF Level One Coaches. |
The expert on duty was Scott Houston.
Scott Houston is the newly appointed Oceania Development Officer, he was conducting his first course since his appointment was ratified on January 1, 2009.
Students
A total of 13 students attended the coaching course, two of whom were women; while for the training camp, there were 17 players including six girls.
“The course was fully supported by the Kiribati National Olympic Committee with numerous members of Kiribati National Olympic Committee and the Kiribati Executive Committee for table tennis being participants in the ITTF Level One Coaches Course”, explained Scott Houston. “Other members of the coaching course were national team members while some were completely new to table tennis.”
Positive Response
A wide variety of talent but as always on courses organized under the auspices of the ITTF Development Program there was a very positive response.
“It was fantastic to see how enthusiastic all the participants were and how keen they were to learn; the Kiribati National Olympic Committee Secretary, General Willy Uan, who is a keen table tennis player was also a course participant, made the comment that watching and learning from previous table tennis events through DVD’s was very beneficial and taught us all a lot of new ways to think about table tennis”, continued Scott Houston. “The Kiribati National Development Officer Bwebwenimeang Kaureata also made the comment that the section on tournament organization was excellent because it gave us a better understanding of how to prepare for, and successfully run a tournament.”
A successful coaches course and also a successful training camp was also held.
Talent
“Most of the players present were in the age range from 11 to 14 years where there is certainly a lot of talent in Kiribati and with further development their players will hopefully be in a position to challenge the traditionally stronger Oceania nations of Australia and New Zealand”, explained Scott Houston. “I am hopeful that the Kiribati players will be present at the Oceania World Cadet Challenge Qualification tournament, which will be held on the Gold Coast in Australia from Saturday June 27th to Saturday July 4th in conjunction with the ITTF Junior Circuit tournament; also, I think that the Kiribati players will have a realistic chance of gaining a place in the Oceania Team that will compete at the World Cadet Challenge from Tuesday to Sunday October 19-25, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.”
A Moment to Reflect
Looking ahead but for Scott Houston it was time to reflect on a very successful start to his career as the Oceania Development Officer.
“It was a very rewarding trip for me and I really enjoyed helping and teaching the players and coaches from the Kiribati Table Tennis Association”, concluded Scott Houston.
A successful start had been made.
Enthusiastic group members with Scott Houston
Photo Courtesy of Scott Houston
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