From 31 July to 5 August, the coaches attended five days of lectures and practical sessions in the training hall within the training complex of the Swedish Sports Confederation. The topics covered were comprehensive and aimed at giving the participants a 360 degree view of table tennis coaching in theory and practice. Lectures focused on table tennis specific methods, as well as sports science topics and using AI (artificial intelligence) for training and match analyses.

Anders Thunström Course Director (BTF): “The Swedish Way – 50 years of success”

Mikael Andersson, ITTF Sports Director: “Coaching Emerging International Talents – Keys to success”.

Massimo Costantini, ITTF High Performance Elite Coach: “Women’s Game – Characteristics and Peculiarities”

Emma Lindblom,Leg. Dietician Sports Nutrition Swedish Sports Confederation: “Dietary needs – Table Tennis“.

Johanna Rosén, PhD Biomechanics Swedish Sports Confederation, and Glenn Björklund, PhD, Associate Professor in Sport Science Mid Sweden University: “Sport Physiology (applied to Table tennis)”.

Malin Tillman, Sport Psychology Consultant Swedish Sports Confederation: “Sports Psychology”.

Megha Ghambir, CEO Stupa Analytics: “Table tennis analytics and statistics – useful tools for coaches”

The lectures were complemented by practical sessions at the table led by Anders Thunström, creating a high performance coaching environment for all participants.

“In a setting  like this with young ambitious coaches gathered to discuss the in’s and out’s of our game you can clearly feel the positive energy dominating. On a proffessional note i would like us to look at a similar course model to be rolled out in all continents in the future . We most definetely need to open up the opportunities for young coaches to make their mark within the ITTF ranks . This all starts with teaching and learning !” Mikael Andersson, ITTF Group Sports Director