On 22nd of January, the TYs had a table tennis workshop. It was set up in the canteen above the sports hall. A woman taught them how to use backhand and forehand hits and how to serve. Most students found it very enjoyable. The TYs were separated into two teams to practice their different techniques. After they practised their three techniques, they were three groups and each were told to think of games that could help coach younger students. One group had to think of warm-up games, the other backhand games and the third serving games. Some of the games that were made were hitting the ping pong ball into cups using the backhand and serving techniques. Another game was a warm up that consisted of a pair of students passing each other the ping pong ball.
The TYs were told that if you have history in a racket sport, you may find table tennis easier. Some who had a background in racket sports did find it easy enough to pick up backhand and forehand quickly, though most struggled at first and had to find their preferred way of serving. As time passed, they began to get into games and how to umpire(ref). They enjoyed playing the games a lot. They then had to create fun games that we will be teaching the first years in upcoming weeks.
For the last half hour of the workshop, the TYs were told the rules of a single and double match. The TYs first played singles and once they got a hang of that, they moved on to playing double games. The TYs enjoyed playing against each other as it meant they could compress all that they had learnt and put it to use when playing their matches. They TYs really enjoyed playing Table Tennis as it was an easy sport to pick up. They were really glad for the opportunity and can’t wait to play again.