Tabletennis Academy Excursion

Recently the Table tennis Academy students were lucky enough to visit Geelong to see a day session of the Australian Open Table tennis Competition. The Academy students spent the morning having a hit with a range of fantastic athletes – members of the Australian para-Olympic team & their Coach Alois Rosario, Hamilton’s Commonwealth Games & para-Olympic Champion Melissa (Milly) Tapper & Quadri Aruna  from Nigeria ranked 20 in the world! As if that wasn’t enough to keep the students busy there was also magicians, circus performers & even face painting.

 In the afternoon the action moved to the main stadium where we joined the cameras & big international audience enjoying some incredible table tennis. Notable big names included China’s Xu Xin playing India’s Tamil Arinobu, Japanese star Muramatsu & current men’s world number three, German Dimitrij Ovtcharov & Australia’s David Powell  - another incredible athlete.

The younger Academy students were able to discuss strategy & technique with their Coach Trevor McDowell & assistant coaches Joe Sycopoulis & Leanne McDowell.  Thanks to the Academy students for being so well behaved & also thanks to Warrnambool College for supporting the Academy this year. In a couple of weeks our senior boys’ squad heads to Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre for the State Table tennis finals - good luck!

Andrew Conquest

Table tennis Academy Co-ordinator