Best training camp? | GV Hennebont Review

In June 2025, I spent a week training at French club GV Hennebont. The training was intense but it was a great experience. In this review Iâ€m going to tell you more about the club, the facilities, the training, the quality of coaching and the cost. There is also some video footage of my time at GV Hennebont.

Facilities

First, letâ€s start with the facilities. GV Hennebont is a professional table tennis club, which has won French and European titles and attracts many high level players. The club is based in a purpose-built  building, which opened in 2022. It is solely used for table tennis. The main training hall had 20 tables set up when I was there, but the space can easily accommodate 30+ tables if needed. 

There is also permanent seating on one side of the hall and temporary seating on the other side. This is used for spectators for the clubâ€s professional matches. They regularly get over 1000 spectators.

The tables, flooring and lighting are all of very good quality. In the week I attended the weather was very hot, but the temperature in the hall was comfortable. 

Outside of the training hall, there is a bar area, an equipment shop, ample changing facilities, a gym, physio room and VIP area. 

Itâ€s a very modern table tennis building and the best facilities I have ever played in. In the video below you will see footage of the training hall and other facilities at GV Hennebont.

Training

I attended for 5 days. There are two training sessions per day. In the morning we trained 9am-12pm and in the afternoon we trained 4.45pm-7pm. You can choose whether to do both training sessions per day, or either the morning session or the afternoon session. The flexibility is good, as if you feel two sessions per day will be too much for you, you can just do one session and then do some sightseeing with the spare time. I opted to do two training sessions per day. It was hard work, but I wanted to push myself and play as much table tennis as possible.

You can sign up to attend throughout the year and you can join for as many weeks as you want. I did just one week, but others in my group were doing two weeks. Iâ€m not sure my body would have coped with a second week!

In the morning session there was a mixture of multi-ball training, robot training, service practice and some drills with a partner. This was physically challenging, especially if doing lots of multi-ball. It was always a relief when I got to do some service practice, as it meant I could take a little rest from the footwork! In the afternoon session, there were more drills but this time with a partner. At the end, we always finished with a little match play. 

The training is very much drill focused. There weren’t any demonstrations, just a lot of drills and a lot of time on the table hitting balls. I was physically pushed to my limits, but you can go at the pace you want, which is appropriate for your age and physical conditioning. I did find it hard to play in the morning, take a long break and then get going again in the late afternoon. As the week went on, my legs got heavier and heavier and my joints felt stiffer. But I was always glad I did the afternoon session. No pain, no gain!

Hereâ€s some footage of one of the multi-ball sessions I had with Josh Yee, who represents Fiji…

Coaching

The training is structured in such a way that all standards of player can attend – beginner through to advanced. The multi-ball in the morning session can be tailored to each playerâ€s ability level. And in the afternoon session, players are paired with others of a similar ability level. I got to play with some of the strong academy players, which was challenging for me, but also a motivating experience. I tried really hard to keep up and this pushed me to play at a higher level.

I was in a core group of 8 adult players. There was a mixture of nationalities – France, Germany, Austria, Brazil and me from the UK. The players had various levels of experience. But everyone was really eager to improve their game and work hard. All the drill explanations were given in both French and English, so it was easy to understand what I was supposed to be doing. And 1-to-1 coaching feedback was always given to me in English, which was useful as many French is terrible. 

The team of coaches were friendly but pushed us to train hard. They were very approachable and wanted to help us improve. As the group was quite small, I got a lot of feedback from the coaches. I have a long list of tips – areas I need to improve in my game. I made notes at the end of each session of the key tips I was given. 

Our main coach in the morning was Jeremy Boutin. He had a good sense of humour and would often tease me about my lack of effort. I quite enjoyed the banter and it motivated me to train harder! 

The main reason I attended was to improve as a player. Despite feeling tired towards the end of the week, I felt I was playing some of my best ever table tennis. The challenge will be to keep it going and maintain a higher level of intensity when I train in the future. Hereâ€s a video with some of the key tips I was given during the week…

Accommodation, travel + cost

The club owns an accommodation block, situated behind the training hall. This has 30 rooms. It was built in 2023, so very modern. I stayed here throughout the week. My room was comfortable – two single beds, a desk, shower and plenty of space for a solo traveller. And it was super useful that the accommodation was right next to the training hall. 

I signed up for three meals per day. In the end I skipped breakfast and just had my own light snacks. Lunch was provided in a nearby school. And evening meals were at one of the local restaurants. The training centre is about a 20 minute walk to the centre of Hennebont. I quite liked having a stroll into town after the training. It was a good way to stretch my legs out and process some of the feedback I was given throughout the day.

I made the entire journey from Cambridge to Hennebont by train. I did have to catch multiple trains! 

• Cambridge > London
• London > Paris
• Paris > Lorient
• Lorient > Hennebont

But the journey time whether by car, train or plane was all roughly the same, so I opted to relax on a train. If you wanted the flexibility to do some sightseeing, then having access to a car would be the best option. 

As I was without a car, I explored the centre of Hennebont and the botanical gardens, but I didnâ€t get any further than this.

In terms of cost, the training camp, accommodation and food cost £500. This was really quite reasonable. I spent an additional £300 on train tickets. Travelling by car would definitely have been cheaper, but it was a long journey for me, so I was happy to pay the extra and travel by train.

Final verdict

Letâ€s keep this simple. You absolutely must attend! It was the best training camp I have been to. The facilities were fantastic. The coaches were great. It was an inspiring environment to play table tennis. 

Yes, I was pushed and pushed and pushed and thought I was going to be sick through physical exertion, but I needed this. I needed to be stretched, to be pushed out of my comfort zone. It has fully motivated me to train with a greater intensity and strive to reach a higher level of play.

You can find out more about GV Hennebont training camps, and sign up at https://pingcenter-gvhtt.com/en/stages 

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