Eleven new coaches in Dorset

September 15, 2025 | Phil Hadley

This month saw the conclusion of a Level 1 Coaches course, held at Bournemouth Sports Table Tennis Club.

The course was run by experienced player and coach Emma Harradine, with help on coach assessment from Nick Davidson.

Seventeen prospective coaches enrolled for the course. Six tables were used for the teaching exercises, with fellow trainees, often playing with their non-dominant hand, taking the role of pupils.

This proved challenging for the players as well as the instructors, but caused much hilarity as the ‘guinea pigs†struggled to engage the ‘wrong†side of their brains to try and hit the ball at all, let alone in the way they were instructed!

The 17 candidates were a diverse mixture of ages and geographical representation including four junior players and some travelling from as far as Leamington Spa and London.

The majority were not surprisingly local players, and with everyone who completed the assessment on the second Saturday successful, Dorset have now 11 new coaches to add to the eight already registered.

The course and venue were arranged thanks to the Bournemouth and District TT Association Coaching Officer, Mike Langford, who, needless to say, was one of the candidates who completed the course.

As Emma pointed out, this is the beginning of the coaches†journey rather than the end of the Level 1 course, and with the number of local coaches doubling, that journey looks a very promising one for Dorset and the surrounding areas.

Mike Langford

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