This week so far has been very tough for both Jac Jenkins & Caitlin Williams. With a run on the beach to start every day at 7:15 followed by two 3 hour sessions of training by head coach, Branca Batinic.
Romania and France are both top teams within European table tennis and with their coaches at the training sessions here it has been tough but very good for both kids and I’m sure they have learnt a great deal already. After hard training yesterday all the kids have had the morning off and had the opportunity to visit Antalya Old Town.
This gives them a nice break until this afternoons training session and tomorrows competition. The competition will be a round robin of 17 matches that will take place over both Friday and Saturday. The winner of the tournament will then attend the ITTF Hopes training camp in Werner Schlager Academy in Austria with all expenses paid.
A few words from both Caitlin and Jac from the camp so far.
Caitlin: The past two days has been so hard but throughout them I have learnt footwork, using angles, body positioning, feeling, to think about what shot to play after returning the serve and how important a serve is in a match. I am looking forward to playing the tournament and I could improve a lot of things like not to snatch the ball, not to rush my shots , to spin the ball more instead of hitting the ball flat, to stay down low all of the time, footwork and feeling.
Jac: I have learnt body language, footwork, not to snatch, new serves, that table tennis is like a really quick game of chess because you have to think about every move you make. I want to do well in the competition.
