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Table Tennis Canada Opens National Training Centre at the Richmond Olympic Oval
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Richmond, BC - January 30, 2014
The Richmond Olympic Oval, Table Tennis Canada and the Chinese Canadian Table Tennis Federation announced today the creation of a new National Women’s High Performance Table Tennis Training Centre at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
“We’re excited to welcome this new national high performance centre for women’s table tennis to the Richmond Olympic Oval,” said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “In just a few short years, the Oval has had tremendous success in becoming a national home for the training of top athletes in a wide variety of summer and winter sports, including table tennis. Together, with our partners such as Table Tennis Canada, we’re able to offer athletes a great venue plus access to outstanding coaching and other critical support services so that they can achieve new personal bests. This new centre will also further inspire Richmond youth and others to seek their own podiums and realize the benefits of sport for life and active lifestyles.”
The National Women’s High Performance Table Tennis Centre will offer high quality coaching and training groups for all stages of Table Tennis Canada's Long Term Athlete Development plan. From a community perspective, by the fall of 2014, the Centre will offer a comprehensive table tennis pathway from introduction to the sport to opportunities to compete on the national and international stage. For elite table tennis athletes, the Richmond Olympic Oval will immediately become a training home for the National Women’s team and soon a training camp location for all table tennis national teams, including men, women, juniors and cadets. Additionally, Chinese table tennis teams regularly visit the Oval, providing additional opportunities for resident athletes to engage in joint training.
“The Richmond Olympic Oval offers the ideal high performance environment for our athletes,” said Tony Kiesenhofer, Chief Executive Officer, Table Tennis Canada. “All the services we could want are integrated on site, from a competition level playing environment to sport medical, psychology, nutrition and other support services.”
The head coach of the new training centre will be Liu Yongjiang, former head coach of Table Tennis Canada’s Women’s cadet program and the top ranked 40+ player in Canada.
The Chinese Canadian Table Tennis Federation (CCTTF), headed by the Founding President Claude Tchao (a long time resident in Richmond), is a major promoter and facilitator of table tennis in Richmond and across Canada, and will assist the Oval in creating, administering, promoting and developing table tennis programs at the Oval that are consistent with Table Tennis Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development Model: Table Tennis 4 Life.