Organised by the South Africa Tennis Table Board and staged at the Mandeville Training Centre in Johannesburg, a Functional Classification Seminar Level One (National Classification) was staged recently from Monday 28th January to Saturday 2nd February. A total of 12 students attended; in addition to South Africa two members travelled from Lesotho and two from Botswana. The participants were table tennis coaches, physiotherapists and special education professors.
Course members in high spirits (Photo: courtesy of Luis Gustavo Claro de Amorim) by Luis Gustavo Claro de Amorim, Functional Classifier
During the theoretical part, the groundwork was presented to show the actual functional classification models that apply to table tennis. The minimum eligibility criteria to play in wheelchairs and standing categories was emphasized, in addition to the basic criteria to differentiate each category.
The various criteria explained was important to meet the specific rules stated by the International Paralympic Committee; especially with regards to the new
classification card and consent signature from the athletes and their coach or tutor.
Also, the seminar was important to detect new Paralympic talents and support the technical staff in developing training, based on the functional criteria from
each class.
Deciding the class (Photo: courtesy of Luis Gustavo Claro de Amorim)
Putting theory into practice (Photo: courtesy of Luis Gustavo Claro de Amorim)