TTJ's Kavanaugh awarded for hard work

Peter Kavanaugh, Table Tennis Jamaica (TTJ) development officer, said he never envisioned himself reaching this far after the Jamaican became the first Caribbean national to conduct an international conductors' course for coaches in Grenada recently.

He said he had no idea that the high standard he has set for his courses and his effort to hold courses regularly were being admired by the sport's ruling body, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

"I have dedicated most of my life to table tennis. I was player and then coach. I coached national champions, and I was an administrator as I served as development officer for Jamaica. But nobody could tell me I would reach this point. It has been a long journey, and it took time. The ITTF has commended me on the standard I maintain. They will not hesitate to call up on me to assist in that way. They have no drawbacks in me serving in that way," he said.

In 2014, Kavanaugh was one of eight invitees to a conductors' course in the USA, and since obtaining his qualifications, he has not looked back.

"It was very costly to get there; I had to find my own funding. But from the eight persons there, I outscored everybody else. So I got to be an international course conductor."

For 2019, he hopes help others achieve this standard and to make even more headway. "There are about six of us (national course conductors) in Jamaica, and the other [conductors] need to execute as many level-one course as possible so they can sharpen their skills in terms of their report and standard.

"I try to guide them in terms of the process and standard I hold as it can make a difference in the lives of persons, and I hope that people will get opportunities in economics and coaching and that we will get children playing the game at the grass-roots level across the entire island," he said.