They may not win a match, Heck, they may not even win a set.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
But there's no denying the Canada Winter Games table tennis team won't be one of the most prepared squads to play in Red Deer, Alta. next month when the Games begin.
The entire team made the trip to Whitehorse this past weekend for a training camp with their Yukon counterparts in preparation for the Games. All six players, head coach Thorsten Gohl, team manager Jodi Brennan and even alternate Lennox Mutford hit the tables for a weekend of drills and game play.
“It was a lot of work,” said Gohl. “We have no experience with the Canada Winter Games and none of these kids have ever experienced a big national competition before and that goes for Yukon as well.”
With that in mind, Gohl said day one of the camp was spent just talking about the Games themselves and what the experience is going to be like.
“The nerves are there, you can tell,” he said. “This will be the first time our kids will experience anything like this so we wanted to tell them what to expect.”
Once the pep talk was out of the way, it was on to drills, which included some work on doubles table tennis, something Gohl said isn't done a lot in the North.
“We were able to teach a cleaner technique to the kids,” he said. “We didn't teach them anything about spinning because that comes with playing others. We don't have a lot of that happening in the NWT because the kids we have only have about one year of experience.”
In contrast, the Yukon contingent plays at least two times per week, he added.
“They're playing more games and that's how they train,” he said.
It will be a young team heading to Red Deer with more than half the team no older than 13 years of age.
Gohl said he's proud of them no matter what happens.
“They'll do great,” he said. “It's all about working on the fears they have and doing some team building exercises.”
Gohl thinks there are sets to be won against some teams such as Nunavut, Yukon, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador but there is one ultimate goal.
“The goal for us is to not finish last,” he said.
As for the camp, Gohl said something like this is something desperately needed to help with the grassroots.
“We need to do more of this sort of thing,” he said. “This is what helps build the sport in the North and getting to do this was exciting for me and for the kids.”