One of the key facets of the Elite Training Centre in Sheffield is drawing on the skills of support coaches from other parts of Great Britain and the wider table tennis world.
Six support coaches are working with athletes on the performance pathway, both at training sessions and by travelling to support them at overseas events.
They include Charlotte Carey (pictured above) and Matej Mamut, who earlier this month were with the England squads at the European Youth Championships in Sweden, alongside Pathway & GBTS coach Carlo Agnello.
The other support coaches are Ashley Robinson, Nat Green, Vidal Graham and Gordon Fearn. Click here to read more about them all.
Head of Performance Development Gavin Evans said: “They bring a huge amount and I’m really delighted to have them on board. As well as their individual attributes, I think one of the huge benefits in this environment is just how good they are at multiball.
“We’ve got coaches from Wales, Ireland and Croatia all helping us with what we want to achieve, which is a great environment for our athletes to develop in.
“When we have lots of athletes, we can service the athletes with great-quality one-to-one attention, and it just helps create a thriving environment.”
Another benefit of working with coaches from other home nations is aligning the pathways in those nations so they can help deliver GB athletes with the capability to win Olympic medals.
Evans said: “It’s a GB system that we’re operating within, so that means bringing coaches from all around the home nations to support us on the journey, starting to talk about how we build out the pathways within our home nations to make sure that we align to one goal and one way of training.
“There’s certain specific stuff we need to make sure our athletes can do at certain stages of their development. And if we can come together and understand that, share and learn from one another, then I think that’s how we accelerate the athlete progression much quicker.”
Find out more about some of the coaches on our YouTube channel: