Each course is designed to be delivered in a blended model including in-person and online courses, alongside coaching practice associated with formative assessment, totaling 78 hours of tuition. Coach developers have been recruited and trained to be responsible for delivering the course throughout Brazil, which is offered via a distance learning platform (http://unitm.cbtm.org.br/).

The Program is based on three guiding principles:

1. a learner-centered coach education,
2. development of athletes and recreational participants based on long-term models of sports development
3. game-based and player-centered pedagogical approaches. These values permeate the entire program by means of activities which translate them into practice.

The structure, the syllabus and the course material have been developed in a joint effort by CBTM and the School of Applied Sciences – University of Campinas (FCA-Unicamp), under the leadership of Taisa Belli (PhD) and Larissa Rafaela Galatti (PhD). Unicamp is recognized as one of the three best universities in Latin America and the highest placed Latin American institution in The Golden Age University Rankings 2019. Therefore, the goal was to combine science and practice, which is an essential combination for the development of the sport. Financial resources and support have been provided by the National Olympic and Paralympic Committees.

Last year, the Beginners Course was launched, and almost 200 coaches were certified around Brazil. On 10 June 2022, the Athlete Development Course was launched in a live online event. CBTM President and ITTF Vice President Alaor Azevedo greeted all the participants and gave the opening remarks. He was followed by Polona Cehovin, ITTF High Performance & Development Director, who reflected on the importance of coach education. Then, Marcio Torsoni (Director, School of Applied Sciences – Unicamp), Marina Bastos (Education, National Olympic Committee), and David Farias Costa (Education, National Paralympic Committee) focused their speeches on the partnership and support to the Brazilian Table Tennis Confederation for the development of this course.

In the final part of the launch, Taisa Belli (Manager, CBTM Education – Table Tennis University) and Larissa Galatti (Professor, School of Applied Sciences – Unicamp) presented the design, structure, and contents of the course, which covers theoretical and practical themes related to tactical-technical aspects, people management, socialization, nutrition, mental health, among other relevant topics written by experts.

You can watch the replay of this launch on the CBTM YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/kFx4wXTeKEY).