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I'll have a go first...

They key point for me in your scenario is "They have never played table tennis."

This makes it a little tricky to get started, as the kids won't be able to play together. If you ever try to get two complete beginners to play table tennis together, even FH to FH, it doesn't go well, as neither player has the control to put the ball where the other player will find it easy to hit back. So these kids are going to need a lot of 1-to-1 time with the coaches.

For the first few weeks, I'd probably do 10-15 minute circuits, mixed with fun activities:

- 2 kids have 1-to-1 time with coaches
- 2 kids play with robot (i'm buying another robot, 1 isn't enough!)
- Remaining 4 kids play together. They could either try to do basic FH to FH or BH to BH, but if this is too difficult, then one kids can feed another kids by throwing the ball and the other kid hits it (a version of multi-ball).

Rotate after 10-15 mins.

As these kids are all completely beginners, I'd try to make it fun for them. If it is a 2.5 hour session, maybe 1.5 hours of focused practice and an hour of fun activities (related to table tennis).

I'd focus on getting them to hold the bat right, standing right, doing a basic FH drive and BH drive, getting the feeling of when to hit the ball, how hard to hit the ball etc.

This is just to get started. If they are doing this 5 days a week, they should start developing some consistency quite quickly. As they improve, the training sessions will need to change too. But all the above is what I would do to begin with.

This Tibhar video shows ball control exercises for absolure beginners. Starts at 1:00 after a long open.
The 11 year olds could probably get through all this in a week and start doing more on the table, a bit longer for 8 year olds.

Yep, there's some useful off-the table exercises at the beginning of the video which can be used. Although I don't think it all has to be "off the table" to begin with. I think it's good to get them on the table hitting some balls as early as possible.

the tibhar video shows some very good exercises for kids of that age group.

i would group the kids based on their age and assign one coach to each age group.

1) at the beginning they can all start together with the jump rope, this can be fun for those who can't use it yet or a nice warm up for those who can.

2) then i would give them some of those tibhar exercises, have them bounce the ball on their bat, balance it, try walking around while doing it. organize small competitions based on those same exercises. the older group has to have more challenging exercises. on some days i would substitute the tibhar exercises with some short distance running competitions and such.

3) in the next part we get to the table. the older group is divided into pairs. one pair is working with the coach, while kid #1 is getting taught basic technique kid #2 is collecting balls. have them switch regularly so the one collecting balls doesn't get bored. the other pair is trying to get a rally going, just trying to knock the ball back and forth for as long as they can in one rally. it's ok for them to use the whole table and hit the ball any way they want, the point of this is just to develop some coordination and let them have fun while doing it. after around 10 minutes the pairs switch.

the younger group is not divided into pairs, but rather they all form a line on one side of the table. each kid gets fed 3 balls (multi ball), they don't know where on the table the coach will hit the ball, they have to try and touch each of the 3 balls with their bat, keep them constantly rotating. in the next exercise they have to avoid getting hit by any of the 3 balls while at the same time staying close to the table. on some days teach them some basic technique but not too much.

4) next up, an off the table exercise for their reactions. this can be something like forming a line and having them crouch down and stand back up when the coach says the words "down" or "up". the last one to react is out. the coach can trick them by saying "up" while they are already standing, if they flinch they're out.

5) finally, some static stretching to have them cool down and relax.

i don't like table tennis robots. no point in having a student repeat a pattern if they don't have a coach watching. if the coach is available have him feed the balls. when the students get to a certain point they can just do multi ball with each other. better to not buy a robot, spend that money on blades, rubbers, balls...

fun fact: two kids from that tibhar video are now seniors and they played in this european championship.



do you recognize them?