An interview with Head Coach Luba Sadovska from North Shore Table Tennis Club for PD on June 17, 2023 by George Ackerman, Ph.D, J.D.
Biography
Luba Sadovska is a passionate promoter of the sport of Table Tennis. She co-founded and
established North Shore Table Tennis Club 7 years ago which became the fastest growing club in BC. She established the first Table Tennis Academy with West Vancouver Schools as part of the curriculum and education system and attending students get their educational credits while they are learning new skills.
Please tell me a little about your background and what got you involved with awareness.
I started playing Table Tennis when I was 8 years old. Born and raised in Czechoslovakia, in a small town Malacky, Slovakia. There is a very well-established table tennis club that became my second home for many years. I grew up playing Table Tennis and became a high performance athlete representing my country in many national and international tournaments.
My passion is Table Tennis, and my goal is to help others to become active for life and stay healthy by playing Table Tennis because I know firsthand the benefits this Sport has on mental and general health. I feel lucky, my life is my passion and that is also my work. My coaching philosophy is I prescribe movement because movement is like medicine. I use Table Tennis as a tool to change lives and help others achieve their personal and athletic goals.
Can you tell me more about your organization?
North Shore Table Tennis Club Owners: Luba Sadovska & Claudine Gunn and was founded on February 7, 201. As moms, living and working on the Beautiful North Shore, we know how busy life can get and how important it is to find the time to enjoy something that makes you sweat for your health and wellbeing. We wanted to develop programs for all ages and all levels that give them health benefits but also help improve eye and hand coordination. Today with so many of us using handheld devices, it’s increasingly important to introduce another way to improve our lives with activities that are enjoyable and make you sweat while having fun.
What is your passion and how did you get involved in Parkinson’s awareness and hope for a cure?
I have a skill and I use it to help others. I can help them to improve their game, take it to the next level, become an athlete or just simply make people feel better mentally and physically. Table Tennis does that for people and when you learn about the benefits that it has on the brain, it simply makes sense to find ways to raise awareness. My grandpa had Parkinson’s and I remember how he was slowly becoming stiffer and slower; shaking was becoming worse and worse, and no one was able to help him because in those times people just did not know much about this neurological condition. Now I have this knowledge and I wanted to use it to help. And it does not stop with PWP, this awareness goes further for people with dementia, Alzheimer, stroke survivors, kids with ADHD and on the spectrum. I was invited last year to be a head coach at Table Tennis training camp for people with Parkinson’s in Denmark. This invitation was organized by the C4P organization and my dear friend Elisabeth Ildal.
What type of goals do individuals with Parkinson’s have when working with you?
After each class we have a debrief session with our program participants and their goals are simple; improve the mood, improve balance, coordination, do something that is fun and socialize with others, have an activity anyone can do, no matter what stage of this disease they are at, some wanted to become competitive as there is world championships now organized each year all over the world. Table Tennis gives people hope and makes them feel better after each session or just makes them forget for a while about their disease.
What type of training and how long are the programs?
This program was created for people living with Parkinson’s to learn and play Table Tennis, improve on and off-table drills, learn new skills while having fun and reap the benefits of brain health this Sport brings. It is so important that we develop opportunities for people living with Brain disorders to be more active in a way that is both fun and suitable for them. This fast-paced game is challenging, equally rewarding and unique as it incorporates a focus on balance, hand eye coordination and the rhythm or pace of reciprocal play. So, it really hits the trifecta of physical, cognitive, and social activity.
Program description – each 90min class includes:
1. Dynamic physical warm up 10min
2. Off Table #TableTennis drills 20min
3. Technical Warm up 20min
4. Technique and footwork drills 10min
5. Serve and serve return 10min
6. Games and learning rules of TT 15min
7. Static stretch 5min
8. Feedback, feeling and mood description.
What effect can it have on an individual with Parkinson’s?
The effects are vast: improved attention, movement, mood, and social connections among people striving to slow down this progressive brain disease. Our program will emphasize benefits of showing progress of easing and improvement of symptoms of brain diseases with improved:
1. hand-eye coordination,
2. reflexes,
3. balance and coordination,
4. increased brain stimulation and development of mental acuity,
5. burning calories
6. social outlet
7. motivational and goal-oriented skill improvement
8. increased participation in physical activity and membership list
9. improved overall mental and physical health
10. participation in Table Tennis events designed for people with neurological conditions
What would you like to see as a future goal for your programs?
Future goals include the activation of the parts of the brain that handle tasks like planning and problem-solving, usually impacted by neurological diseases. We intend to achieve with every participant to feel better and feel the benefits of improving both motor and non-motor symptoms, slow down further mental decline, without the use of medications and ultimately provide physical, mental, and emotional improvement in each participant’s life, no matter what their abilities or disabilities may be. Just as importantly, by playing Table Tennis we aim to bring communities and people together, create new social connections, grow awareness of this Sport and the BRAIN benefits it brings and create new opportunities to be active and get out of the house especially for participants living alone. This program is helping the body’s main organ benefit from a friendly game of table tennis. We know that people with diseases that destroy the brain and nervous system (neurodegeneration) are vulnerable to mental health disorders like depression, psychosis, and anxiety. Our Table Tennis programming is structured as a form of neurological exercise/rehabilitation and physical therapy to help alleviate these symptoms.
What events do you participate in?
At the recent 2023 North Shore Table Tennis Open we had Parkinson’s category and Parkinson’s athletes competed for the trophies, and everyone had so much fun. We had a warmup success where everyone in the tournament participated and enjoyed the environment, even players not registered in Parkinson’s category.
This is the first of this kind in BC and in Canada. WE intend to do it annually and players now are motivated to become better. Other events PWP can participate is in the annual BC 55+ games where Table Tennis is one of the main events and competition is tough. Then there are the training camps specifically designed for PWP and tournaments all over the world. We plan to travel as a team in the future to competitions.
How can someone get in touch? What is your website?
There is a registration link on our website: www.nsttc.ca
Check out this link dedicated to Parkinson’s information: https://nsttc.ca/parkinsons-tt/
More on Coach Luba
Over the past seven years several of the young athletes Luba has coached have gone on to
compete Provincially and Nationally. Several of the senior players she coaches have gone from not winning any medals at our first 55+ BC senior games to taking home Silver and Golds at the
last several games.
Coaching Effectiveness
With all her time devoted to coaching, her club and organization needs, she knows how to do it right. She improves her coaching obligations by giving questions and receiving feedback and
reviews, holding occasional meetings and offering and getting advice from her co-workers,
other coaches and parents. Her coaching focuses on helping another person learn in ways that let him or her keep growing afterward. It’s easier to learn from someone you trust, and I love.
her ways of coaching, she is always very clear about the learning and personal development,
always showing good judgment, being patient and following through on any promises and
agreements we made. This is an effective way of coaching and building relationships with her.
athletes within the club, the community, schools, partner organizations and individual athletes
of all ages and genders. She provides assessments and performance improvements in her.
training methods, she is supportive and encouraging, and she helps to achieve personal goals.
and improves results. Recently, she has grown not only nationally but also internationally as
well.
Personal Development and Achievement
Luba Sadovska made a big step inside Table Tennis Canada’s National Coaching Program and now is part of Canadian team of Master coach developers in table tennis. Her role as an MCD is to train and evaluate learning facilitators and coach evaluators across the country. Her development of table tennis involves, among other things, the development of certified coaches within the National Coaching Certification Program, NCCP.
Leadership
Luba conducts coaching clinics around the province for all levels of coaches, from community.
to competition coaches. She also has encouraged athletes to become NCCP certified coaches,
take first aid training and become certified club umpires. This makes her a great role model for
other athletes, great supporter, and founder of several table tennis programs. She actively
breaks barriers for women and girls into Sports, helps them to be more active, improves their physical and mental health and encourages them to take up table tennis as a new sport. She teaches Table Tennis in Schools Program at North and West Vancouver elementary schools and finds talents that continue training at her club. She brings table tennis to communities including Squamish Nation Table Tennis Family Day, Wellness show for health community, Pride on the Pier North Vancouver, Pride Sports Day, in celebration of the Gold Coast 2018 Queen’s Baton visiting Vancouver she contributed with Table Tennis activities hosting a block. party on the Terry Fox Plaza at BC Place. She coaches athletes with disability and the program called Happy Hands Adapted Table Tennis and hosted events with Canucks Autism, Canadian
Mental Health association and North Shore Disability resource center and teaches at schools all students with special needs across North Shore. She continuously encourages fair play at table tennis and teaches youth to transfer their learned leadership skills into their own lives. She has co-founded a new table tennis program for newcomer youth, where the youth from all economic and social backgrounds can become junior table tennis coaches and teach community at community events and teach future recreational table tennis programs. Her program is raising the future potential coaches, players, athletes, and maybe future Olympians.
AWARDS and Certificates:
Here is what others has experienced working with Luba. Recent article in ITTF Foundation called series with inspirational women: http://nsttc.ca/ittf-foundation-inspirational-women-series
Her journey to Sweden with 12 selected coaches from all over the world and she was not
only the only female coach but also the only one from North America :
http://nsttc.ca/success-story-of-the-coach/
Recently she has collaborated with Lea Wiens in project called Same Game challenge:
http://nsttc.ca/canadian-women-and-sport-same-game-challenge/
In 2020 she received was selected and awarded as VIA SPORT Community coach of the year:
http://nsttc.ca/2020-via-sport-community-coach-of-the-year/ and in the same year she
received the recognition from Table Tennis Canada as the coach Contributor of the year.
Luba has a very bright future in front of her and she is recently enrolled and in her 3rd semester of Advanced Coaching Diploma cohort 6 with Canadian Sport Institute Calgary.