Iryna Shevchenko selected for ITTF women’s coaching program

Ottawa-Gatineau coach Iryna Shevchenko has been selected for the 2026 ITTF My Gender. My Strength. program, and the real value is not the badge next to her name. The pathway gives her online coaching education, international mentoring and practical development, then asks her to bring that learning home through a women’s and girls training camp in Canada.

That legacy stage is the part that matters most for Table Tennis Canada. The ITTF says each coach in the program must organize a minimum three-day Women and Girls Training Camp in her home country, with full coverage of expenses for group mentoring sessions and for travel and accommodation during designated training activities. In other words, this is not just recognition. It is funded professional development with a built-in local return.

Shevchenko already sits inside Table Tennis Canada’s women-focused pipeline. The federation introduced her to its Women Coach Mentorship Program on April 16, 2025, and said she brings 27 years in table tennis, including 14 years of coaching. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Physical Health and Table Tennis Coaching from the National University of Sports of Ukraine. That mix of experience and formal training makes her selection feel like an extension of an existing Canadian pathway, not a one-off honor.

The ITTF launched the 2026 edition of My Gender. My Strength. on March 8, International Women’s Day, and stretched it into a two-year structure. The first two stages, theoretical knowledge and practical experience, run in 2026. The legacy phase follows in the first half of 2027. That is a smarter model than a one-time seminar circuit because it ties education to measurable follow-through.

There is already a track record behind it. The 2025 edition reached 18 female coaches from 18 member associations across five continental zones, with development activity in China, Nigeria, Laos, France and Guatemala. ITTF also points to Brunei’s first female table tennis training camp, which involved more than 10 female coaches and 30 girl players, as proof the program can move beyond symbolism and into grassroots change.

For Canada, the upside is obvious if the structure holds. More female coaches with international exposure means more voices in club training, more visible role models for girls and a better chance of keeping players in the sport as they age into leadership roles. Table Tennis Canada’s Female Coach Mentorship Program, which ran from July 2024 to March 2027 and was built to support six coaches ahead of the 2027 Canada Games, shows the federation is already thinking along those lines. Its Women in Table Tennis campaign, launched in October 2022, pushed the same idea from a different angle: the sport grows when women are seen, supported and given room to lead.