ITTF Development Report Magazine 2009-2010

2009/2010ITTFDEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

ROGRAMevelo ment

“Breaking Down Barrierswith Table Tennis Balls”

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CONTINENTSAfrica 18Asia 24Europe 29Latin America 41North America 44Oceania 23

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMSITTF Women’s Development Program 50Marketing 52ITTF Global Junior Program 54Education and Training 56Para Table Tennis 58Umpires and Referees Committee 60

MESSAGESMessages from Pere Miro, Adham Sharara, Glenn Tepper, Leandro Olvech

PYRAMIDFrom grass roots to the highest level

OVERVIEWA synopsis of the work of the ITTF Development Department

FLOWCHARTThe Roles within the ITTF Development Department

ACCREDITATION ITTF Coach Accreditation System

SUPPORTERSFoundation for Global Sports Development, DTTB,Butterfly, Stag, Nittaku, ESN-Tibhar

GOODWILL FUNDA programme in support of humanity

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Contents

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EDITORIAL BOARDIan Marshall, Leandro Olvech, Glenn Tepper

CONTRIBUTORSMikael Andersson, Raul Calin, Steve Dainton, Alejandra Gabaglio, Arif Khan, LeandroOlvech, Georg Silberschmidt, Polona Cehovin Susin, Albert Rooijmans, Glenn Tepper

PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHERSRemy Gros, Katherine Garcia, InternationalOlympic Committee www.tabletennisphotos.com

PRINTED BYMinsun Company, Shanghai, China

MESSAGES

Olympic Solidarityconcentrates its ef-fort on providing

assistance to the vast net-work of 205 NationalOlympic Committees(NOCs) across the fivecontinents. This helpgiven to the NOCs aims todevelop sports and itspractice from grassrootsto elite level worldwide.

The 19 programmes of-fered by Olympic Solidarityto the NOCs for the 2009 –2012 quadrennial plan, fol-low the same pattern as forthe 2005 – 2008 quadrennialplan, but with increased sup-port for the athletes, particu-larly for the Games of theXXX Olympiad in London in 2012 and for the first ever YouthOlympic Games in Singapore 2010.

Olympic Solidarity, therefore, encourages the NOCs andtheir affiliated National Sport organizations to constantly pro-vide the best support for their athletes, improve their organi-zational structures, raise their management level and makerational and efficient use of the resource coming from theshare of the TV rights from the broadcasting of the OlympicGames, which finally belongs to the NOCs. But this support isonly possible thanks to the very fruitful and mutually benefi-cial collaboration with the International Federations and par-ticularly with the ITTF for more than 20 years now.

As stated before, the development of each sport started atnational level. The support and the valuable technical adviceprovided by the International Federations to the national bod-ies makes a huge difference. One entity cannot work aloneand a collaboration between all parties is crucial, i.e. ITTF,Olympic Solidarity, National Federations, NOCs, etc. in order toachieve mid to log term results.

This joint collaboration between Olympic Solidarity is cru-cial in order to achieve mid to long term results. One entitycannot work alone and a collaboration between all the partiesis needed, i.e. ITTF, Olympic Solidarity, NF, NOC, etc.

Thanks to this, the funding which has been made availablefor all these important actions, either from Olympic Solidaritythrough the NOCs or directly by the ITTF to National TableTable Tennis Associations, has been used to maximum effect.But we can always do better by complying more with the spe-cific needs of our respective stakeholders and adapting our-selves to the situations of each country. We have thereforedefine a motto to follow these objectives which is “flexibilityinto diversity”, meaning that flexibility towards the NOCs is re-quested in order to guarantee a support to their diversity.

In my capacity as Director of Olympic Solidarity, I wouldlike to sincerely thank the ITTF for this excellent and fruitfulcollaboration based on open minded discussions.

Together, we are making the most to build a robust andsustainable high-performance system, which produces the bestsupport and results for athletes, coaches and sports adminis-trators. I believe that collectively with the ITTF we are makingexcellent work as we are trying to invest the right areas, ensur-ing the right people are in place, surrounding them with theright support and striving for excellence in everything they do.

Our joint strategy is to build a lasting legacy of success forTable Tennis.

Pere Miró Director of Olympic Solidarity

6 ITTF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Pere Miró Director of Olympic Solidarity

It is again my pleas-ure and my privi-lege to preface the

ITTF’s DevelopmentMagazine; this is an op-portunity to expresshow proud we all arewith the tremendousadvancement made toour sport through theITTF’s DevelopmentProgramme.

Since the establish-ment of the ITTF’s Educa-tion & TrainingDepartment, this new de-partment has workedvery diligently to enhancethe development of oursport at all levels, and hasfound the right synergywith our Development Department to jointly deliver pro-grammes and initiatives to the benefit of our member na-tional associations.

The ITTF Development Plan has several deliverystreams. The most effective and most productive is ofcourse the joint Development Agreements of Understand-ing between the ITTF and the Continental Federations.However, our programme also includes direct initiatives inspecific areas of need with the support of our member na-tional associations. Both streams work effectively and wewill further refine and enhance our delivery systems inorder to be even more effective and more efficient in theuse of our development financial and human resources.

The effects of our Development Plan have seen the in-crease in our membership to an astounding 210 membernational associations, putting the ITTF in the top 5 Interna-tional Federations in terms of membership. We have alsostarted a series of marketing courses in Africa, Asia, LatinAmerica and Oceania, which have already borne fruit withenhanced sponsorship and TV coverage possibilities.

The ITTF’s Coaching Accreditation system has growntremendously and is now available in several languages(English, French, Spanish and Arabic) at the various levels,including the very important “Course Conductor” compo-nent. The most impressive statistic over the last two yearsis that the ITTF delivered, through 62 different course con-ductors, 185 courses with more than 9,000 participantsworldwide. In addition, over the same period of time,more than 50 equipment packages and 2600 coachingmanuals have been provided to member associations.

Added to the ITTF’s own investment, the IOC’s OlympicSolidarity has injected and committed close to US$2,000,000 to table tennis activities throughout the world.This is a direct result of the excellent relationship betweenthe ITTF and the IOC. I also want to thank our partnersand suppliers Butterfly-Tamasu, STAG, Nittaku, the DTTBand the Foundation for Global Sports Development fortheir financial and equipment contributions.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude tothe “Peace and Sports Foundation” for honouring the ITTFwith the “Best Sport Peace Project” award in 2009. Thisgesture makes all our efforts worthwhile and serves as areminder that the international sports community recog-nizes our work. It is also a stimulus to our DevelopmentStaff and leaders to continue their excellent work.

Adham ShararaITTF President

Adham ShararaITTF President

The years 2009-2010 haveseen innovation and newdirections to add to the

established ITTF DevelopmentProgram. The three worldstaff, four continental devel-opment officers and approxi-mately 50 part-time courseconductors have been keptvery busy implementing al-most 100 courses and 30equipment packages per year.

Polona Cehovin Susin joinedLeandro Olvech and myself forthe world staff and her experi-ence in conducting courses, ad-ministration and marketing iswell appreciated. Scott Houston,as Oceania Development Officer,added a new spark of youthfulenthusiasm together with hardwork to push the Oceania Pro-gram to new heights, joining the experienced foundation staff Eve-lio Alvarez (Latin America Development Officer) and Afshin Badiee(Asia Development Officer).

The Oceania Development Program was a pilot project for ITTFway back in 1999 and again leads the way with a Business and Mar-keting Plan being trialled in 2010.

Europe has seen some changes with three Development Officersin three years. Lilamani de Soysa is currently filling this position in aperiod of change for the European Table Tennis Union. New devel-opment agreements were signed with all continents for 2009-2012,providing a solid base for planning and assistance based on needsand rotation.

Marketing courses have been introduced this year with coursesin Latin America, Africa, Oceania and Asia led by the highly moti-vated Marketing Director, Steve Dainton, himself a former OceaniaDevelopment Officer, so having a clear understanding of the needsof the developing world.

ITTF Membership grew to 210 with the addition of five newmembers in 2009-2010: Papua New Guinea, Cayman Islands, An-guilla, Norfolk Island and Swaziland. When the Development Pro-gram began in 1999 the membership was just 180.

However, the highlight for 2009-2010 was our work with “Peaceand Sport”, who act to put sport at the service of sustainable peacewithin vulnerable communities affected by poverty, the aftermathof conflict and lack of social cohesion. A successful project in threedisadvantaged regions of Colombia, led by Leandro Olvech, led to acommitment to aim for two joint projects annually. At the 2009Peace and Sport Awards in Monaco the ITTF won the prestigious“Best Project by an International Sports Federation”, something ofwhich we can all be proud. ITTF and Peace and Sport are currentlyworking on a “Table Tennis for Peace” instructional manual.

Arabic and Portugese were added to the languages in which theITTF Coach Accreditation system’s manuals are available joining Eng-lish, French and Spanish. Butterfly and Stag remain as strong part-ners in our development work providing way beyond what couldreasonably be expected - thank you!

I cannot finish without mentioning Chérif Hajem and MelecioRivera, both long time Continental Presidents in Africa and LatinAmerica respectively before moving onto the ITTF Executive Com-mittee. Their contribution, passion and untiring efforts to assist de-velopment in their continents has seen both continents make hugesteps forward and while they will no doubt be active still, their dayto day involvement in the development programs will be sadlymissed.

To our innovative President, Adham Sharara, our untiring staff,the Continental Presidents, the Course Conductors taking table ten-nis to the far reaches of the world and all others involved in our im-portant work-thank you!

Glenn TepperITTF Executive Director-Development Programs

The period was amilestone in theprogress of the

Development Pro-gram.

It was a new stageof growth. The Devel-opment Program isnow more matureand consistent whichallows us to extendour vision to new ob-jectives and fields.

In the last two yearsour ITTF family has sig-nificantly expanded asfive new membersjoined; that means atotal of 210, whichmakes the ITTF sportnumber four in terms ofmembership.

The expansion is not only a geographical issue, it mustbe also social. The newly designed project of our depart-ment is “Table Tennis for All”, a document being devel-oped to be distributed to the national associations as aguideline for their local programs aiming at populariza-tion.

We need to reach more people and new targets re-quire innovative channels to do it effectively. Social net-works are the most expansive new tools that we can usenowadays. We have created a profile in Facebook called“ITTF Development” where we inform users that probablycan´t be approached through conventional ways.

Development is for us not only a question of quantity,it means also quality.

A new possibility for coaches’ education is available.The University of Leipzig, in Germany, offers a five monthextensive table tennis program where most of the partici-pants’ expenses are covered. The course includes the ITTFLevel Two course.

Education for umpires and referees was re-structuredto fit with the association needs, Para Table Tennis contin-ues its expansion to more countries through the integra-tion principles.

Perhaps the biggest step of the Development Programin this period has been in the humanitarian projects. Therelationship with Peace and Sport is in the honeymoon pe-riod after a successful joint program in Colombia “PingPong Paz” (Peace through Ping Pong). Current planning isin place for similar projects in Palestine, East Timor and forearthquake devastated Haiti.

The highlight of the period was the Development Pro-gram being awarded in Monaco as Best Peace Project froman International Federation. Besides that, the film about“Ping Pong Paz” was nominated for the “Sport Movies &TV Award” in Milan.

These recognitions are huge motivational factors for usto continue our expansion and also to give more exposureof ITTF endeavours. The Development Program is aimingto use these factors to attract more sponsors. ITTF Market-ing is active in that respect.

Finally, I would like to thank all development staff andcourse conductors for their teamwork plus the ExecutiveCommittee, Continental and National Associations fortheir co-operation and support.

A special mention must go to Glenn Tepper for his con-tinued advice. I am personally impressed that we still can´tfind our limits and that is the main motivation.

Table Tennis for all, for everyone. Everywhere!

Leandro OlvechITTF Development Manager


Glenn TepperITTF Executive Director - Development

Leandro OlvechITTF Development Manager

Development Staff Since InceptionGlenn TepperOceania Development Officer:1999-2000ITTF Development Manager: 2001-2006ITTF Director of Development Programs: 2007-2008 ITTF Executive Director-Development: 2009-current

Babatunde ObisanyaAfrica Development Officer: 2001

Evelio AlvarezLatin America Development Officer: 2001-current

Zita PidlEurope Development Manager: 2001-2008

Afshin BadieeAsia Development Officer: 2001-current

Steve DaintonOceania Development Officer: 2002-2005

Surendra SuwalOceania Development Officer: 2006

Andrew HubbardOceania Development Officer: 2006-2008

Leandro OlvechITTF Co-ordinator of Development Programs: 2007-2008ITTF Development Program Manager: 2009-current

Scott HoustonOceania Development Officer: 2009-current

Polona Cehovin SusinEurope Development Co-ordinator-2009ITTF Departments Program Manager: 2010-current

Lilamani de SoysaEurope Development Manager: 2010-current

OVERVIEW

Continued Growth

Djibouti was a recipient of an equipment package


The BeginningsThe ITTF Development Program began in 1999 with apilot project in Oceania.

In 1999 the ITTF had 180 member countries.

Following the success of the Oceania Development Pro-gram, the program was expanded to Africa, Latin Amer-ica and Europe in 2001.

By 2002, all continents had an “agreement of under-standing” with ITTF for development.

The Period 2009-2010 In 2010, ITTF has 210 member countries. The current con-tinental development “agreement of understanding” isfor 2009-2012

185 courses were organized

33 courses from Olympic Solidarity

64 courses of these courses included education aboutPara Table Tennis, 35% of the total, while in the lastquadrennial it was 14%.

50 equipment packages with tables, scorers, rackets, ballswere donated

More than 9000 people attended ITTF courses worldwide

37% of them were women while during the last quad-rennial (2005-08) it was 33%

117 national associations were supported throughcourses or equipment donations

2600 Coaching Manuals of different levels and languageswere distributed

62 Course Conductors from 34 countries represented theITTF internationally

ACCREDITATION

The ITTF Coach Accreditationsystem began in 2004, as ameans of assisting those

countries without their ownCoach Accreditation system inplace.

Since that date, the ITTF LevelOne Coaching Manual has beenreleased and has sold over18,000 copies in English, French,Spanish and Arabic. In subse-quent print runs Para Table Ten-nis Level One was added.

More than 240 ITTF Level OneCourses have been conductedworldwide with the year 2008seeing the ITTF Advanced Coach-ing Manual for ITTF Level Two,ITTF Level Three and ITTF HighPerformance courses becomingavailable in English, French andSpanish.

In 2010 a version in Arabic wasreleased.

Over 20 ITTF Level Two courseshave been conducted to date; anITTF Level Three will commencein 2012 and ITTF High Perform-ance in 2014.

ITTF Coach Accreditation System


In 2009 Argentina’s Alejandra Gabaglio (front row, third from left) conducted an ITTF/PTT Level One Course in Paraguay

Community Leader CourseLevel: basic introductionTarget Group: community leadersAccreditation: non accredited course, participation Certificate presented (three hours)Resources: ITTF/PTT Level One Coaching Manual

School Teachers CourseLevel: basic introduction for school teachersTarget Group: school teachersAccreditation: non accredited course, participation certificate presented (six hours)Resources: ITTF/PTT Level One Coaching Manual

Club Coach CourseLevel: basic introduction for club coachesTarget Group: club coachesAccreditation: non accredited course, participation certificate presented (12 hours)Resources: ITTF/PTT Level One Coaching Manual

ITTF/PTT Level One CourseLevel: base levelTarget Group: ITTF Development Program Courses, OlympicSolidarity coursesAccreditation: coaches course (30 Hours); coaching practice including five hours of supervised coaching (30 hours)Resources: ITTF/PTT Level One Coaching Manual

ITTF Level Two CourseLevel: intermediateTarget Group: state, provincial level coaches, ITTF Development Program courses, Olympic Solidarity CoursesAccreditation: coaches course (36 Hours); coaching practice including five hours of supervised coaching (50 hours)Prerequisite: ITTF Level One Coach AccreditationResources: ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual

Courses

Ahmed Dawlatly (back row centre) was the expert on duty for an ITTF/PTT Level One Course in Jordan


ITTF Level Three CourseLevel: advancedTarget Group: national level coaches, continental high per-formance coachesAccreditation: coaches course (48 Hours); coaching practiceincluding five hours of supervised coaching (80 hours)Prerequisite: ITTF Level Two Coach AccreditationResources: ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual

ITTF High Performance CourseLevel: high performanceTarget Group: national level coaches, Accreditation: Coaches course (144 Hours); coaching practiceincluding five hours of supervised coaching (100 hours)Prerequisite: ITTF Level Three Coach AccreditationResources: ITTF Advanced Coaching Manual

The International Table Tennis Fed-eration has received great help inthe past two years to make hu-

manitarian projects possible. Interna-tional and national organisations plusmanufacturers have all been involved.

Foundation for GlobalSports DevelopmentOriginally named “Justice for All”, theFoundation for Global Sports Developmentis led by the charismatic David Ulich andSteve Ungerleider.

Since 2008, the organisation has pro-vided US$30,000 per annum for projectswith a humanitarian leaning connected tothe ITTF Development Program. In 2009,this included projects in Jordan plus hurri-cane assistance for Jamaica and Côte

SUPPORTERS

Valued Partners SupportWorldwide Initiatives Assisting those less fortunate is a major part of the work of the ITTF Development Program; in this respect the InternationalTable Tennis Federation needs help from outside agencies; the Foundation for Global Sports Development, the GermanTable Tennis Association, Butterfly, Stag, Nittaku and ESN-Tibhar have all proved invaluable partners in this respect.


BY GLENN TEPPER

Butterfly supportingPing Pong Ba Dame

Project (Peace throughPing Pong) in East Timor

D’Ivoire. Meanwhile, in 2010 they becamepartners for our projects connected withPeace and Sport commencing with EastTimor and followed by help in Swaziland,Honduras and Bangladesh.

ButterflyButterfly is a longtime supporter of theITTF Development Program and 2009-2010was no exception.

During a friendly discussion at theWorld Junior Championships in Spain,2008, the International Table Tennis Feder-ation, represented by Glenn Tepper andButterfly represented by Yuki Kamizurudiscussed a project with a new partner“Peace and Sport” with the plans for a spe-cial project in Colombia to start in 2009.

Both parties were not really sure if theconcept would work but trust built follow-ing co-operation during many previousprojects such as Tsunami Rebuilding, theSouth Africa disadvantaged areas project,being the first sport back into Afghanistanplus many other projects prompted bothparties to go ahead.

History was to prove the initiative cor-rect. The project was made into an awardwinning film and the International TableTennis Federation was awarded the “Best

Peace Project” by an International SportsFederation. The success reflected very posi-tively on the International Table TennisFederation and underlined the commit-ment of Butterfly to support table tennisand no seek any great reward. Now the In-ternational Table Tennis Federation in liai-son with Peace and Sport aims to promotetwo projects each year.

Butterfly has made the project a realityby providing tables, rackets, balls andprinted shirts for each project. In addition,the final stage of the Butterfly ContinentalJunior Assistance Project was also con-cluded. The Continental Junior Champi-onships in Africa in 2006, in Latin Americain 2007, Oceania in 2008, and now Asia in2010 were each provided with 480 midlevel rackets, 120 elite rackets, and 48 grossof training balls.

The aim was two-fold; to encourageparticipation at the Continental JuniorChampionships and to provide talentedjuniors from developing countries with thechance to receive top level equipment.

Butterfly also funds the ITTF WorldHopes Team project, providing opportuni-ties for talented players under the age of12 years to be involved in a structured pro-gram in both Europe and Asia with special-

ist guidance from ITTF Coaches. Equally,support from Butterfly is immediate; theyresponded positively and strongly to theHaiti Earthquake disaster. It was no sur-prise and greatly appreciated.

Undoubtedly, Mr Hikosuke Tamasuwould be delighted as he looks down fromabove to see his vision of using table tennisto promote peace and understanding forthe youth of the world continuing throughthe great work of Butterfly.

German Table Tennis AsociationIn 2006, following the Liebherr WorldChampionships in Bremen, the GermanTable Tennis Association was not satisfiedwith the treatment several African andLatin American countries had received, inparticular, with respect to visas.

They wanted to do something to assistthose continents. Motivated and innova-tive leaders,Thomas Weikert and MatthiasVatheuer, contacted the ITTF DevelopmentDepartment; after brief discussions it wasagreed the German Table Tennis Associa-tion would provide equipment packages tothose continents. Each equipment packageincluded six tables plus nets, six scorers, 80rackets and eight gross of balls. It was re-garded as part of the equipment donationnormally provided by the DevelopmentProgram on a rotational basis to increasethe amount of equipment provided.

“Personally I was very happy to receivethis assistance from the German Table Ten-nis Association in 2006, as was Africa TableTennis Federation, Latin America Table Ten-nis Union and the benefitting countries”said ITTF Executive Director-Development,Glenn Tepper. “That they have continuedthis annual assistance up to and including2010 is something special and an examplefor other leading countries in our sport.”Since that time the donations made by theGerman Table Tennis Association have en-abled table tennis to grow in: Cen-trafrique, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Libya,Somalia, Togo, Netherlands Antilles, Peru,Guyana, Barbados, Anguilla, St Kitts-Nevisand Anguilla.

Furthermore, it is not the only areawhere Germany is active in developingtable tennis. In conjunction with GermanEmbassies, Germany Government and theGermany Table Tennis Association, the Uni-versity of Leipzig, offers a five monthcourse for different sports and differentlanguages. Participants only need to paythe airfare. Hospitality and all tuition feesare met.A trial course was held in Englishfor Afri can Countries prior to full imple-mentation with the first official coursebeing in Spanish from Tuesday 1st Septem-ber 2009 to Sunday 31st January, 2010.

The course involved 12 coaches beingfrom the Latin American countries ofUruguay, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Hon-duras, Ecuador, Chile and Bolivia. It is envis-aged that the next course will be in French,commencing September 2011.


Stag has sponsored all Oceania countries

StagFor those that know the amiable Kohlibrothers, Vivek and Rakesh, they seem as ifthey have just come from meditating in theHimalayas, something Vivek actually does,than running the most successful IndianSporting export company.

Sport is their field of work but tabletennis is their passion. Regularly I wonderabout the headaches of the Stag account-ant, as Vivek returns from another trip.

In early 2009, in El Salvador, there wasa friendly discussion at the Latin AmericanJunior Championships between VivekKohli, Melecio Rivera, the President of theLatin American Table Tennis Union at thetime and Glenn Tepper, the ITTF ExecutiveDirector - Development Programs.

The conversation went something likethis: “Melecio, I would like to assist LatinAmerican countries by sponsoring them”,said Vivek Kohli. “How many countrieswould you be able to help?” was Melecio’sresponse. “How many are active?” retortedVivek Kohli. “Around 30”, explained Mele-cio Rivera. “Then I would like to sponsor 30countries”, concluded Vivek Kohli.

Vivek spent the rest of the event,meeting with all countries present andsigning sponsorship deals with every oneof them. It is a typical “Vivek” story and asign of his passion for table tennis and inparticular for assisting those in the devel-oping world. Later that year at the WorldJunior Championships in Colombia Viveksaid he would like to help Oceania. I thinkyou know the rest of the story! Stag hasbeen a supporter of the ITTF DevelopmentProgram since the beginning and alwaysthe first to volunteer assistance for specialprojects with a humanitarian link.

The International Table Tennis Federa-tion pays a token price for the equipmentprovided through the development pro-gram but with Vivek’s philosophy of pro-viding the best tables and equipment it iscloser to a donation. An exalted place inthe next world is certainly assured for the“Indian Saints” named Vivek and Rakesh.They are certainly very much appreciated;

their contribution is an example to all.

NittakuThe Japanese manufacturer, Nittaku is themost recent to join the group of support-ers of the ITTF Development Program.

Nittaku has become the major fundingpartner for the social program Sport andActivity and Physical Trainers (SPAT) whichis a project in Ethiopia led by RESPO Inter-national, a Dutch organization, working togive jobs and life opportunities to peoplewith a disability.

The International Table Tennis Federa-tion provides technical assistance sendingexperts to train those people to becometable tennis coaches and tailoring the proj-ect accordingly, RESPO is the local organ-izer and Nittaku provides financial andequipment support. The first step was or-ganized in January 2010 with a table tenniscoaching course for the SPAT students, inwhich they gained knowledge to teachtable tennis for able-bodied as well as forpeople with a disability. Now, they canhelp Ethiopian table tennis development inseveral ways.

Nittaku has now stepped in and willfund courses in both 2011 and 2012 as wellas providing 30 tables, 300 basic rackets, 30gross balls, 40 printed shirts, 40 shorts and40 tracksuits.

It is Nittaku’s first contribution andhopefully the beginning of a fruitful part-nership.

ESN-TibharFollowing a visit to ESN in 2009 by ITTF Ex-ecutive Directors Mikael Andersson andGlenn Tepper, it was agreed that 3000 eliteTibhar rubbers with very minor defects and1500 blades would be provided as 500rackets to Oceania and 1000 rackets toAfrica.

In addition, Oceania targeted the mostactive Pacific Countries-Fiji-Tonga-Kiribatiand Guam, while for Africa the rackets willbe distributed to participating countries atthe 2011 African Junior Championships.

Thanks to ESN and Tibhar!

GOODWILL FUND

The International Table Tennis Fed-eration has a long history ofusing table tennis as a vehicle for

social change and facilitating sustain-able peace. Perhaps an icon in thismatter was “Ping Pong Diplomacy” in1971; a catalyst for China to open itsdoors to the West.

Meanwhile, in 2004, the InternationalTable Tennis Federation was the first inter-national federation to recognize Kosovoand allowed them to participate at theWorld Championships; whilst, in the sameyear, a joint project with the InternationalOlympic Committee was held inAfghanistan immediately after the countryhad been involved in a period of war.

The ITTF Development Program has astrong humanitarian focus. In addition tothe 100 courses conducted worldwide an-nually; the Program became more formal-ized after the well-known tragedy, theTsunami in 2004.

A project including re-building, coursesand equipment packages for affectedcountries was organised. Afterwards theGoodwill Fund became more structured inorder to anticipate future actions and towork not only in post disaster cases.

The Goodwill Fund has provided spe-cial projects for disadvantaged groups.Projects have been organised in Uganda,Congo Democratic, Iraq, Kenya, Kosovo,Peru, Haiti and Cuba plus a Mine Educationprogram took place in the Balkans and aspecial Women’s Project in Rural Egypt. Thelatter was designed to change the percep-tion of women in society through tabletennis; furthermore, the United NationsHigh Commissioner for Refugees alsoworked with the International Table TennisFederation in Yemen Refugee Camps.

New ApproachAfter the first stage, when the Interna-tional Table Tennis Federation acquiredmore experience, the new focus for thecurrent quadrennial is to work on mainpartnerships with global actors specializedin the use of sport for a social change; thento introduce sponsors, non governmentalorganisations, sponsors and national tabletennis associations for each project. Thecurrent sponsors are: the Foundation forGlobal Sports Development, Butterfly, Stagand Nittaku.

The modification was a key to the fu-ture. The partner offers the International

Humanitarian ValuesSport is an activity to be enjoyed, an activity that brings people from all walks of life and backgrounds together; forthe ITTF Goodwill Fund it is also a vehicle for social change and a means by which to make a difference in the livesof those less fortunate.


BY LEANDRO OLVECH

Table Tennis Federation a project wherethe field of operation is already investi-gated and gives support by organisinglocal people, this system provides greaterchances of long term and sustainableprogress; a major objective of the ITTFGoodwill Fund.

Partners“Peace and Sport, L’Organisation pour laPaix par le Sport” based in Monaco, acts toput sport at the service of sustainablepeace within vulnerable communities af-fected by poverty, the aftermath of conflictand lack of social cohesion. To do so, it in-tervenes at two levels: as a co-operationand communication platform: Through theorganization of an International Forum,whose objective is to facilitate communica-tion, to raise awareness amongst decision-makers from the worlds of peace and sportin order to encourage them to use sport inconcerted policies.

Peace and Sport is currently the mainpartner of International Table Tennis Fed-eration with a program already running inColombia. The next target is East Timor(Ping Pong Ba Dame or Peace through PingPong in local language) with the aim tosupport national efforts to use sport as atool to channel the expression of violencein young people and strengthen nationalunity by fostering education and reintegra-tion of vulnerable youth.

Table Tennis for Peace ManualPeace and Sport and the InternationalTable Tennis Federation signed a Memo-

randum of Understanding in September2009. Together, they developed the pro-gram "Table Tennis for Peace”; this pro-gram aims to use Table Tennis as thevehicle for educating target groups regard-ing peace by adapting its programs to localproblems encountered in the field.

HaitiImmediately after the earthquake thatdevastated part of Haiti, the InternationalTable Tennis Federation looked for ameans to support the victims, with the aimof providing sporting opportunities tothose living in the tent cities.

A bank account was opened and thetable tennis community donated not onlycash, but also a huge amount of equip-ment. Also many Table Tennis Stars includ-ing China’s Liu Shiwen and Ma Long;Korea’s Park Mi Young, Ryu Seung Minand Kim Kyung Ah plus Romania’s DanielaDodean and Japan’s Ai Fukahara donatedsigned shirts for an ebay auction.

The aim is to bring all items collectedand send also experts to work in a longterm plan together with the Haitian TableTennis Association. The first stage wasemergency aid; table tennis aid will followshortly.

Peace and Sport AwardThe International Table Tennis Federationreceived in late 2009 the Peace and SportAward at the forum held in Monaco for itsdevelopment programs, which use the val-ues of table tennis as an instrument of in-tegration and social stability in severelydisadvantaged urban areas in Afghanistan,Yemen, Jordan and Colombia.

The ITTF Goodwill Fund supported the efforts made in earthquake torn Haiti


SPAT (Sport and Activity andPhysical Trainers) project isbeing led in Ethiopia by RESPO

International which is a Dutch organ-ization working to give jobs and lifeopportunities to people with a dis-ability.

The SPAT project, has selected 20young students with a disability fromEthiopia, to educate them in physical ed-

ucation, recreation and sports with theaim of allowing them to become sportteachers and to work in schools.

Inclusion is a priority as it gives equalopportunities to both genders; in fact thestudents are 10 men and 10 women; thus,in a joint project between the ITTF Devel-opment Program and RESPO Interna-tional, a table tennis coaching courseonly for SPAT students was organised in

January 2010; the expert on duty wasAlejandra Gabaglio from Argentina.

It was the first time ever that a courseincluded only students with a disability;the most important fact is that the stu-dents received knowledge to teach tabletennis for able-bodied and for peoplewith a disability.

Now, they can help in several wayswith Ethiopian table tennis development.

SPAT PROJECT IN ETHIOPIA

Smiling faces and plenty of fun in Ethiopia

According to the United Nations, Colombia has the highest num-ber of displaced persons anywhere in the world, four million;the main problem for children is the lack of healthy activities

to pursue in their spare time under adult supervision.Thus an environment to stay on the streets and become involved in crimi-

nality and drugs use, has been created. Sport is a therapy, it promotes disci-pline, and it can be used in the daily life. In late 2008, the International TableTennis Federation, together with “Peace and Sport”, visited Colombia, andwere received by the local non governmental body, Colombianitos. The objec-tive was to set up a program using table tennis as the vehicle for socialchange for children at risk; it was the beginning of a fruitful partnership.

Colombianitos assists nearly 4000 children in seven locations; 80% of theinhabitants were displaced from their original home because they felt unsafe.

after a year of preparation, the Ping Pong Paz program was launched inlate 2009 in Ciudad Bolivar, Cartagena and Puerto Tejada. Cement andwooden tables were installed and Butterfly supported the program withtraining shirts, rackets and balls for all children. Three local coaches havebeen hired to lead table tennis classes twice a week for the Colombianitoschildren. The aim is to reach 600 children in the middle term.

In December 2009 the ITTF World Junior Championships were played inCartagena, Colombia. A total of 25 children from the three Colombianitosvenues were invited to watch and participate in activities with National Teamplayers and Sweden’s Peter Karlsson, a former World Champion. The aimswere to motivate them to practise sport, have fun and meet some role mod-els. For those coming from Bogota and Puerto Tejada is was the first time totake a seat on an aeroplane or to see the beach; just one month after thelaunching of the program, they had the chance to watch the best players ofthe world in their age group and to chat with them!

Miss Colombia, who has a special place in the nation’s culture also at-tended and interacted with the children. The program has reached already400 children and still growing.

PING PONG PAZ HITS COLOMBIA

Adham Sharara supported Colombianitos program

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AFRICAN TABLE TENNIS FEDERATIONITTF Development Assistance 2009-2010

MAURITIUS

NIGERIA

WESTERNSAHARA

GAMBIA

SWAZILAND

ZIMBABWE

ZAMBIAANGOLA COMOROS

SEYCHELLESTANZANIA

SOUTH AFRICA

KENYAUGANDA

CENTRALAFRICAN REP.

N I G E R

LIBERIACAMEROON

GABON

GUINEAGUINEA-BISSAU

M A L IMAURITANIA

SENEGAL

TUNISIAMOROCCO

A L G E R I ALIBYA

E G Y P T

DJIBOUTI

BOTSWANA

NAMIBIA

BENIN

TOGO

D'IVOIRECÔTE

SIERRA LEONE

ERITREA

MADAGASCAR

BURKINAFASO

LESOTHO

CHAD

S U D A N

RWANDA

BURUNDI

MALAWI

MOZAMBIQUE

ETHIOPIA

SOMALIA

DEMOCRATIC REP.OF THE CONGO

GHANA

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

CONGO BRAZZAVILLE

URC

2 x2 x

2 x

2 x

TC

TC

TC

TC

OS

OS

CE

CETCOS

TC OS

CE

CE

TC

TC

OS

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EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

EQM

CETC

URC

URC

URC

URC

URC

URC

WWG

WWG OTH

CETC

2 x TC

OTH

OTH

OTH

OTH

OTH

OTH

OTH

EQM

EQM

GF

COACH EDUCATIONCE

TRAINING CAMPTC

OLYMPIC SOLIDARITYOS

GOODWILL FUNDGF

EQUIPMENT ASSISTANCEEQM

UMPIRES & REFEREE´S COURSEURC

WOMEN´S COURSEWWG

OTHEROTH

ITTF Assistance as at 30.7.10

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ABDERAHMANE ALLIOUA | ALGERIAITTF World Hopes Team 2009

CE

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OSWWG

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TCOS

KHALED EL SALHY - PRESIDENT AFRICAN TABLE TENNIS FEDERATIONMy special thanks to the ITTF Development Program for the support given to Africa for theperiod 2009-2010. It has been a huge operation to cover all areas and zones in our continentduring the last two years with different kinds of courses involving coaches, umpires, train-ing camps, forums, programs for women and equipment distribution.

One of the major effects of the work has been the quite remarkable results gained byour cadet & junior players at international tournaments. My great thanks to Mr. ChérifHajem, President of the African Table Tennis Federation for more than the half period of thecurrent program; also, my thanks to all the experts for their excellent contribution.

Africa is a continent that hastaken full advantage of themenu offered by the ITTF De-

velopment Program. Trainingcamps and equipment assistance inaddition to a wide variety ofcourses, including eight organisedby Olympic Solidarity, have beenpromoted.

The last two years has seen a periodof growth, almost 400 coaches havebeen certified by the InternationalTable Tennis Federation. Also, ITTF

Level Two Coaches Courses are startingto appear in the region, more match of-ficials are being educated, the ParaTable Tennis component is featuring inmore and more courses and in manycases it has been the first time wherethe word disability has before men-tioned in the local table tennis context.

Women’s courses and forums havebeen carried out with successful resultsand the Junior Circuit events are nowfully established and can now be re-ferred to as traditional.

The courses are increasingly beingconducted by African experts, followingthe ITTF principle of regional and thennational sustainability. A new genera-tion of officials is emerging, bringing afresh energy to the continent.

Certainly, that is the case withKhaled El Salhy, who started as Presi-dent of the African Table Tennis Federa-tion with the difficult mission tocontinue the excellent work fulfilled byChérif Hajem, now an ITTF ExecutiveCommittee member.

Seizing the Opportunities

SWAZILAND

EGYPT


ZIMBABWE

Apopulation of less than500,000, Djibouti is situatedon the Horn of Africa with a

coastline on the Red Sea and theGulf of Aden.

Led by the tireless Farah Hassan, theDjiboutian Table Tennis Federationjoined the International Table TennisFederation in 2005; since that time,they have hosted three coaches coursesas part of the ITTF Development Pro-gram, one of them sponsored byOlympic Solidarity.

They have also received a significantamount of equipment from the Inter-national Table Tennis Federation in con-junction with the Indian manufacturerStag. In addition, through an agree-ment with the German Olympic Com-mittee and the German Table TennisFederation, they have welcomed theexpert Achim Kraemer three times.

Over the period of time that AchimKraemer has been visiting Djibouti. Hehas become a most popular figure, afact that was clearly illustrated by theresponse he received from local people,who had boundless enthusiasm andwelcomed their guest with open arms.

“He was greeted on arrival in thecountry’s one and only practice hall by80 young players between the ages of10 and 18”, explained Farah HassanFarah. “The goal was to introduce tabletennis to schools as we are preparing apartnership with the Ministry of Educa-tion in near future; however, the hallwas very small to meet players’ expec-tations, so Achim Kraemer had tochange his planning; it was a long day,coaching started at 8.00am and finishedat 8.00pm!”

International Co-operationThe Djibouti Table Tennis Federationalso discussed the possibility of expand-ing the development of table tennis inthe region of the East Africa; we arenow planning to organize a high leveljunior training camp for Djibouti.

“The training camp with Ethiopiaand Somalia and will be held in thenewly built high level athletics andfootball training centre, located outsidethe capital city”, explained Farah Has-san Farah.

In 2010, Farah Hassan Farah paid avisit to Ethiopia and signed an agree-ment of co-operation for the develop-

ment of table tennis in both countries.Furthermore, the sport is used as a

means of cementing friendships andstrong ties have been established withChina. “For the third consecutive yearwe have organised friendship matchesbetween Djiboutians officials from theMinistry of Sports and Foreign Ministryagainst the Chinese Ambassador andhis team”, continued Farah HassanFarah. “Last year we celebrated 31years of a Djibouti and China bilateralrelationships.”

The effects of the courses and theclose co-operation with a range of or-ganisations is proving a successful pol-icy in Djibouti.

Even if they are among the poorestcountries in the World, the DjiboutianTable Tennis Federation is a model ofmanagement, motivation and opti-mism. The development does not de-pend exclusively on the ITTF Program,not at all. All doors are knocked, fromOlympic Solidarity to embassies, na-tional sports ministry to European or-ganizations and they don´t want toimprove alone.

They are well aware that if thecountries in the surrounding area raisetheir level that will indirectly impact onDjibouti.

Rapid ProgressUnity, equality and peace is the national motto for Djibouti; it would also seem to be the motto for the Djibouti TableTennis Federation who are well aware that co-operation with neighbouring countries is vital.

BY LEANDRO OLVECH

DJIBOUTI

A tough job for Achim Kraemer (far left) organising the vast demand for coaching


EGYPT

Continent of CommitmentREACTION


CONGO BRAZZAVILLEBasic Umpires & RefereesCourseTuesday 22nd - Sunday 27th June 2010

“I was astonished by the spirit andcommitment shown by the FederationPresident, Mr. Henri Djombo, who isalso the country’s Minister of ForestEconomy and Environment, heopened the doors to his residence toprovide a venue for the courses.

For fear of interrupting the coursedue to power cuts, they requested tohave the course be conducted at thePresident’s resident where a generatorensured continuity in power supply.”

RONALD MUGWANYA

Advice from Aleksey Yefremov

ITTF Elite Training CampSaturday 6th - Monday 8th February 2010

“The most important factor at Junior Circuit Training Camps isto give a great deal of attention to players from visiting coun-tries.

Training camps are like a family gathering; it’s really goodto see a New Zealand boy practise with an Egyptian girl or aplayer from Djibouti or Ghana. It helps young players assumeresponsibility and gain confidence.”

ALEXEY YEFREMOV

CÔTE D’IVOIREBasic Umpires, Referees & Tournament Organiser’s CourseSaturday 21st September - Thursday 1st October 2009

“The group had an average age of less than 30 years andcomprised 12 men and eight women; it is a positive move tosee the younger generation becoming involved in officiating.In many parts of the world the vast majority of umpires andreferees are of rather more mature years.”

PATRICK RINGEL

Course members with Patrick Ringel

A break in proceedings for course members in Congo Brazzaville

CENTRAFRIQUEITTF/PTT Level One CourseMonday 2nd - Sunday 8th November 2009

“In Bangui there are 10 table tennis clubs playing in a league; the aim for thefuture is to develop the sport outside of the capital and a program is beingdeveloped in order to promote table tennis as part of the school curriculum.A main focus of the course was to enhance the creativity of future coaches,so that table tennis can be promoted even where there are no table tennistables available.”

ERIC DUDUC

MADAGASCARITTF Level One CourseMonday 4th - Sunday 10th May 2009

“I have been involved in table tennis for over forty years; now, I have agreater understanding, I intend to pass on the knowledge to the young play-ers in the leagues in my area.”

MANOU

Manou was a student on the course led by Kaka Lawson who has travelled170 kilometres to be present in Antananarivo

A Positive ResponseREACTION


Ready to start teaching table tennis

GAMBIAITTF Training CampSaturday 3rd - Wednesday 7th April 2010

“We went to the National Stadiumwhich was built in the 1970s by theChinese Government employingworkers from China as a present toThe Gambia; on the first day therewere journalists, the second daytelevision and the third the radio.

A total of 26 players startedthe course but news spread fastand more came, an extra 15 play-ers were present at some of thesessions!”

RAMON ORTEGA MONTES

ETHIOPIAITTF/PTT Level One CourseMonday 11th - Friday 15th January 2010

“It was the first time that a coach-ing course was conducted solelyfor coaches with a disabilities; themost important thing is that theyare going to teach table tennis toeveryone!

I am extremely pleased andhappy to have the opportunity toparticipate in this program becausesport is not only about competi-tion; this time it was about givingchances to work in sport with peo-ple who had disabilities. Now theyare ready to start teaching tabletennis and making their first stepsas beginner coaches, I cannot waitto see them in action!”

ALEJANDRA GABAGLIO

Smiling faces in The Gambia

LESOTHOBasic Umpires, Referees & Tournament Organiser’sCourseThursday 24th September - Sunday 4th October 2009

“The country already boasts one Inter-national Umpire, I am confident that, ifboth, the leadership and the peoplemaintain their momentum as well ascontinue to have ITTF assistance andsupport, the Lesotho Table Tennis Asso-ciation will, in the coming years havesufficiently qualified match officials andalso as be in a position to organize amajor regional championship.”

CYRIL SEN

LIBERIAITTF Level One Course, TrainingCamp and Tournament Organiser’s CourseSaturday 14th - Sunday 22nd March 2009

“The association’s management isaware that only by competing andbeing present in the global table tennisfamily will the know-how that is accu-mulating during the courses come tolife and moreover, show that sport isdefinitely the right vehicle to signifi-cantly contribute to an even brighterdevelopment of the country.”

POLONA CEHOVIN SUSIN

SOUTHAFRICAITTF Level Two CourseMonday 19th - Saturday 24th July 2010

“Coming to Johannesburg I had my ex-perience of an emergency landing!Suddenly we were told that the planewas not able to land because a sign in-dicated the landing wheels were notdown. We circled for 30 minutes; thenthe floor of the plane was opened tohave a check to see if the wheels wheredown! Luckily the wheels were down, asoft landing was possible; the firebrigade with lights flashing, lined thelanding path. Arriving at the gate weunderstood the airport had been closedbecause of us!”

EMANUEL CHRISTIANSSON


Flying the flag in Maseru

Flying the flag in Maseru

A determined group with Polona Cehovin Susin in Liberia

Emanuel Christiansson (centre) with course members in Johannesburg

REACTION

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ASIAN TABLE TENNIS UNIONITTF Development Assistance 2009-2010

COACH EDUCATIONCE

TRAINING CAMPTC


GOODWILL FUNDGF



WOMEN´S COURSEWWG

OTHEROTH

BRUNEI

C H I N A

YEMEN

LAOS

JAPAN

PHILIPPINES

(YEMEN)

THAILAND

BANGLADESH

CAMBODIA

VIETNAM

MALDIVES

SRILANKA

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA

I N D O N E S I A

EASTTIMOR

KOREA DMP

I R A NIRAQ AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

I N D I A

NEPAL

BHUTANKUWAIT

BAHRAIN

QATAR

OMAN

M O N G O L I A

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTANKYRGYZSTAN

TAJIKISTAN

SAUDIARABIA

KOREA REPUBLIC

K A Z A K H S T A N

Socotra

HONG KONG

JORDAN

MACAOMYANMAR

SYRIALEBANON

PALESTINE

UNITED ARABEMIRATES

ISRAEL

WWGTC

TC

TC

TC

TC

TCOS

OS

OS

OTH

OTH

OTH

OTH

URC2 x CE

CE

CE

CE

CE

TCCE

CE

CE

EQM

EQM

EQM

2 x

EQM

EQM

EQM

GF

WWG

WWG

HAN MI JEONG | KOREA REPUBLICITTF World Hopes Team 2010

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CAI ZHENHUA - PRESIDENT ASIAN TABLE TENNIS UNIONI would like to extend my appreciation to the International Table Tennis for theirdecades of effort in helping all continents promote the popularity of table tennis, im-prove the technical level of athletes, as well as enhance the all-round management ofthe game. My priority goes to finding ways to change the unbalanced development sit-uation in Asian table tennis. No one could deny that the only answer lies in pursuingdevelopment, especially among those associations where table tennis is not a bigsport.

Development in all aspects of the current world is an everlasting theme; the con-cept of development is deeply rooted in peoples’ minds. It is as the ITTF DevelopmentMission states, “the ITTF actively promotes table tennis worldwide by creating a struc-tured, sequential and progressive pyramid development and competition structures forathletes, coaches, administrators and match officials, from beginner level to OlympicGames. ” My thanks to Glenn Tepper and Afshin Badiee, the responsible person for de-velopment programs within the ITTF and Asia; also my thanks for the foresight of theInternational Table Tennis Federation for its guidance and co-ordination of activities.

Bridging the Gap


The general objective of Asia'sDevelopment Program is topromote table tennis through-

out the continent and to create op-portunities for players, coaches,umpires and administrators to raisetheir standards.

Meanwhile as the largest, mostpowerful but most imbalanced conti-nent in the world of table tennis, oneof our main goals is to help to decreasethe wide gap between the east andother parts of Asia.

Though this is the most difficult and

BY AFSHIN BADIEEtime consuming part of the job, thereare signs telling us that we are movingin the right direction: a South Asianteam stood in third place at the AsianJunior Championships, a South Asianplayer, Sharath Kamal Achanta, wongold at the United States Open and onthe ITTF Pro Tour in Egypt, players fromcentral Asia have won medals on theITTF Junior Circuit and West Asian play-ers have performed well in Asian Cup.Needless to say that we have still a longroad ahead.

My thanks to the Presidents of boththe International Table Tennis Federa-tion and the Asian Table Tennis Unionfor helping to enrich developmentagreements.

Furthermore in 2010, Youth Campsorganised by the Asian Table TennisUnion were introduced thus motivat-ing our young players and providing afaster route to senior level.

Finally my thanks to all who havesupported; I must thank all staff mem-bers of the International Table TennisFederation and the Asian Table TennisUnion; my thanks to Tony Yue the Sec-retary General of the Asian Table TennisUnion and to Glenn Tepper the Execu-tive Director-Development Programsfor the International Table Tennis Fed-eration.

My thanks for the support everyonehas given in developing table tennis inthe continent of Asia.

Table Tennis development in Bangladesh, a training camp for aspiring players.

Continent of ContrastsGeographically and in terms of population, Asia is the largest continent in the world; it possesses some of planetearth’s most densely populated countries and some of the least inhabited. The diversity is immense and for sport it isvery much a similar scenario, especially when table tennis is under consideration.

ASIA

Cristina Hirici (left) & Bernadette Szocs in traditional dress at the 2009 Bahrain Junior Open


A NEW ENERGYby Glenn Tepper

The world’s elite sit alongsidemany developing nations, whilemany different cultures co-exist.

Undoubtedly the election of Cai Zhen-hua as President of the Asian Table TennisUnion has seen a new energy, typical of hisplaying style, enter into the Asia region.

In addition to the traditional develop-ment projects, 2009-2010 has seen YouthTraining Camps introduced; the aim of thecamps being to help elite juniors from de-veloping nations bridge the gap to seniorlevels. Also, a marketing course was held atthe Asian Junior Championships.

CommitmentThe commitment of the Asian Table TennisUnion, China and Cai Zhenhua personally,to assist development in Asia, is exempli-fied by the fact that this year the “match-ing funds” of the agreement between theAsian Table Tennis Union and the Interna-tional Table Tennis Federation, were pro-vided by China in the form of equipmentassistance to all regions.

There are many success stories in Asia,other than those known well to all of uslike China, Korea and Japan. India, with abooming economy, is one of the most ac-tive countries on the ITTF Pro Tour and ITTFJunior Circuit as well as hosting majorevents such as the Commonwealth Games,the ITTF Junior Circuit Finals and the GlobalCadet Challenge.

In comparison, Bahrain is small in sizebut big in motivation. Led by the inspira-tional Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al-Khal-ifa, the small Gulf country has hosted anITTF Junior Circuit tournament annually,the Arab Championships and in 2011, theWorld Junior Championships. There aremore, two of particular note.

BANGLADESHby Arif Khan

Table Tennis has always been one of themajor sports in Bangladesh, in the late1980s they were one of the stronger teamsin South Asia. However, from the early1990s to the middle of 2000 that progressfor some reason slowed down drastically.

Now since 2007 the Bangladesh TableTennis Federation has embarked on a new

journey of development to welcome backBangladesh as a strong table tennis playingnation in Asia and then in the world. In thelast five years they have held two ITTFLevel One courses organized, first in 2006conducted by Marles Martins of Brazil andthen in 2007 led by Arif Khan of Pakistan.In 2008 they also organized an ITTF train-ing camp under the direction of India’sKamlesh Metha.

Also, while generating resources ontheir own they have been strongly sup-ported by AB Bank (a local bank) and haveso far successfully been able to conductthree coaching and training camps in 2008,2009 and 2010 for their national senior andjunior players.

ResultsAlready the results have started to show inthe form of medals at international tour-naments. The driving force behind all thishas been the senior most official and therock of Bangladesh Table Tennis Federa-tion, their General Secretary Shamsul Alam.

He has been supported by the JointSecretary Mr. Saadi, Vice President Mr.Muneer and the dedicated officials ofBangladesh Table Tennis Federation. SinceShamsul Alam took over again in 2007 hehas be8.5December this year and to hostthe South Asian Junior championship andthe Bangladesh Open next year. The Na-tional Sports Council and in particular theMinistry for Youth and Sports of

Outstanding FacilityBangladesh has done a fantastic job bybuilding a beautiful air-conditioned facilitywhich is now being used by the table ten-nis and badminton federations jointly and

has already become the hub of table tennisactivities.

Now the Bangladesh Table Tennis Fed-eration is under the leadership of its newPresident Mr. Md. Abdul Karim who is alsothe Principle Secretary to the Prime Minis-ter of Bangladesh and no doubt table ten-nis in the country will move forward withmore even more determination.

MONGOLIAby Georg Silberschmidt

Some years ago, in Mongolia, the eighthbiggest country on earth but with thefewest inhabitants per square kilometre(1.9) on earth, there have been three pop-ular sports with a long history: horse rid-ing, wrestling and archery.

At the Olympic Games in Beijing, Mon-golia won two gold medals, one in Judoand the other in Boxing.

However, there is another sport in thecountry conquered in the fourteenth cen-tury by Ghengis Khan; it is Table Tennis!

Table Tennis has become very popularduring the last few years for different rea-sons. The Board of the Association aresome very important businessmen as wellas political leaders.

In addition they have a general secre-tary, named Amarsanaa Chimeddorj who isdoing a great job.

Therefore, with his educational back-ground, business experiences from someyears in Europe and perfect English he hasmany innovative ideas. He is bringing asound structure into the association and isa great networker.

Hosted CoursesAlso, the ITTF Development Program hassupported during the last four years.

Mongolia has hosted an ITTF level Onecourse, an Olympic solidarity course, anITTF level Two course and has received apackage of eight table tennis tables andnets, 80 rackets and eight gross of ballssponsored by Stag. However, they have or-ganised a great deal themselves.

The highlight of course was the perfectorganisation of the 1st Asian StudentChampionships in 2008, where more than500 spectators joined the venue every dayand different television stations broadcaststhe event live.

CelebrationIn October 2009, Amra organized a specialvenue to celebrate the 50th anniversary ofthe association, an international competi-tion with teams from China, Russia andKazakstan. At the end of the competition,there was a Mongolian dinner for all thepast national players and officials.

Important persons from the govern-ment and companies as well as the Presi-dent of the National Olympic Committeewere present. A huge tombola was organ-ized to raise fund for further activities.

Good work will always bring some ben-efits! At the Liebherr World Team Champi-onships in Moscow, the MongolianWomen’s Team finished in second place inFourth Division and climbed to the ThirdDivision.

You can be sure, this is only the begin-ning of a bright future for this countrywhere still have many Nomads living inGers, a special kind of tent!

In 2010 Mongolia hosted an ITTF Level Two course


Wide Variety of CoursesREACTION


IRAQITTF/PTT Level OneCourseSaturday 7th -Tuesday 17th November 2009

“Arabs, Kurds, Turkmenistans,Sonies, Sheiaa and Christians, alljoined efforts to send a clearmessage of peace and toleranceto the whole world, and again,the vehicle was table tennis!

A total of 24 students, in-cluding three women, gatheredin Sulaymaniyah, a lovely citysurrounded by an endless seriesof huge mountains city in thenorth of the country.”

AHMED DAWLATLY

Basic Umpires & Referees CourseSaturday 8th - Thursday 13th May 2010

“I explained the developmentplans of the International TableTennis Federation and the ITTFUmpires and Referees Commit-tee in general. The course shouldhave been six hours per day butparticipants were so active andmotivated that each day so farhas been nine hours a day.

Furthermore, none showedsigns of being tired; one impor-tant point was the everydaypresence of the local authori-ties.”

MOHAMED BASSYOUNI

MALAYSIANational Referees CourseThursday 17th - Saturday 19th December 2009

“A number of the participants came from fairly distant places, with twotravelling being more than a thousand kilometers from their homes toattend the course, new friendships were made and table tennis matterswere discussed into the late evening.

At the request of the participants, sessions were extended so as toaccommodate the many questions and discussions on rules and situationsfaced by a Referee. Certainly this augurs well for the game in Malaysiaand will, I believe, help raise the quality of the competitions played inthe country.”

CYRIL SEN

THAILANDITTF Marketing CourseThursday 22nd - Sunday 24th July 2010

“The goal of the course was to help associations understand better whatis needed to commercialize the sport in their countries so they can bemore financially independent and secure, it is an important goal in thedevelopment of the sport in any country. It has been decided to continuea similar path for 2011 and the ITTF will develop a Marketing AwarenessPlan with a long term strategic vision of helping to educate associationsto further understand the power and importance of marketing and com-mercializing its activities for the long term sustainable benefit of thesport.”

STEVE DAINTON

A proud group of students with Ahmed Dawlatly (centre) at the ITTF/PTT Level One Course

Aspiring umpires and referees in Iraq


JORDANITTF/PTT Level One CourseMonday 10th - Wednesday 19th August 2009

“Our small caravan stopped at theAl Talbeya camp for refugees,where the Jordan Table TennisFederation has chosen to establishone of its centres to serve a com-munity of about 10,000 people.Immediately, 25 girls applied fortable tennis on the opening day;it must be the quickest responseever and endorses the value ofthe programme being promotedby the Jordan Table Tennis Feder-ation.”

AHMED DAWLATLY

MALDIVESITTF Level One CourseFriday 26th March - Friday 2nd April 2010

“Nearly 5,000 people live in the LhavianiAtoll Naifaru, they have been promotingthe course for over one year, the coursemembers from Male had to travel by sea!

They showed great commitment andinterest in playing table tennis; almost130 students attended the camp. If wecan get some coaches and physical educa-tion teachers from different atolls and is-lands, then we will train and educatethem under a systematic coaching pro-gram; thus providing help to the Atolls,our aim must be to have at least onecoach in each Atoll.”

WAJIRA MADHUSHANKA

SRI LANKAITTF TRAINING CAMPFriday 17th - Sunday 19th July 2009

“The interest of the children for tabletennis was most visible; they playeduntil it was too dark to see the ball. Onthe third day when we went to thecamp, we found out that one table ten-nis table had been moved to anotherroom; when asked the reason for mov-ing the table there, the children whowere playing at that time said that theycould get a little light from the road-side lights in that room so they movedthe table and played at night!””

DILMINI DIRECKZE

Course members in Jordan

Time to stretch in the Maldives

Help for an aspiring young player from Dilmini Direckze

REACTION

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CYPRUS

ISRAEL

FAROEISLANDS

LUXEMBOURGGUERNSEYJERSEY

NORWAY

FRANCE

GERMANY

SPAIN

ICELAND

ENGLAND

LIECHTENSTEIN

CZECH REP.

AUSTRIAHUNGARY

ROMANIA

ALBANIA

BELARUS

UKRAINE

SERBIA

CROATIASLOVENIA

TURKEY

BELGIUM

POLAND

BULGARIA

MACEDONIA

PORTUGAL AZERBAIJANARMENIA

KOSOVO

RUSSIA

LATVIA

ESTONIA

FINLAND

SWEDEN

ITALY

SWITZERLAND

BOSNIAHERZEGOVINA

GREECE

ANDORRA

MALTA

MONTENEGRO

LITHUANIA

EUROPEAN TABLE TENNIS UNIONITTF Development Assistance 2009-2010

TC

TC

TC

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TC2 x

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3 x TC2 x CE

2 xCE

3 x CE

CE

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INSANA MAKHAURI | LATVIAITTF World Hopes Team 2010

COACH EDUCATIONCE

TRAINING CAMPTC


GOODWILL FUNDGF



WOMEN´S COURSEWWG

OTHEROTH

* CHINA TRAINING CAMP TC

STEFANO BOSI - PRESIDENT EUROPEAN TABLE TENNIS UNIONThe Eurokids project has proved a big success and has been highly appreciated, inparticular, by our smaller associations, this is a reason why it has been a permanentproject in our Development Programme since 2001.

We also continue with assistance packages, a service granting table tennis equip-ment to associations free of charge. What makes us especially proud is that thenewly developed concept, the Olympic Project 2012-2020, has been extremely wellreceived by our member Associations. The project is still in its early days and isbeing monitored and updated constantly.

The Experts Group in charge of it is always looking for new and innovative waysof improvement. Last year the first combined training camps with Europe and Chinawere organised and for the first time in European table tennis history, the ETTU or-ganised two talent identification camps with more than 150 young people partici-pating in total in the two camps. We are looking forward to establishing additionalconcepts in order to provide even better conditions for development of table tennisin the Old Continent.

Meeting Needs


The development of Table Ten-nis in all parts of Europe is theultimate objective of the Euro-

pean Table Tennis Union. Within its long-term strategy the

Continental Union is committed to en-courage, co-ordinate and provide thebest possible opportunities for a soundand comprehensive development ofplayers; from beginner to world classperformers, coaches and officials.

Moreover, the European Table Ten-nis Union endeavours to assist in a sys-tematic and up-to-date development ofthe structure of its member associa-tions. The aim is to facilitate the im-

BY POLONA CEHOVIN SUSINprovement and growth in all aspects oftable tennis to the very highest levelspossible.

In the last two years the Develop-ment Programme in Europe has under-gone a major restructuring processwhereby priority areas of involvementhave been identified, in particular edu-cation of coaches and officials as well asperformance and excellence of players.

The newly launched Olympic Projectcomprises a Talent Identification Pro-gramme, a comprehensive programmefor the 2016 Olympic Selection and Ed-ucation of Coaches, as well as an An-nual Coaching Conference.

Furthermore, the very popular andthe long-standing Eurokids project sawits 25th meeting in October 2010; it isstill a very strong initiative.

Eurokids targets the most promisinggirls and boys under 13 years of agefrom all over Europe. The main inten-tion is to give to talented young playersfrom all member Associations the op-portunity for several joint trainingcamps at the best European trainingcentres.

It creates grounds for young playersand their coaches to upgrade theirknowledge and experience in order tobecome future champions.

In addition, the Continental Devel-opment Plan involves activities initiatedby the Women’s Working Group as wellas with the Assistance Programme.

The latter offers valuable support informs of courses, camps or equipmentpackages to several National Associa-tions every year.

Belgium’s Marc Closset (left) & Croatia’s Andrej Gacina (right) gave a demonstration at the Talent Identification Camp in Marpingen in August 2009

The small landlocked mountainous country of Armenia, located inthe Caucasians where Eastern Europe and West Asia meet, stagedits first ever coaching course in 2010; an ITTF/PTT Level One Course,

supported by Olympic Solidarity.The cause of the sudden wakeup call is the new leadership that was elected

in March 2010; it immediately started working on a comprehensive develop-ment plan.

“I know we have a lot of knowledge and experience in Armenia but wehave to mobilize all the resources, work on a good plan and then hard workmust follow”, explained Levon Grigoryan, the newly elected President. “It willnot be easy but we expect the first medals from the European Youth Champi-onships to arrive in Armenia in a few years time,”

Armenia has a long and very successful tradition in table tennis; the SovietUnion Team almost always possessed at least one Armenian player, so the boldwords of the President are very much in place. Elmira Antonjan and Bagrat Bur-nazyan were both members of the Soviet Union team.

Long-term and Ambitious PlansThe Coaches Course was just one of the first measures undertaken by the

new leadership, which has set up a clear vision of development, to concentrateon young, talented players. The next step will be education of umpires and ref-erees; since the next big target is to organize international events thus activelypromote table tennis in order to become the number one sport in the country.

“Table tennis is still very popular in Armenia, people enjoy watching thesport, especially ladies”, added Grigoryan.

The outstanding achievements of Elmira Antonjan and Bagrat Burnazyanbelong to the past, to the times of the former Soviet Union but will hopefullythey be challenged soon as a new generation of Armenian players is coming tothe floor.

Watch Armenia; a exciting future lies ahead.

ARMENIA

OLYMPIC PROJECTChina: Wednesday 12th - Saturday 22nd August 2009

“A huge step forward; the ten days overhere were absolutely first class and veryvaluable. The European coaches had manyinteresting discussions and meetings withthe coaches of the Chinese A Team. I thinkwe have a big chance now to learn; theyare very open to support Europe.”

JORG BITZIGEIO

CONFERENCECroatia: Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd November 2009

“In the early 1970s I was the head coachfor Yugoslavia, the Chinese came andasked us for technical help, we passedthem the knowledge about top spin. Nowthe roles have changed; we need to stepforward, the only way is the co-operation.”

RADIVOJ HUDETZ

“I have been preparing my presentationfor two weeks, with the help of a profes-sional translator and a Power Point expert,I was quite nervous. It was the first timethat a national coach from China has cometo Europe to exchange ideas; the ChineseTable Tennis Association is interested inchanging the situation where China alwayswins. We are proud of our achievementsbut it does not make table tennis so attrac-tive. In any case it is also benefits China, aswe are exchanging knowledge; it was avery good conference as there were manycoaches from different associations.”

LI XIAODONG

TRAINING CAMPLithuania: Thursday 19th - Sunday 22nd November 2009

“We practised twice a day about threehours per day and I organized the pro-gramme in liaison with the local coaches.The main points were using the forehand,footwork, placement, the passive game andtopspin; additionally we looked at the grip,service return, physical work and decisionsas when to use the forehand or backhand.In the evening I discussed with the coachesplans for a year, preparation for big tourna-ments, service return training, rackets andother aspects that concern young players.The players were motivated, I think thegirls have a good future and I think theboy, Medordas Stankevicius, is very good;he is born in 2000.”

MARTIN ADOMEITThe future for Armenia


TALENT IDENTIFICATION CAMPSItaly December 2009“My assistant coaches and myself are pleased with the condi-tions we were offered in the Ge Tur Sport and Tourism Villagebut above all it’s always satisfying to receive positive feed-back from the coaches, who accompanied their promisingprotégées.”

ISTVAN KORPA

Hungary: Sunday 8th - Saturday 14th August 2010

“There is very good talent here, especially among the girls.”

RICHARD PRAUSE

Germany Monday 10th - Sunday 17th August 2009

“After having observed more than 150 young talented youngplayers from more than 30 member associations the TalentIdentification Programme Head Coach, Istvan Korpa, has ahard job selecting the most promising ones; they will becomemembers of the next European Olympic selection. Hopefully,this will be our new generation of players, who will raise thelevel of European table tennis to where it once stood.”

POLONA CEHOVIN SUSIN

EUROKIDS Romania: Tuesday 24th - Monday 30th November 2009

“I was very pleased with the final outcome of the camp as inspite of the language barriers we were able to strengthen theteam of players, the biggest praise goes to the coaches. Theywere just perfect. I’m also very thankful to the organizer forproviding us with excellent conditions.”

BRANKA BATINIC

Italy: Sunday 23rd May - Sunday 31st May 2010

“A Eurokids Camp is a lot more than just a table tennis camp,it’s a place where lifelong friendships begin. It’s a place wherean indefatigable Head Coach (Branka Batinic) gives all she’sgot to ensure the future of European table tennis, it’s a placewhere not only the kids but the coaches also learn and ac-tively participate; Branka makes it a point that they join inthe camp, from the early morning warm-up until the lateevening stretching session.”

LILAMANI DE SOYSA

Richard Prause in Hungary’s Kiskunfelegyhaza, August 2010.

REACTION

COACHING COURSES Greece: Friday 6th - Sunday 8th November 2009

“All were very positive, perhaps more so because it was thefirst such high level coaching seminar to be held in Greece.The schedule was three days with two sessions per day, sixhours daily; much discussions taking place during free time.The most important topics were the techniques required foroffensive and defensive strokes, movement and footwork, ad-vanced services, training exercises for different stages ofpreparation, multi-ball training and the aspects of differentstyle of players. We completed all aspects of the programmeand I am very satisfied with the achievements of all the Greekcoaches.”

ALEKSEY YEFREMOV

Greece: Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th April 2010.

“Greece has recently decided to restructure their coach edu-cation system; the first level was conducted by Mrs KatySpanou last year. Thanks to assistance from ETTU and ITTF,they have now finalised four seminars for the second leveland in May, a Level Three Course will be held in Marathon. Atotal of 45 students attended the course in Athens, comingfrom throughout Greece. The atmosphere was very positiveand the participants showed a lot of interest in the subjectsthat were covered; it was clear that there was a lot of knowl-edge in the group and thus discussions were invaluable.”


Greece: Friday 7th - Sunday 9th May 2010

“The areas covered included multiball practice, footwork,serve end receive and tactics. In addition the subject of nutri-tion was addressed by George Pittas with Michael Katsikadelispresenting a thesis on table tennis. The President of the Hel-lenic Table Tennis Federation, Mr. Emmanuel Kolibadis, wasalso present during the course; he welcomed everyone to thegathering.”

JAN BERNER

The course conducted by Jan Berner was one of several held in Greece


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GRENADA

BARBADOS

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ANGUILLAST. KITTS AND NEVIS

HAITI

CUBA

PERU

COLOMBIA

VENEZUELA

GUYANA

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CHILE

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ITTF Development Assistance 2009-2010

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AARON WILSON | TRINIDAD & TOBAGOITTF World Hopes Team 2010

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JAIRO ORLANDO PAEZ - PRESIDENT LATIN AMERICAN TABLE TENNIS UNIONThe ITTF Development Program 2009-2010, with particular reference to Latin Amer-ica, has most certainly benefited the young people who live in the various countriesthat form the continent. Every day we see the technical level of the players rise;they are gradually approaching the standard of players from the countries in theworld that are highly developed in the sport of table tennis. Also, the promotion ofour sport is becoming better and that has been made possible to a great extentthrough the efforts of the ITTF Development Programme.

I appreciate the great efforts made by Ing Melecio Rivera, who has now been pro-moted to Vice President of the International Table Tennis Federation and to EvelioAlvarez, Development Director of the Latin American Table Tennis Union; both havefaced challenges, met those challenges and enhanced our sport.

My thanks to them and to all the experts who have visited Latin American andconducted courses; their advice and assistance has helped motivate countries inLatin America to strive for higher goals. I am most confident that the progress madein recent years will continue.

Taking Full Advantage


A Marketing Course was held in El Salvador in November 2009, a new innovation for the ITTF Development Programme

There is no doubt that LatinAmerica is one of the Conti-nents that takes full advan-

tage of the ITTF DevelopmentProgram.

Statistics advise that is the regionwhere the most activities are held. Theagreement between the Latin AmericanTable Tennis Union and the Interna-tional Table Tennis Federation allowsthem to organize 17 courses a year plusthe training camps before the globaljunior circuit events.

The 2009 -10 period saw them in-crease to 36 associations with the inclu-sion of Cayman Islands and Anguilla,

BY LEANDRO OLVECHboth from the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, for the second time, theITTF World Junior Championships wereheld in Latin America, this time inColombia in 2009 and boasting Volk-swagen as the title sponsor.

The Global Junior Circuit is now wellestablished with six events per year andwith every possibility of increasing. Par-ticular attention has been paid to theinclusion of athletes with a disability,more than half of the member associa-tions have hosted a course that includesPara Table Tennis education.

Women´s development is high onthe agenda of the Latin American TableTennis Union with multiple courses andconferences having ben held through-out the continent.

The high number of programmes

pursued have been made possiblethanks to very positive leadership.

Melecio Rivera, who is now a mem-ber of the ITTF Executive Committee,very much took the lead and he hasbeen followed by Colombia’s JairoPaez, recently elected to the position ofPresident of the Latin American TableTennis Union and the man who master-minded the Volkswagen World JuniorChampionships in Cartagena de Indiasin December 2009.

It was a tournament that proved ex-tremely successful and set new stan-dards not only for the event but for thecountry of Colombia.

There was a challenge, the chal-lenge was met and that is very muchLatin America. Facing new challengesand setting new targets.

The speed of growth in Belize is ar-guably as fast, if not faster, thananywhere else in the world. In

less than two years, a sound organiza-tional structure under Arturo “Tux”Vasquez, the President, has been putin place.

Situated in Central America, formerlyknown as British Honduras and thereforeEnglish speaking; Belize, a country withjust over 300,000 inhabitants, is very muchat the vanguard with regards to the devel-opment of table tennis.

Accepted they do not have players whoas yet can grace the world stage and con-tend for the highest honours in the sportbut when it comes to innovation, newideas and increasing participation; thentheir world ranking is amongst the elite.

EquipmentEquipment is one of the first issues to facefor a new federation.

In 2008, Belize received six tables, rack-ets and balls from the International TableTennis Federation; then thanks to sponsor-ship from local company RF&G Insurance,the National Association has purchased 20Elite tables. Ten of those tables are now inplace in the “home of table tennis”, theBelize Elementary School; the remaining 10elite and six hobby tables are being distrib-uted to schools and affiliated clubs in orderto expand the facilities country wide.

“After several conversations with avery energetic and enthusiastic parentsfrom Holy Redeemer Primary School in Be-lize City, the reality of introducing tabletennis to the students began this Satur-day”, said Arturo “Tux” Vasquez. “The par-ents were able to raise enough funds toacquire three table tennis tables for theschool.”

Table tennis tables in place, coachingimmediately followed.

“Efforts between the parents and thenational association resulted in the firstsession for the children”, continued ArturoVasquez. “Experienced members of the Be-lize Table Tennis Association were on handto provide coaching and encouragement tothese very curious minded children.”

Co-operation, all parties helped andagain Belize set a fine example.

“The players were aged seven to about14, they were all very excited to be a partof this event”, explained Arturo Vasquez.“After the session, the children were pro-

BELIZE

An Example to AllFormed in February 2008 and elected unanimously as a member of the International TableTennis Federation, the extremely active Belize Table Tennis Association is promoting tabletennis with innovative and well organized programs; they are setting a fine example.

BY THE EDITOR

vided with hand outs with some printedtips on the “Basics of Table Tennis” plusfree DVD's and application forms to be-come members of the Association.”

CoachingIn 2009, Sweden’s Marcus Gustafsson wassent by the ITTF Development Program tolead a coaching course, just a few weeksafter that the introduction of the cadetage group in Belize.

Participants came from the various dis-tricts in Belize plus the National SportsCouncil, Primary Schools, Kolbe Founda-tion, Stella Maris School, as well as severalof the nation’s leading players. The courseproved a great success.

OfficialsOne effect is that the association needsmore qualified officials, so also in 2009 andunder the auspices of the ITTF Develop-ment Program, Costa Rica’s FernandoAguilar visited Belize in order to give ahelping hand.

The aim was to motivate members ofthe association to assume the mantle ofumpire and referee. The fact that Belizenow has a number of qualified officials isowing to those Basic Umpires and RefereesCourse organized.

“All members of the Tournament Com-mittee are Certified ITTF Basic Certified

Umpires & Referees, as well as Level TwoLatin American Table Tennis Union Um-pires”, explained Arturo Vasquez.

International LinksAt the Latin American Annual GeneralMeeting in El Salvador, Arturo Vasquez wasable to invite Melecio Rivera, former Presi-dent of the Latin American Table TennisUnion and Glenn Tepper, ITTF Executive Di-rector-Development to visit Belize and wit-ness the current healthy situation at firsthand.

“While still probably close to the bestplayer in Belize still, his focus now is verymuch on building a new generation of Be-lize table tennis players and he is leavingno stone unturned to achieve the goal”,explained Glenn Tepper, who with MelecioRivera enjoyed a very intensive few days inBelize. Meetings were held with the Na-tional Sports Council, the National OlympicCommittee, the Belize Table Tennis Associ-ation Executive Committee and BelizeTable Tennis Association members, as wellas attending newspaper interviews andtwo television chat shows, each highlight-ing table tennis for 30 minutes.

The Belize Table Tennis Association hasnow some enough equipment to start, ITTFcertified coaches, Officials, a ranking sys-tem in place and a website. For sure, Ar-turo Vasquez is not letting the grass growunder his feet.

Members of the ITTF Level One Coaches Course led by Marcus Gustafsson


Talent AboundsTRINIDAD & TOBAGOWednesday 14th July - Monday 26th July 2010

“In 2008, when I was asked to go to Trinidad and Tobago for theDevelopment Program, I accepted; three days later I received theoffer to go to the Olympic Games as masseur of the National Span-ish Team.

I told them, no chance because I am going to the Caribbean. Iwas a little bit sad but after the experience, I was very happy I de-cided to go to Trinidad and Tobago, because I learnt a lot, and metmany people; I enjoyed my time in those islands so I was veryhappy to return to the Caribbean and to Grenada.”

RAMON ORTEGA MONTES

“I have begun to change the grip as you told me during the course,now I am seeing better results and more possibilities in my game; Ithink if we teach children, we, as coaches, must sacrifice our gameand try to play with very good technique so the players copy us, in-stead of playing in bad technique.

It is exactly what I have been trying to teach during all thecourses, you must change your thinking and begin to think ascoach not as player, so I´m very happy.”

CARL FELIX (COURSE PARTICIPANT)

JAMAICAMonday 14th to Saturday 19th December 2009

VOLKSWAGEN WORLDJUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPSWednesday 9th - Wednesday 16th December 2009

“Another highlight of the course was the demonstration ofphysical exercises presented by Mickey Ruben, the coach assis-tant and physiotherapist of Usain Bolt, who trained every dayjust a stone’s throw away from the venue, the three timesOlympic champion and world record holder, played table ten-nis in Kingston in a club in his younger years but didn’t cometo practice as he felt his co-ordination was not in a goodshape! Anyway, by the end of the course, the coaches wereconvinced that there is no reason why in the future theyshould not follow in the paths of their celebrated track andfield athletes. That's indeed good news for a prosperity fu-ture for Jamaican table tennis!”

GEORG SILBERSCHMIDT

“There is talent everywhere in the world; what is needed isknowledge to develop that talent.”

PETER KARLSSON

NETHERLANDSANTILLESMonday 19th to Friday 23rd October 2009

“I was been really surprised when I arrived to the venue, Curacaohas a permanent table tennis venue with capacity for five tablesand four of them are showcase style!

The Netherlands Antilles was almost inactive in recentyears in the sport of table tennis but a couple of natives took thecharge of the Federation two years ago, they are Franklyn McLeodand his wife Edith, they are on their 70s but work with the energyof teenagers, this couple show up every day at the table tenniscentre, coach the children and also the national team.”

LEANDRO OLVECH

Exercising good control in Jamaica

Paraguay’s Marcelo Aguirre endorses the point made by Peter Karlsson


REACTION

Dedication to DutyBARBADOS

Multi-ball practice in Barbados

Monday 21st - Sunday 27th September 2009

“I couldn’t believe when one of the participants, Mark-AnthonyDowell, told me that every day during the course he was workingall night and participating in the course during the day. That is lovefor table tennis and a true desire to become a good coach!”

ALEJANDRA GABAGLIO

VENEZUELAWednesday 8th - Tuesday 14th September 2010

“Beauty is an important concern for women in Venezuela, it isnot by chance that Venezuela has won the Miss Universe con-test on four occasions. Participants were delighted when theyheard about all the changes proposed by table tennis manu-facturers to change women’s clothes and the new possibilitiesthey have for their women’s team; during the seven dayseveryone worked hard but of course they did not lose the ele-ment of glamour.”

ALEJANDRA GABAGLIO

GUATEMALATuesday 3rd August 2010

“The player had to build up his or her own exercise and try toachieve the game scheme suitable for the strong point.”


ST VINCENT &THE GRENADINESFriday 30th July - Friday 13th August 2010

“Keith Joseph Treasurer of St Vincent and the Grenadines Na-tional Olympic Committee explained that he would makeevery effort to support table tennis. He stated clearly that hewished to apply for an ITTF Level Two Coaches Course.”

AHMED DAWLATLY

ST KITTS & NEVISSunday 22nd - Friday 27th August 2010

“Also, they have agreed to help develop table tennis in St. Kittsand Nevis even more, they plan to broadcast the ITTF Pro tourevents in the future.”

GEORG SILBERSCHMIDT

COLOMBIA

Concentration in Colombia

September 2010

“Our aim is to provide different healthy activities for the childrenin for their spare time; table tennis is one of them.”

JUAN BAUTISTA PIQUE, COLOMBIANITOS PROGRAMS AND SOCIAL AREA DIRECTOR CORPORATE PROJECTS DIRECTOR.


REACTION

URUGUAY

ITTF Initiatives Foster Growthby Evelio Alvarez, Latin American Table Tennis Union Development Officer

Lovers of Table Tennis in Latin America, after 67 years of organized play, mostcertainly admire and welcome the stimulating P4 philosophy that was bril-liantly implemented by the International Table Tennis Federation and sup-

ported by the Development Program. Now, from small beginnings well over half a century ago, a total of 36 countries in our

region are members of the International Table Tennis Federation.I congratulate this noble and positive initiative of our parent organization, it has allowed

us to popularize our sport breaking down barriers to establish a new era using a ball and aracket. Structures have been strengthened, equipment has been provided and human re-sources have made progress possible.

Success has been possible with everyone being treated on an equal footing. There hasbeen no distinction with regards to race, gender or language.

My thanks to those who have supported from other continents; their help has enabledLatin America to make progress.To all, my congratulations

Laura Viera a student on the course led by Alejandra Gabaglio

ARUBAMonday 12th to Saturday 17th October 2009.

“We were working from Monday to Saturday, people had to wakeup in the morning to go to work, then they came to the coursefrom 5.30pm to 10.30pm every evening; on Saturday we started at8.00am and finished at 1.30pm.

Then Remy de Lange, a real table tennis fan who assisted meduring the course took me to a short sightseeing tour through theIsland; suddenly he received a phone call, it was the National coachRudy Raga saying that they will train that afternoon with the na-tional team as they didn´t train during the week; those guys arereal table tennis fans.”

LEANDRO OLVECH

Saturday 10th - Wednesday 14th October 2009

“The Uruguayan coaches were very interested in being part of theITTF Coach Accreditation system and wanted to have the possibilityalso attend the next levels and continue their education, they wantto reach the highest level.

Present on the course were several very experienced coachesand young players who want to become future coaches; a goodcombination for the sharing knowledge, giving advice and encour-aging questions. Also, the Para Table Tennis component was fol-lowed with great attention as everything was new for most ofthem, how to use the wheelchair, how to perform the techniques.They wanted to feel the sensations to know each detail to pass onto their future players.

The National Federation has been led for more than 25 yearsfor Roberto Miglietti. He explained that to develop sport inUruguay needs a high degree of personal work and dedica-tion; as he said you must put on your working clothes.”

ALEJANDRA GABAGLIO Raymond de Lange (left) and Andy Gomez (right) in Puerto Rico


REACTION

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ITTF Development Assistance 2009-2010

NORTH AMERICAN TABLE TENNIS UNION

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COACH EDUCATIONCE

TRAINING CAMPTC


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MIKE CAVANAUGH - PRESIDENT NORTH AMERICAN TABLE TENNIS UNIONIn my brief experience with the International Table Tennis Federation, I have been veryfavourably impressed with their global vision and support for the development of youth.

In 2009 and 2010 the North American Table Tennis Union continued to benefit from theITTF Development Program in ways that allows our young athletes to experience trainingand competition that will not only improve their skills in the short term but also encouragesthem to set their goals and standards to ever higher levels.

It ignites the flame within and reinforces the athletes in their individual dream to be thebest that they can be.

The Right Direction


The North American subcontinentis a quite unique region wherethe active national federations

BY GLENN TEPPERnumber just two, they are the largegeographical areas of the UnitedStates of America and Canada.

In terms of development their aim isquite clear, to promote a new generationof players; for that reason the stress of the

activities is to bring young players from thetwo countries to participate in trainingcamps.

Camps have been held in China, and inLatin America in addition to North Americabased camps.

Anqi Luo, one of Canada’s promising young players

U.S.A.


North America’s FutureIt is now a lifetime since the United States of America competed for the highest honours inthe sport of table tennis, we have to look back to the 1930s; however, there is now a newand exciting group of young players who look to set to establish new standards and reju-venate the sport in a part of the world where undoubtedly there is a wealth of talent.

The United States is a country withhuge potential. Sports which aresuccessful in the country gener-

ally have access to sponsorship andfunding of which others can onlydream. It assists greatly worldwidegrowth.

Recently the United States Table TennisAssociation has undergone major politicaland structural changes and has hosted theWorld Junior Championships; it was thehome for the prestigious event in 2007.

Now, there are many positive indica-tors coming out of the United States underthe leadership of Mike Cavanaugh, theChief Executive Officer.

The launch of SPIN Table Tennis Night-club by actor Susan Sarandon has madetable tennis the “next big thing” in theUnited States. Meanwhile, talented juniorsAriel Hsing and Lily Zhang are becominghousehold names with regular appear-ances on television variety shows; bothhave played against the likes of WarrenBuffet and Bill Gates.

Furthermore, in a joint project with the

BY GLENN TEPPER

ITTF Development Department, the UnitedStates Table Tennis Association is workingto introduce the ITTF Coach Accreditationsystem nationally; matters are being led byRichard McAfee, already an experiencedITTF Course Conductor.

Also, the call was made to assist Haiti,following the earthquake, the UnitedStates Table Tennis Association and theirsponsors, responded in a big way providing

38 tables, seven robots, 100 rackets, 200pairs of shoes, 4000 balls, 135 competitionshirts, 25 table tennis books and severalother items, which will no doubt be greatlyappreciated.

Of course, there is much more hap-pening, but everything points in theright direction and the continent looksforward in eagerness to much progressin the coming years.

Ariel Hsing Erica Wu Lily Zhang

The United States and Canadian Girls’ Teams at the Ecuador Junior Open in September 2010

Inspirational ProgramU.S.A.“The 2009-2010 ITTF Developing Program is a major factor and great help indeveloping our young athletes and increase the interest of parents and playersin table tennis. It is an opportunity for our players to train and make friendswith players from other country and raise the training standard.

Sometimes we have to be flexible and adjust programs based on players'needs, domestic calendars, school schedules and I would like to thank all ex-perts and staff from the International Table Tennis Federation for being re-sponsive and accommodating our requests.

I am looking forward to future ITTF Programs to contribute in developing abetter and stronger generation of players in North America.”

TEODOR GHEORGHE (USATT TECHNICAL DIRECTOR)

CANADA“The ITTF Continental Development program has inspired a number of youngCanadian players to participate in training camps in China and with interna-tional junior players in Canada. It is safe to assume that without this programmost of these youngsters would not have bee exposed to international highperformance camps such as the one this year at the Chinese National TrainingCenter in Zhending.

Other parts of the Development Program have helped us to build capacity,e.g., last year's women's referee course in Montreal, Canada.

In general, the program offers important 'seed' funds that the National As-sociation can leverage to raise funds for these high quality activities. We arevery happy to be part of this program.”

TONY KEISENHOFER (CTTA GENERAL DIRECTOR)Teodor Gheorghe, the USATT Technical Director

REACTION


ITTF/PTT LEVEL ONE COACHING COURSESUNDAY 5TH - THURSDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2010

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for the enjoyable experience at the coachingclinic. This was by far, the most pleasurable and memorable experience in Table Tennis I have had . I wish each and everyone of you the best in your endeavours and hope to see you again soon.”

JOEL MITCHELL

Course members with Glenn Tepper at what proved a most successful innovation

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PATRICK GILLMANN - PRESIDENT OCEANIA TABLE TENNIS FEDERATIONIn the last two years, the Oceania Table Tennis Federation’s Development Plan hasmoved to a higher level in relation to high level performance and professional eventmanagement.

There has been close co-operation with the Oceania Development Officer, ScottHouston and the ITTF Executive Director Development, Glenn Tepper. The result isthat standards within the Oceania Table Tennis Federation have risen. Now there aremore coaches and more umpires of a higher level; furthermore, the cadet players inparticular show progress as a result of attending continental training camps and in-ternational tournaments. Also, relationships with National Olympic Committees arestrong, thus more Olympic Solidarity Courses have been possible.

Meanwhile, thanks to the help of Steve Dainton, the ITTF Marketing Director, livetelevision coverage has been secured for the Oceania Cup in 2011.

Most certainly it has been two tremendous years for the expansion of our sportand unquestionably that trend is set to continue.

Active and Productive


Highly active and very productiveis an accurate summation forthe Oceania Development Pro-

gram throughout 2009 and 2010. Strong relationships have been built up

between the Oceania Table Tennis Federa-tion and the National Olympic Committeeswithin Oceania since the inception of theOceania Development Program in 1999.

It is a point that is underlined by thefact that there has been a one hundred percent success rate in securing Olympic Soli-darity Courses over the past two years incountries that have a National OlympicCommittee. In 2009 eight Olympic Solidar-ity Courses were conducted in Kiribati, Fed-erated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands,Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, Palau, and Guam. In2010 once again eight Olympic SolidarityCourses were held in Kiribati, Nauru, Palau,Fiji, Guam, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu.

The Oceania members that do not haveNational Olympic Committees have notbeen neglected either. In 2009, develop-ment visits were conducted in New Caledo-nia, Northern Mariana Islands and NorfolkIsland. Further development visits in 2010were made in Tahiti, Tokelau and Wallis &Futuna. Additionally in 2010, an OceaniaWomen’s Course was conducted in Guam.

Increasing OfficialsIncreasing the number of officials is also apriority. In 2009 a Basic Certified UmpiresCourse was held in the Cook Islands and in2010 further Basic Certified UmpiresCourses were held in Palau and Fiji.

Meanwhile, to assist in the develop-ment of administrators, the Oceania TableTennis Federation invested in the OceaniaDevelopment Officer to become an accred-ited Oceania Sports Education Programcourse conductor; as a result of this, aSport in Communities Administrator Coursewas held in Guam in 2009 and in 2010 inNauru.

Over the past two years the last threeremaining Oceania countries and territo-ries were secured as new members to theOceania Table Tennis Federation. In 2009Norfolk Island became an Oceania TableTennis Federation member following a de-velopment visit and their ITTF Membershipwas ratified in 2010. In 2010, developmentvisits were made to both Tokelau and Wal-lis & Futuna. The result is they have alsobecome Oceania Table Tennis Federationmembers and it is anticipated that theirITTF Membership will be ratified in 2011.

Tokelau’s membership is especially sig-nificant, as the development visit heldthere was the first of its kind for any sportin Tokelau and also table tennis was thefirst sport in which Tokelau have become amember of at a Continental or Interna-tional level.

Within Oceania there have been nu-merous international competitions overthe past two years. At a junior level therewere Global Junior Circuit Events and theOceania Cadet Challenge held in Australiain 2009 and New Zealand in 2010. In addi-tion to this, the Oceania Championshipsand the Youth Olympic Games Qualifica-tion Tournaments were held in New

Zealand in 2010. On a Pacific scale the Mini Pacific

Games were held in the Cook Islands in2009 and the Micronesian Games wereheld in Palau in 2010. At a National levelthere has also been National Champi-onships held in Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji,Guam, New Caledonia, New Zealand,Tahiti, Tonga and Vanuatu and in both2009 and 2010. Also the Oceania CadetTeam competed at the ITTF Cadet Chal-lenge in Japan in 2009 and India in 2010.

The best Oceania junior players havealso had access to strong training possibili-ties. In 2010 the Oceania Talent Team spentthree weeks in a fully professional environ-ment in China in what proved to be a verysuccessful training camp. Additionally, allcountries are invited to attend an ITTFTraining Camp which has a world classcoach at the helm prior to the Global Jun-ior Circuit event each year.

Over the past two years it is felt thatmore countries are more active which canonly be a positive step forward; with a newcommercial approach and an increase insponsorship opportunities, the Oceania De-velopment Program is continuing alongthe right path.

BY SCOTT HOUSTON

Scott Houston (back) with enthusiastic children in Kiribati

Rapid progress has been the orderof proceedings in Guam; in thepast two years table tennis in

the small Pacific island has grown at aquite unprecedented rate.

Under the guidance of a highly moti-vated President, Mr. James Ji, along withSecretary Narci San Augustin, the GuamTable Tennis Federation has been a modelcountry in terms of development.

James Ji attended the H.I.S. WorldChampionships in Japan in May 2009where he met with members of the Ocea-nia Table Tennis Federation to discuss thepossibility of hosting an Olympic SolidarityCourse was proposed.

Later in the year, in September, one ofthe most successful Olympic Solidarity

GUAM

Guam EmergesSituated in the western Pacific Ocean, Guam is an idyllic destination, perfect for the annualholiday; it is also an island where table tennis is prospering and in 2011 it will welcomemore guests to its shores. The island will host an ITTF Global Junior Circuit tournament.

BY SCOTT HOUSTON


James Ji (left) and Scott Houston (back) with Guam’s future

courses of the year within Oceania washeld in Guam.

High ParticipationHigh participation numbers and successfulcompletion rates were obtained at an ITTFClub Coaches’ Course; in addition an Ocea-nia Sports Education Program, Sport inCommunities Administrator Course wasstaged and likewise proved very successful.

Included in the Olympic SolidarityCourse was the Guam Island NationalChampionships.

The National Federation performedoutstandingly to gain 15 sponsors with ex-tensive media coverage involving televisionas well as features in newspapers and onradio being plentiful.

Courses completed, theory has beenput into practice. Many school visits havebeen made with over 160 school students

being exposed to table tennis for the firsttime. The result of the splendid efforts wasthat the Oceania Table Tennis Federationoffered the 2010 Oceania Women’s Courseto Guam.

Support for SchoolsMeanwhile, equipment has been distrib-uted throughout the island to encouragegreater participation in the sport of tabletennis. The Guam Table Tennis Federationhas distributed 60 tables to schools; a mas-sive step forward.

Additionally, given the commercialknowledge and the “can do” attitude 2011will see another positive step forwardbeing taken. Guam will host an ITTF GlobalJunior Tournament; the first time ever aninternational table tennis event has beenstage in the island.

Welcome to Guam.

Guiding HandSomeone to seize the initiative, to take the lead and move matters forward, is essential inorder to be successful; in the Pacific island of Fiji such a person exists, a person who moti-vates others and as a result is taking table tennis in the region to a new level.

The Fiji Table Tennis Associationunder the guidance of PresidentAnthony Ho has gone from

strength to strength in 2009 and 2010. Since Anthony Ho took over as Presi-

dent in 2002, he has built table tennis inFiji from the ground level to what it istoday, a highly active and innovative Na-tional Association that is very well re-spected within Oceania.

In 2009 an action packed Olympic Soli-darity Course was conducted in the capitalcity of Suva. The course consisted of anITTF School Teacher Certificate CoachingCourse, a Para Table Tennis Level OneCoaches Course, a training camp for the FijiNational Team and training sessions forschool children. Also, at the Mini PacificGames in the Cook Islands in 2009 Fiji fin-ished with five medals from the sevenevents on offer, where they won one goldmedal and four silver medals.

The Fiji Table Tennis Association was

BY SCOTT HOUSTONofficially recognized at the highest level in-side Fiji in 2009. At the 2009 Fiji AmateurSports Association and National OlympicCommittee Sports Awards presentation,the Fiji Table Tennis Association won thecoveted Fiji Sports Association of the Yearaward. Additionally, Anthony Ho wasnamed the Fiji Sports Administrator of theYear. Meanwhile, to round off what was avery successful year for the Fiji Table TennisAssiciation, 16 year old Carolyn Xuan Liwas named the Fiji Female Sportsperson ofthe Year. In 2009 she qualified for theOceania Cadet’s Team and anchored theFiji Women’s Team en route to a silvermedal at the Mini Pacific Games. Addition-ally, she was also selected into the 2010Oceania Talent Team.

In 2010, another successful OlympicSolidarity Course was conducted in Fiji, thistime in the western city of Lautoka. AnITTF/PTT Level One Coaches Course wasconducted, in addition to a Basic CertifiedUmpires Course and training sessions forjunior athletes. Furthermore, the Fiji OpenChampionships attracted a record numberof participants.

Smiles on the faces of Fiji National Team members

Carolyn Xuan Li with her award


FIJI

TONGAMonday 13th - Monday 27th July 2009

“The first week of the visit was used toconduct an ITTF/PTT Level One CoachesCourse; this proved to be very success-ful, with enthusiasm and motivationeverywhere to be seen. As a result ofthe course, six participants are now eli-gible to become ITTF/PTT Level OneCoaches and a further six qualified asClub Coaches; surely this will be a mas-sive boost for table tennis in Tonga.

The coaches came up with the ideato start the Tonga Table Tennis CoachesAssociation, which is a fantastic initia-tive and would be a first for any Ocea-nia nation. The coaches association willplace different coaches in charge of dif-ferent areas, namely – competition,elite players, junior development,strength and conditioning, and ParaTable Tennis.

“The National Team is very happywith the level of training provided dur-

ing this camp and with our new foundskills”, said Simote Manumanu Pepa,the National Development Officer. “Wewill be in good shape to aim for medalsat the Mini Pacific Games this Septem-ber.”

SCOTT HOUSTON

COOK ISLANDSSaturday 12th - Friday 18th September 2009

“The young umpires have displayed ex-cellent umpiring skills throughout theMini Pacific Games and are well ontheir way to becoming top level um-pires. Surely this is a good promotionfor umpiring, when young people takeon the role in such a positive manner.

With many opportunities availablefor umpires on the international level,one hopes that they continue on wellinto the future.”

DAVID DELPRATT

NORFOLK ISLANDWednesday 11th - Wednesday 18th November 2009

“No less than 260 people were exposedto table tennis over the weeklong visit.

The Norfolk Island Central School,under the guidance of Physical Educa-tion teach Mr. Brett Thompson reallycame on board and every student atthe school had at least one lesson. Themore advanced and more interestedstudents had access to multiple lessonsand the skills they possess indicates thatwith further training and coaching theycould develop into accomplished play-ers in the future.

In addition to school visits, therewas also a series of introductory ses-sions held at the Norfolk Island LeaguesClub, which is the venue that has beenset aside to be the initial home of tabletennis on Norfolk Island.

REACTION


TONGA

TAHITI

NAURU

COOK ISLANDS

Close to 40 people attended at leastone session, with the majority returningfor multiple sessions. It is clear thatthere is ample enthusiasm and interestfor table tennis on Norfolk Island, how-ever without the establishment of acommittee to form an association thisenthusiasm and interest would bewasted.

On the evening of Monday 16 No-vember, a meeting was called for all in-terested people to try to kick start anactive association. There was an excel-lent response to this, as five localspromptly accepted nominations to forman interim committee.”

SCOTT HOUSTON

KIRIBATIThursday 25th February - Tuesday 2nd March 2010

“No less than 160 school students attendedlessons across five schools. Last year there

was an influx of 24 tables into Tarawathanks to the generous financial backingof the Australian High Commission and theNew Zealand High Commission in Kiribati.

As a result, no less than 23 local schoolsand one community now have access to atable tennis table which can only be good.From the skills on display from the pre-dominantly 9-11 year old students, thenext generation of players is seemingly nottoo far away.

Kiribati is enjoying the services of theirnewly appointed National DevelopmentOfficer, Mr. Tokannata Ioatene. His firstduty after commencing his role in October2009 was to distribute the donated tablesto the schools and communities, a taskwhich he completed most competently.

He has brought a level of enthusiasmto the role that will help to improve thelevel of table tennis in Kiribati.

Over the course of the visit many dis-cussions were held to help the continuedimprovement of his work and there is afeeling that so far he is well and truly onthe right track.”

A Personal TouchBY SCOTT HOUSTON

“Over the past two years I haveconducted my role as Oceania De-velopment Officer with two ide-ologies in mind – “Excellentservice with a personal touch”and “Different in the best possi-ble way”.

More Oceania countries arenow more active and develop-ment in our region continues tohead in the right direction. Wenow have 22 National Associa-tions out of a possible 24, and itis anticipated that we will have100% membership by 2011.

Coupled with the expansionof marketing activities it meansthat the Oceania DevelopmentProgram is in good shape; readyto go to unparalleled level in thecoming years.”


KIRIBATI

AUSTRALIA

NORFOLK ISLAND

REACTION

During the Liebherr World Cham-pionships in Paris in 2003 thefirst ITTF Women’s Forum was

organized and at the same event alsothe Women’s Working Group, the en-gine of the programme, was born.

Since its establishment a major devel-opment in the area of assuring favourableconditions for women inclusiveness hasbeen achieved:......in 2004 the ITTF launched courses thattargeted women.......in 2005 the constitution of the ITTFchanged, determining that 25% of electedcommittee members should be women.......in 2006 equal prize money was intro-duced at all ITTF events.......in 2007 the policy was initiated thatthere is at least one woman in the ITTF Ex-ecutive Committee,......in 2009, 37.4% of participants in all de-velopment programme activities werewomen.

All Roles AddressedAs seen the Women’s Programme uses awide range of gender integrated activitiessuch as courses, seminars, meetings and fo-rums, organized at grass roots level andimplemented globally.

Moreover, the programme is targeting

All Possible RolesThe Women's Development Programme promotes the advancement of women's opportunities,gender equity and women empowerment as an integral part of the process of development.

WOMEN

BY POLONA CEHOVIN SUSINwomen in all possible roles of their involve-ment in sport: players, coaches, umpires.Also officials and women, who are in deci-sion making, i.e. executive positions.

Such a model is possible thanks to themultimodal approach that is put in placeand works on awareness, participationand, last but not least, on the education ofwomen in table tennis around the globe.

Development Courses and TrainingCamps, targeting specifically women,whether it be coaches, umpires or man-agers, were one of the first tools that wereput in place.

In 2009 and 2010 we have witnessed anexpansion of Women Courses. Eight coach-ing courses were held worldwide: Liberia,Iraq, India, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Tunisia,Guam and South Africa were the hosts. Inaddition a total of four Women’s TrainingCamps were staged being organised inIndia, Austria and twice in China for Euro-pean selected players.

Also, one course for umpires in Canadawas arranged with three more on theschedule before the end of 2010.

Furthermore, we can proudly state thatthe percentage of women participating inregular courses is also steadily increasing.In 2009 the objective of one third wasachieved and even surpassed.

A comprehensive and structured pro-motion now is in place; so the trend willhopefully continue, reaching 50% as theultimate objective.

Women’s ForumsThe Women’s Working Group is continuingwith the tradition of organizing interna-tional forums; these proved to be an effec-tive and very useful means of meeting foreveryone involved in female table tennis.

The fourth edition, organized as aForum for Athletes, was held during theH.I.S. World Championships in Yokohamain 2009 under the title “Player Today,Leader Tomorrow”.

About a 100 delegates, officials,coaches and players from national associa-tions, present at the forum, were providedwith information and objectives of theWomen’s Working Group; the aim being toensure the equal participation of womenin table tennis.

The forum was structured in a way thatthe persons responsible for Development,Education & Training, Competition andMarketing at the ITTF could also presenttheir strategies for improving women’stable tennis. A very comprehensive guide-lines document with very useful practicalrecommendations was the end result. Thepublication can be used by stakeholders atall levels, national, continental and global,when aiming to mainstream gender issues.

In 2009 the ITTF introduced also the socalled Mini Forums, which are normally or-ganized in combination with other devel-opment activities. Since not everyone, whois interested in gender equity issues, canparticipate in international events, the ITTF


(left to right) Stefy Bau, Anne Gripper, Fédérique Touvé, Brigitte Zuffrey & Alejandra Gabaglio at the 2010 International Women’s Group Conference in Sydney

is bringing forums to their homes. Multi-skilled course presenters are on

duty to attract in co-operation with na-tional associations as many participants aspossible, offering them practical but aboveall topics tailored according to their inter-ests, needs and local circumstances. In 2010two such Mini Forums were organized inTunisia and Oceania and proved to be anideal tool for empowerment of womenwithin national structures.

Working Group MeetingsOne of the important tools that theWomen’s Working Group uses for its workare regular meetings; usually organized atleast twice per year.

In 2009 the group met twice, in Japanduring the H.I.S. World Championships andlater on in South Africa in November.

The two day long session produced acomplete set of recommendations and ob-jectives, aiming to move from awareness toimplementation, focusing on courses andeducation, that not only the group itselfbut the entire table tennis family shouldpursue to achieve.

The recommendations are to:......create project and programs, includingbudget planning.......increase male participation in the exe-cution of the women’s development pro-gramme ......increase the percentage of women inexecutive positions ......increase the number of women techni-cal officials and coaches, including scholar-ships offered to women to go on anidentified course ......increase awareness and promotion ofwomen in table tennis, using modern tech-nologies and means of communication......set up a model of comprehensive andstructured support and mentoring, like

players life-skills programs, scholarships forstudies, mentoring process ......initiate new projects targeting genderbut also social issues, like inclusiveness ofwomen athletes with disabilities, HIV/AIDSawareness etc.

SpotlightThe spotlight of the meeting in 2010,which was held during the VolkswagenWomen’s World Cup in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia, was oriented toward a compre-hensive reporting system that is being putin place, the need to establish continentalWomen’s Working Groups and furthermorea workshop aiming to define their tasksand duties followed.

The meeting was concluded by an op-erative plan for the following two year pe-riod. The Group also agreed to address theExecutive Committee and the DevelopmentContinental Council by proposing to co-optthe chairs of continental Women WorkingGroups to the continental executive bod-ies.

Additionally, the Women’s WorkingGroup meets annually with players, partici-pating at the Volkswagen Women’s WorldCup, which is the ideal opportunity for aninteractive and dynamic exchange of opin-ions. In 2009 the meeting was held inGuangzhou and after the general updateof players about the ongoing projects andinitiatives the players took the floor debat-ing on the following two topics: “What doyou want the ITTF to do for you now andin your life after competition?” and “Whatdo you want to see the Athletes' Commis-sion do to assist you?”.

Follow-up and in-depth presentationsof the achievements based on the raised is-sues were presented at the meeting in2010. Moreover, the players were updatedregarding the changes related to the status

and elections of the Athletes Commissionthat will take place at the World Champi-onships in Rotterdam in 2011.

The adopted changes represent aunique opportunity for the players to havetheir voices heard. Finally, some educa-tional content was added to the meetingas well: a presentation about the impor-tance of public relations for players wasfollowed by a presentation about the In-ternational Table Tennis Federation’s De-velopment Program and opportunities thatawait players after their playing careers.

Other ActivitiesUnity is power and this is the reason whythe ITTF yearly initiates, supports and pro-motes a wide range of activities that arelinked to international events or are organ-ized by national associations.

In the period 2009-210:......the allocation of two thirds of the ITTFScholarships for young journalists weregranted to women,......fashion shows at the 2009 VolkswagenWorld Junior Championships in Colombiaand at the Volkswagen World Cup in Chinain 2010 were staged.......The Friendship Trophy on the Interna-tional Women’s Day saw six continents in-volved and 16 countries: Paraguay,Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina,United States of America, South Africa,Congo Kinshasa, Malaysia, Japan, SriLanka, New Zealand, Vanuatu, New Cale-donia, Switzerland.......continental forums and meetings ofcontinental Women’s Working Groupswere held.......there was participation at the 2010World Conference on Women and Sport inAustralia, presenting the strategies andpathways that the ITTF has adopted in suchareas as gender equity.


All smiles in the Central American country of El Salvador for the Friendship Trophy

The ITTF Development Program hasbeen so incredibly successful overrecent years that it was no sur-

prise to many of us when it was an-nounced as the best project designedby an international federation byPeace and Sport.

In the developing regions of the worldthere is now far more grass roots table ten-nis activity than every before.

There is more equipment and morecoaching structures in place to foster the

A Better FutureBuilding a better future for the sport of table tennis, promoting at every opportunity, fulfillingdreams; that is the essence of marketing.

MARKETING

Development Program to now try and as-sist. The first very important step has beenabout educating associations with respectto Marketing and the Commercial aspectsof the sport.

Through a series of marketing coursesheld jointly with the ITTF DevelopmentProgram the focus has been to inform asso-ciations and give them the tools needed tohelp them find extra income outside theirtraditional sources.

Our aim has been to advise how tomake the maximum use of sponsorship foreither their top national events or nationalteams and to start thinking about hostingbigger and more important events.

AimsThe courses have had the following goals:......to encourage associations think outsidethe traditional sources of seeking fundingfor their events and national team.......to encourage National Associations toapproach their national television net-works to try and make deals to show moretable tennis.......to educate associations that the waythey host an event has a real impact on themarketing value of the sport

CoursesMarketing Courses have been held in:......Latin America: El Salvador (Tuesday17th - Thursday 19 th November 2009)......Africa: Egypt (Saturday 6th - Monday8th February 2010)......Oceania: New Zealand (Saturday 10th -Sunday 11th April 2010).....Asia: Thailand (Thursday 22nd - Satur-day 24th July 2010)

In addition to these courses anotherstep taken has also been for the ITTF to en-courage its commercial partner TMS Inter-national to jointly invest in supportingcontinental events such as ContinentalChampionships, Olympic Qualificationevents and Continental Cups.

Basically the idea is to try and becomeinvolved to make the events more commer-cial and media friendly, with the overallaim to increase television and media cover-age of the competitions in these regionsand make the sport more commercial.

AgreementsAgreements have already been made inOceania, Africa and Latin America and as aresult we are seeing sponsors becoming in-terested, television networks are looking atbroadcasting the events. In essence it is afinancial stimulus to try and promote thesport more outside of the traditionalstrong markets so that we have a truly


BY STEVE DAINTONdevelopment of players.

Also, we have seen the ITTF Global Jun-ior Program blossom; in 2011 no less than30 events are planned, a true success.

Furthermore, the integration of ParaTable Tennis into the ITTF has helped mu-tual growth. There is a wonderful futureand now is the time to capitalize on that;not only from a sporting perspective butalso from Commercial perspective.

The next important steps in the devel-oping regions are to assist in further com-mercializing the sport to ensure long termsustainability. The ITTF Marketing Divisionhas started working together with the ITTF

global commercial sport. It is very impor-tant for the long term sustainability oftable tennis.

Now to find sponsors for the ITTF De-velopment Program. The ITTF MarketingDivision has recently unveiled new brand-ing: “ITTF - Dream Building, The Social Re-sponsibility Programs of the ITTF".

Most of us know that these ITTF pro-grams are helping society to become a bet-ter place. These new push is towardstargeting companiy’s corporate social re-sponsibility programs and making themaware of our incredible programs; the longterm goal of creating partnerships is tohave them actively involved. ` The ITTF Development Program, whichis undoubtedly the key program in the In-ternational Table Tennis Federation’s SocialResponsibility programs “is providing theopportunities to dream” for those at thevery grass roots of our sport to follow theirhopes and dreams to one day be Worldand Olympic Champions.

Para Table TennisMeanwhile, the Para Table Tennis eventswill also be a stakeholder. Para Table Ten-nis, a growing part of the ITTF, providesopportunities for those with a disability tostill reach the dream of World and OlympicChampions, in fact “nothing can stop thedream”.


Members of the Marketing Course held in New Zealand

Finally we are bringing the Global Jun-ior Program on Board. A series of interna-tional events for young players in which tobe involved, at a more competitive level, itallows the youth of the world to partici-pate in positive program

In this manner, the ITTF is "providing adream pathway" for players to one day be-

come World and Olympic champions. Obviously the long term goal is to have

more income in all sectors of the ITTF sothat we can reinvest back into these won-derful developmental type programs; to-gether using new initiatives the ITTFMarketing Division is also trying to make adifference.

Steve Dainton and Miguel Angel Delgado (right) listen to Melecio Rivera open the El Salvador course

It all started nearly a decade agowith an idea in an alert mind. Aglobe trotter by the name of Mikael

Andersson, who had been working forthe International Table Tennis Federa-tion for several years, was the personwith the bright idea.

He had been giving seminars andcoaching clinics in various countries andwas established in Ottawa, operating fromthe offices of the ITTF Marketing Depart-ment; he was charged with the duty of de-veloping a programme of activities forplayers under the age of 18 years; the posi-tion: Global Junior Programme Manager.

Four EventsThe Global Junior Programme was born,the year was 2002; four tournaments were

More OpportunitiesEvery year more young players are given the opportunity to compete on the international scene asthe ITTF Global Junior Program continues to grow; not only does it give more players the chanceto compete, it gives more national associations the chance to organise international events.

ITTF GLOBAL JUNIOR PROGRAM


BY RAUL CALINheld with Spain, the United States ofAmerica, China and Peru being the hosts.

Now, in 2010, in its ninth year of oper-ations, the Global Junior Programme hasgrown to 24 events worldwide; it reachesevery continent and just about every re-gion of the world.

New ChallengeMikael Andersson has moved to new chal-lenges as Executive Director of the ITTF Ed-ucation and Training Department, whilethe Global Junior Programme has increasedin profile sufficiently to warrant its own Di-rector, Raul Calin of Spain, whose passionfor the role touches each official, playerand coach with whom he deals.

The Global Junior Programme hasgrown each year with the period, 2009-2010 witnessing a total of 61 tournaments

A total of 49 Global Junior Circuitstournaments, two Global Junior Circuit Fi-

nals, two Global Cadet Challenges, twoWorld Junior Championships, five YouthOlympic Games qualification events andthe first ever Youth Olympic Games plus 26training camps were organised.

CollaborationIt proved a very successful programmethanks to perfect collaboration betweenthe four ITTF Departments: Operations &Olympic Games, Competitions, Educationand Training and Development Pro-grammes.

In the space of 24 months, opportuni-ties have been given, more than ever, forall to compete, for all to learn and grow inthe sport of table tennis.

The Global Junior Programme has, inthese two years, enabled associations notpreviously participating in any competi-tions others than the World Champi-onships, to appear in the statistics more

In 2009 Hong Kong set high standards for anITTF Junior Circuit tournament; in 2010 theyraised the standard to an even higher level


and more. They have been able to sendplayers to tournaments and they havebeen able to organise tournaments.

However, these facts are not just sym-bolic; there have been many noteworthyperformances.

Israel & ColombiaIsrael won its first Global Junior Circuit titlewhen Elad Kuperberg succeeded in Maltain 2010. A Singaporean, Isabelle Siyun Li,and a young lady from Thailand, SuthasiniSawettabut player finished in the top threein the Junior Circuit Standings in 2010.

Furthermore, Tunisia won its one andonly medal at the Youth Olympic Games inSingapore; it was in table tennis withAdem Hmam securing bronze in the Teamevent. Such are the facts, the scales in thepower of table tennis worldwide andhopefully the scales of table tennis in thepower of sports worldwide is changing?

Opportunities are there for the playersto grow, the Global Junior Programme hasgrown in stature and branding. Colombiaorganized what was acclaimed the bestever World Junior Championships in De-cember 2009. Notably, for the first timeever, the tournament was televised live inChina. A total of 56 hours of junior tabletennis were aired in Colombia and over 26hours in China, with over 18 million“unique viewers”.

Unique - Global Cadet ChallengeUnique and also the Global Cadet Chal-lenge is unique. It is a continental eventthat for a week, allows enemies to becomeallies fighting for the common continentalhonour, under the same flag and creatinga unique team spirit. The Development department makes an

important investment in this activity thatduring 10 days gathering the young talentsof the entire World. The limit of a maxi-mum one player per gender and nationalassociation ensures that every year, at least30 associations are present among the 48participants.

FutureThe future is bright but most importantly,the future is for all. The ITTF has the targetto make the Global Junior Programme ac-cessible to all its affiliated members.

Watch 2011; we have a record break-ing 30 event on the calendar which areready to start in January in the Iraqi city ofErbil; the programme starts in Asia but bythe time the year ends, every continent willhave been visited.

The ITTF message is clear: we will pro-vide opportunities, the future is in ourminds.

Acclaimed the Best EverThe first ever World Junior Championships were staged in Santiago, Chile in 2003; six yearslater, the competition returned to Latin America; it was staged in the beautiful Colombian cityof Cartagena de Indias and received universal acclaim as the best ever. It set new standards.

Constructive PathwaysITTF and Para Table Tennis are now fully integrated at International Table Tennis Federation level.The challenge is now to implement this at national Federation level so that we can truly be “OneSport, One Family”.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING


BY MIKAEL ANDERSSON

Singapore proved perfect hosts for the first ever Youth Olympic Games

The ITTF Education & Training Depart-ment has continued the work to findsuitable “start and stop” projects tosupport development and junior activ-ities in 2010.

Priorities remain intact with the overallvision launched in 2009. The ITTF Educationand Training department will play a funda-mental role in improving the sport of tabletennis by securing sound and constructivepathways for athletes and coaches’ devel-opment, solid officiating and event man-agement.

Youth Olympic Games,Top PriorityThe number one profile event of the yearwas the first Youth Olympic Games in Sin-

gapore held in late August. A major sport-ing event, it opened up the perfect oppor-tunity for the ITTF Education and Trainingdepartment to establish a dialogue withcoaches and young athletes, many of themmost definitely set to be our future stars.

The International Olympic Committeelaunched the so called Cultural EducationProgramme and indicated clearly the needfor International Sporting Federations tobecome proactive in the field of education;the overall target was to really make theOlympic values of respect, friendship andexcellence stick with young athletes.

Olympic MovementGrowing in StrengthThe first Youth Olympic Games was a suc-cess. It is important to understand some ofthe principles behind, not only this event,but also the direction that we are seeingfor the future of youth sports.

It is quite clear that the InternationalOlympic Committee is expanding its role inthe sporting community and now morethan ever, is seeking direct contact withyoung athletes and their coaches. TheOlympic Movement is going to, very muchthanks to the Youth Olympic Games, be-come even stronger and also more de-manding.

Nowadays, in international Sport weare facing Olympic exposure every secondyear instead of only once every fourth year.It is a significant change and for that rea-son we need to be clear and precise in ourdirection.

Major Move for UniversalityOne of the most interesting aspects of theYouth Olympic Games was the major movefor universality. In this case translated intomore medals for more countries. Out of

the more than 200 National Olympic Com-mittees participating in Singapore almosthalf came away with one medal or more.Quite amazing and interesting. I am forthe role of sports in general and for thesake of Table Tennis all positive.

We, the International Table Tennis Fed-eration, is well equipped to deal with de-velopment and junior youth activitiesthanks to well established and constantlyupgraded initiatives like the ITTF Develop-ment and the ITTF Global Junior Pro-grammes .

The role of the ITTF Education Depart-ment then clearly becomes to support andadd new values to an already existing driveto widen and deepen the importance ofTable Tennis in the Global sporting commu-nity.

Focus on Athletes’ DevelopmentAlthough we were on the mark, active inSingapore with publications and trainingcamp initiatives, much of the YouthOlympic Games work was done leading upto the Games being focused on athletes’development.

Active communication with the Inter-national Olympic Committee and the in-volved National Olympic Committeesduring the Youth Olympic Games qualifica-tion process resulted in extra scholarshipand funding for a handful of youngOlympians.

Some of them grabbed the given op-portunity by the horn and showed splendidprogress in Singapore. The left-handed

Nigerian Ojo Onaolapo was perhaps “theplayer of the Games”, not only for advanc-ing to the quarter-final but also for deliv-ering a blistering challenge to thechampion elect, Koki Niwa from Japan inwhat could be a career defining match.

Hello Future ConferenceAnother high profile event launched in2010 was the early May; the Hello FutureConference in Sant Cugat, Barcelona.

Combined with an identification train-ing camp for the Youth Olympic Games theconference itself addressed a number of is-sues related to racket control, fair play,media and marketing as well as directcoaching education . Discussions also cen-tered on the re-establishment of an ITTFnetwork of training centres set to com-mence sometime in late 2010, with the of-ficial launch now scheduled to the start of2011.

The ITTF Athletes Development ModelIn order for to have success with the train-ing centre concept we have to revert backto the Universality idea and understand allaspects of Athletes Development. For some time now we have activelyworked on an ITTF Athlete DevelopmentModel. The intention here is to clearly out-line initiatives and to provide guidance toall the involved parties, coaches and train-ing centers in order to optimize resourcesand provide young talents with optimal

training.The following working parameters are

in place for the ITTF Athletes DevelopmentModel:......develop our sport, a global reach con-cept to recruit athletes from all over theglobe.......creation of a level playing field ; coach-ing and training environment (ITV TrainingCentres. ......promote our sport in untapped mar-kets, in this respect the Youth OlympicGames will help. ......raise the quality of coaching availableto young players......introduce management aspects to im-prove the flow of athletes......point of reference for national associa-tions and national Olympic committees

ITTF Hopes Proper Talent Identification, again workingwithin the global reach concept, is anotherimportant key to success.

Along those lines the ITV Hopes Pro-gram continues to grow and offer thoselucky enough to be selected to the ITVWorld Hopes Team a unique opportunityto kick start an international youth career.

New ideas are in the pipeline targetinga much more direct involvement from theNational Associations. A fully operativemodel is anticipated within a year or twowith a complete set of initiatives for thefirst national phase of a new process, thateventually will result in a World HopesTeam selection.

With the Future in Mind


The Training Camp prior to the Youth Olympic Games which featured Jean-Philippe Gatien as the role model was a great success

Some years ago many people fromthe table tennis communitydidn´t even know that someone

having a disability could play oursport, many couldn´t imagine thatthere is an elite level.

Nowadays the awareness stage is verysuccessful but needs to go further; most ofthe associations know that Para Table Ten-nis exists and is an excellent way for socialand physical rehabilitation, integration,competition and that there are some spe-cific rules related.

The integration reflects the policy of

One Sport, One FamilyITTF and Para Table Tennis are now fully integrated at ITTF Level. The chal-lenge is now to implement this at national Federation level so that we cantruly be “One Sport, One Family”.

PARA TABLE TENNIS

BY LEANDRO OLVECHinclusion adopted by the InternationalTable Tennis Federation since the begin-ning of this process that started 10 yearsago and had a milestone in 2008 when theITTF signed a contract with the Interna-tional Paralympic Committee that movedPTT under the ITTF umbrella.

All LevelsAll levels of the table tennis family must befamiliar with this issue and in this case animage can say more than thousand words,that´s why the Development Departmentreleased a promotional campaign com-posed by three posters in three languagesof players with a disability.

A total of 800 posters where distrib-uted to the National Associations during

the World Championships 2009. Posters arealso available in Internet for downloadingand print.

The Organizing Committee of the Lieb-herr World Championships in Rotterdam in2011 is showing a pathway; during thatevent there will be parallel a Para TableTennis Tour, similar to ITTF Pro-Tour, tour-nament. Same venue and officials.

AimThe aim is not to replicate what Interna-tional Table Tennis Federation does withinPara Table Tennis, the coaches’ education isnot an exception. The experts of the Inter-national Table Tennis Federation deliveringcourses worldwide are gradually becomingupdated in table tennis for the disabled


Natalia Partyka, goldmedallist in the Class TenWomen’s Singles event atthe Paralympic Games inBeijing in 2008 competed inthe prestigious VolkswagenWomen’s World Cup in 2010

and afterwards including that topic intotheir courses.

Two specific training sessions were or-ganized with that purpose, one in Pariswith the aim to increase the availableFrench speaking course conductors and asecond in Moscow during the World Cham-pionships.

Written ResourcesEducational programs can´t be outlined ifnot accompanied by written resources, theITTF/PTT integrated coaching manual wastranslated and printed in Arabic, Spanishand Portuguese.

The English version is already com-pleted and the French is ready to beprinted. A pack compiling Para Table Ten-

nis multimedia resources was also released.Since its conception, Para Table Tennis

was led and managed by volunteer offi-cials, in 2009, Alison Burchell was hired tosupport professionally the Para Table Ten-nis matters among other duties.

ITTF Marketing is now working to findsponsors for Para Table Tennis competi-tions.

EthiopiaThe humanitarian projects are not an ex-ception in terms of normalization, the In-ternational Table Tennis Federation inpartnership with the Dutch NGO RESPO,launched in 2010 a program in Ethiopia. Itwas the first time ever that a course in-cluded only students with a disability but

the most important fact is that the stu-dents received the knowledge to teachtable tennis for able bodied and for peoplewith a disability.

Now, they can help in several ways tothe Ethiopian table tennis development.

Next StepThe next step regarding integration is toincrease awareness, with the InternationalTable Tennis Federation taking a lead. In-creasing awareness within national associa-tions is the main challenge. Nothing canstop people playing whatever their physi-cal conditions.

We just need to get released from ourown barriers.

One sport,-one family

Argentina’s Alejandra Gabaglio was the expert on dutyfor an ITTF/PTT Level One Coaches Course in the Ethiopiancapital city of Addis Ababa from Monday 11th to Friday15th January 2010.

The course was organised in conjunction with theSport and Physical and Activity Trainers Programme(SPAT).

SPAT is a unique programme funded by Respo Interna-tional, an organisation which takes its name from the

first five letter of the word “responsibility”.Respo International was founded in 2005 and lists as

its major goal, the aim to give people with a disabilityjob opportunities through the sport.

High on the agenda is becoming sports’ leaders andcoaches themselves; the end result is that they qualify toteach both athletes with a disability and those who areable bodied.

It is a major step toward more integration

Promoting IntegrationIntegrating athletes with a disability into main stream sport is growing; in Ethiopia, thanks toan innovative programme the concept has gone one step further



The ITTF URC Accreditation systemhas continued to evolve and de-velop during the period 2009-

2010. It was agreed that the model foraccreditation would follow the samestructure as the ITV Coach Accredita-tion system with four levels.

There are now two levels below that ofInternational Umpire and InternationalReferee; the levels are ITTF Basic CertifiedUmpire and ITTF Basic Certified Referee atLevel One and ITTF National Umpire andITTF National Referee at URC Level Two.

URC Level One and Level Two is aimedat countries who do not have their ownURC Accreditation system in place so isused widely in the ITTF Development Pro-gram. Very often umpiring and refereeingcourses at this level are combined and canalso include a Tournament OrganizationCourse to leave the maximum legacy.

Higher LevelsAt the higher umpiring levels, Interna-tional Umpire (Level Three) and AdvancedUmpire Training (Level Four) are proceed-ing as previously with an increasing num-ber of umpires in each areas.

Meanwhile, at the higher refereeinglevels, a new International Referee (LevelThree) course has been introduced withcourses being held in Africa, Asia, Europeand Latin America in the last two years.

Plans to introduce an Advanced Ref-eree Training (Level Four) are currentlybeing evaluated.

URC DatabasesAn internal database has been developedwhich will assist the administration of Um-pires and Referees Committee now thatthe bulk of the updating of previous infor-mation has been done. On the Develop-ment section of the ITTF Website, there hasalso been a database set up, similar to theCoaches Registry and aimed at URC LevelOne and Level Two courses conductedthrough the ITTF Development Program.

BY GLENN TEPPER

URC Accreditation SystemA detailed qualification process for officiating is now firmly in place; the countries that lead theworld of table have had their own protocols in place but many smaller nations need a system; aswith coaching the ITTF URC Accreditation System creates a universal policy.

In October 2010, Michael Zwipp and Joe Fischer alongside Albert Rooijmans, the Chair of theITV Umpires and Referees Committee, and Fernando Aguilar conducted the first ever Interna-tional Referees Course to be held in Latin America. The course was staged in Rio de Janeiro

OFFICIATING

Fernando Aguilar (far left)conducted courses in the Dominican Republic in 2010

URC ACCREDITATION SYSTEMLevel Umpires Course Referees Course Course ConductorHigh performance Advanced Umpires Training (one day) Advanced Referee Training (to be developed) Elite URCLevel Three International Umpire (to be developed) International Referee (four days) Elite URCLevel Two National Umpire (one day) National Referee (three days) Targeted Blue Badge & IR’sLevel One Basic Umpires’ Course (three days) Basic Referees Course (one day) Multiple Conductors

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2009Peru 20th - 22nd May Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Belize 29th May - 3rd June Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Panama 2nd - 5th July Basic Umpires Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Morocco 7th - 10th July International Referees Richard Scruton (England) / Michael Zwipp (Germany) Uruguay 27th July - 2nd August Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Canada 17th - 19th August Women’s Referees & Basic Referees Joe Fischer (Canada) Cook Islands 12th - 18th September Umpires Dave Delpratt (Australia) Laos 14th - 19th September Tournament Organisation Chan Foong Keong (Malaysia) Côte D'Ivoire 23rd September - 1st October Basic Umpires, Basic Referees & Tournament Organisation Patrick Ringel (France) Lesotho 25th September - 3rd October Basic Umpires, Basic Referees & Tournament Organisation Cyril Sen (Malaysia)Barbados 5th - 11th October Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica)

2010Mexico 8th - 14th March Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Puerto Rico 23rd - 25th April Basic Umpires Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Cambodia 25th -30th April Tournament Organisation Chan Foong Keong (Malaysia)Iraq 8th - 13th May Basic Umpires & National Referees Mohammed Bassyoni (Egypt) Côte D'Ivoire 10th - 14th May Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Patrick Ringel (France) Dominican Republic 31st May - 5th June Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Palau 28th - 30th July Basic Umpires Dave Delpratt (Australia) Fiji Islands 23rd - 25th August Basic Umpires Dave Delpratt (Australia) Ecuador 20th - 25th September Basic Umpires & Basic Referees Fernando Aguilar (Costa Rica) Brazil 2nd - 5th October International Referees Michael Zwipp (Germany) / Joe Fischer (Canada) Central Africa 15th - 21st November Basic Umpires, Basic Referees & Tournament Organisation Ronald Mugwanya (Uganda)

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM UMPIRES, REFEREES & TOURNAMENT ORGANIZATION COURSES 2009 - 2010

ON-LINEby Mikael Andersson & Alison Burchell

The 2010 Singapore Youth OlympicGames marked the first appearance atany ITTF event for a specially selectedand trained Young Umpires Group.

From start to finish this initiativeproved to be a success. The umpiresnot only performed very well but alsogave all the involved parties a goodinsight in project management andprogressive education offered via anon-line platform.

A total of 185 applications from54 countries were received for the 23on-line course places; 68% were menand 32% women; there were 35 Inter-national Umpires, 123 National Um-pires and 27 with no umpiringqualification. The examination of onehour followed by immediate resultswas a good innovation; the end resultwas that nine umpires were selecteddirectly by the URC, nine from the on-line course candidates.

Also, in Singapore a group of 18young umpires attended training forthe for the Games. The average ageof the 18 international selections was26.5 and all 36 umpires attendedtraining onsite for racket control aspart of their umpiring duties.

The challenge is now to continueto work also with other projectswithin the URC framework in a similarfashion: open, accessible and progres-sive.

Young UmpiresEncouraging more people to assume the roles of officials at competi-tions is an important aspect of development, especially encouragingyoung men and women to become involved. At the Youth OlympicGames in Singapore, the accent for the umpires was on youth withthe introduction of the ITTF “Young Umpires Project”.

The young umpires at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore

YOUNG OFFICIALS


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ITTF Development Report Magazine 2009-2010

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Transcript of ITTF Development Report Magazine 2009-2010