2003
World Junior Championships
December 12, 2003 (Friday)
We (myself, Whitney Ping, Jackie Lee, Laura Leach and
Katherine Wu) arrived
yesterday morning and met with Chilean TT Assoc. officials at the airport.
As the minivan drove into the heart of Santiago the girls were starting to
realize they were really here and started to get quite excited. During our
training camp previous to traveling to Chile, they (Laura, Whitney, Jackie)
were all very tired and burnt-out from training so much in Sweden as well
traveling. Whitney was sick and Laura wasn't feeling well either. I
lowered the intensity level of the practice sessions and gave Whitney time
off to recover because I knew all of them needed to be in top physical form
when we starting the team competition on the 14th. But once we arrived in
Chile I was confident that the importance of the event and their
competitive nature would get them going and it has.
We are staying in an excellent hotel where the food is very good. Everyone
is very pleased with the accommodations.
OK let's get to table tennis. The main playing hall is not ready yet so we
trained this morning at the Chilean TT assoc. training Center. There is a
set schedule for use of the tables to accommodate all teams fairly. We
trained for about 1.5 hours and had to rush to catch the shuttle bus back
to the hotel. We have an afternoon training session that starts at 4:30pm
each day as well.
When we arrived back at the hotel I ran into on old friend, Chen Jian, who
is now one of the China Team coaches. He was playing in Sweden at the
Angby Club when I was there in early nineties. One of the first things he
says to me is "Dennis, your looking a little fat" which I replied
"you too"
and both simultaneously patting our stomachs. It is nice to see him again.
Signing off from Santiago,
Coach Dennis Davis
| |
| USA Table Tennis - Serving the Table Tennis Community |
| |