Why Juniors Play Table Tennis

By Roger Abbott (From July/August 2000 USA Table Tennis Magazine)

There are only three possible reasons why most kids don’t play table tennis: either (1) they don’t like the sport, (2) they don’t know about table tennis, or (3) they lack the resources needed to participate effectively. Since there’s not much we can do about the first problem, we should use available resources to tackle the other two obstacles which prevent widespread participation. It’s useless, however, to try to "educate" America about table tennis unless we expand the current infrastructure. After all, what’s the point in trying to attract new members if there’s no way for them to learn the proper techniques needed to enjoy the sport? There are only about 230 affiliated clubs in the nation, and only about 15 of these have regular junior classes Very few kids, even if interested, have the opportunity to play "real" table tennis. The solutions suggested below are grassroots policies which depend on the support of USATT members. Some of them, however, probably need to be officially adopted and promoted by USATT. USATT needs to adopt a more effective policy of improving existing clubs and assisting in the creation of new clubs. Then those who do become interested in our sport will be able to enjoy it and help make the United States more competitive.

USATT should begin by improving the existing clubs. First, we need to try to get more clubs to offer regular classes. In order to do this, we need to increase the number of certified coaches and encourage those who already are certified coaches to hold classes. After all, most club members are adults who play table tennis as a recreational or fitness sport, have full-time jobs, and would never have time to offer classes. Those who do have time to teach could offer classes at the site of the existing clubs, or at recreation centers. A big advantage of coaching at rec centers is that official county classes held there are advertised in quarterly catalogues which are delivered to all the residents of that particular county. Regular classes will increase the general skill level of the players. This will hopefully lead to an increase in the number of tournaments, which is a must. After all, not everybody can drive for hours to his or her "local" tournament, or fly to a big one.

Another problem that needs to be addressed is that the number of players who know how to play table tennis far outnumbers the number of USATT members. Current USATT members should encourage non-member players to join and participate in local tournaments. An increase in local tournaments, as suggested above, would also help entice many of these players to join USATT. This is desirable for several reasons. First, an increase in membership will correspondingly increase the amount of money USATT can spend on the national team and on junior developement. Second, most people join USATT to participate in tournaments, thus an increase in membership will lead to an increase of competition at tournaments, which is desperately needed. After all, most of us end up playing the same players over and over again at local tournaments, which can be quite annoying.

We need to act immediately, for the good of the sport in America. The annual increase in members is small and has, at least in recent years, stagnated. The only way to bring about improvement is to increase the number of formal classes and coaching in the United States. Table tennis, as we well know, requires knowledge of certain techniques, which can only be taught at a widescale level through classes and coaching, just as with most other sports. This is especially true because one can’t merely turn on the television and watch table tennis. Moreover, while the campaign to increase the amount of television coverage of table tennis is useful for those who already know how to play, it does nothing for the "awareness" of the sport and may even discourage people from trying it. Table tennis "revolves" around spin, and cannot be easily followed in the same way other sports are. For example, when I showed a table tennis video to a couple of friends, they were instantly mystified and bored by the "serve and attack" motif which is so common. "Why," they asked, "can’t a professional player return what looks like a slow, simple serve? Why does the ball plunge to the bottom of the net on one return, than fly out on the next?" If "the proof is in the pudding," the response to such questions requires real life opportunities to experience table tennis, not half measures.