Thanks to Richard McAfee, his staff, Ray Mack, the 40 local volunteers, USA Table Tennis Officials, Bud Light, Butterfly, Monroe County Sports Development Corporation, and The Greater Rochester Visitors Association, The 2000 Olympic Team Trials for Table Tennis was a resounding success. We held the event in a hockey arena, and the lighting and limited airflow in the building brought forth outstanding table tennis, particularly on the women’s side, where the world-class defensive play of Virginia Sung and Chris Xu added to the suspense.

Unlike an athlete who remembers a tournament by matches won or lost, I must evaluate a USA Table Tennis event as a performance.

• Were the conditions ideal for high-level play?
• How well did we promote the tournament?
• Did the spectators enjoy our production?
• Were our sponsors satisfied?
• Did we promote our sport in the local community?
• How well did we work with local clubs in attracting new members?
• Were the needs of our Volunteers met?

The criteria I have established above has never been fully addressed at USA Table Tennis headquarters. Without consistent leadership at the Executive Director position and without insider knowledge of our sport, USA Table Tennis staff and volunteers had previously focused their efforts on ensuring that our top athletes and entries in our tournaments were satisfied. This is by no means an easy task (I can’t believe how complex our tournaments really are!), but it misses some critical questions, which are addressed above.

If we want to promote our sport and show the world what a great sport table tennis is, we must improve production of our major events. If we can’t get it right, we reinforce our image that table tennis is a recreational game in which one wins with a few "tricky" spins.

In Rochester we took a major step in getting our production formula right. I look forward to the U.S. Open, where you can expect to see some positive changes in how USA Table Tennis runs its events!