Rhode Island Club Coaching Tour Report

By Chuck Cavicchio, RITTA Clinic Director

November 14-18, 2001 

Participants in the camp. Back row, L-R: Kim Brastow, Bob Barbour, Coach Doru, Artur Samek, Chuck Cavicchio, Krystian Przybylko, Brian Keith, Paul Belhumeur and Manny Silva. Front row, L-R: Tom Barbour, Tim Barbour, Shane Healey, Dan Vogt and Ed Hamamjian. Photo by Chuck Cavicchio, ©2002.

What a fantastic opportunity! It would be Table Tennis “Boot Camp” at its finest! Those were some of our thoughts when one of our RITTA members informed us of the USATT Club Coaching Tour.  USATT was making it possible for small clubs (like RITTA) to have international caliber coaching at their site. All we had to do was apply!

That was in July 2001. By August we had signed up 20 tentative “devotees,” discussed potential dates and faxed in our application. On Aug. 24 we had our acceptance letter!

The USA Women’s team coach, Teodor “Doru” Gheorghe, would be at our club from Nov. 14-18 to “school” us!

The USATT’s “Club Coaching Tour” was established to provide clinics to USATT affiliated clubs that don’t have easy access to a top-level coach. Each clinic would run 5-6 days, and be 4-6 hours in duration (whew!). The clubs’ responsibility would be to: 1) sign up 10 or more members, 2) provide a playing facility with one table for every two participants, and 3) arrange and pay for local transportation and hotel expenses for Coach “Doru.” For its part USATT would pay for his airfare, salary, and a per diem.

“C”-day (“Clinic”) soon arrived, and the adventure began! Our 13 participants were introduced to Coach Doru, and photographed with him. Each session followed a similar format: “chalk talk,” then demonstration of a stroke, or drill, and practice of that. A new stroke would then be introduced and practiced. The coach roamed the hall giving personal attention to each player. A few breaks for rest and water were allowed, and ample time for “Q and A” was given at the end of the session. Each participant was supplied a notepad and pen and encouraged to record “tips” that they found pertinent to their game. Here is an outline of the clinic:

Coach Doru works with Artur Samak. Photo by Chuck Cavicchio, ©2002.

Needless to say the week flew by. All 13 participants either worked or went to school (three juniors), which necessitated evening clinics. This was a grueling schedule, and 100% attendance was a tribute to the dedication of our “small but scrappy” club!

The Club Coaching Tour was the best thing USATT has done for local clubs in general and RITTA in particular! The entire “team” approach that made it possible is to be commended: Coach Doru, for his willingness to travel and be away from his family; Debbie Doney, for coordinating between the clubs and coach; and USATT leadership for envisioning and seeing fit to fund this project! It was a great opportunity for our club to be instructed on the mechanics of improving our game, and inspired by the interaction with an international level coach. Our members have had nothing but good things to say about the experience. The instruction we received is “trickling down” to our other members who didn’t participate, so the entire club is benefiting. Our board of directors (Paul Belhumer, Chuck Cavicchio, Don LaRoche, Manny Silva, and Len Wetmore) would like to thank everyone at USATT that was involved with making these clinics possible, and we encourage you to continue them. It truly was Table Tennis “Boot Camp” at its finest!

Participants were Coach Doru, Bob Barbour, Tim Barbour, Tom Barbour, Paul Belhumeur, Kim Brastow, Chuck Cavicchio, Eduard Hamamjian, Shane Healey, Brian Keith, Krystian Przybylko, Artur Samek, Manny Silva, and Dan Vogt.