May/June 2002 USATT Magazine

Wesleyan University Table Tennis Program

By Stephen Cumbie

Not many college athletic programs ever dream of winning the national championship during their first year in existence. Yet for Christian Lillieroos and the Table Tennis team at Texas Wesleyan University, it’s not just a dream. It’s a goal. In fact, it’s the goal.

History of the Program

For a small, private institution, Fort Worth’s Texas Wesleyan University has had its share of successful athletic teams. The men’s golf team has been a perennial national contender since the 1960’s, winning the title multiple times. The volleyball and baseball teams have seen similar success (though without winning the national title), and the men’s basketball team is currently one of the top-ranked NCAA division III teams in the country. But none of these programs have ever had the kind of star power that Lillieroos has assembled. With the third-ranked U.S. woman, and two of the top ten-ranked U.S. men, other universities eye Texas Wesleyan with a touch of envy and more than a little bewilderment, wondering how such a strong table tennis program could be built in just eight months.

Though the program didn’t officially exist at Wesleyan until August 2001, table tennis has been around the campus for a few years. Both the 1997 and 1998 Texas Open tournaments were held at Texas Wesleyan, thanks to the lobbying of the former head golf coach and 15th ranked U.S. table tennis player over 50, Bobby Cornett. It was the success of these tournaments that helped bring the sport to the attention of others in the university’s administration. After the ’98 Open, Cornett and another athletic department official drove to Oklahoma City to talk with Christian Lillieroos about starting a team at Wesleyan. Ultimately, though, the school’s administration nixed the idea.

Two years later, the president of Texas Wesleyan stepped down. During the break between his departure and the selection of a new President, the school began to drift into shaky financial waters. Once the new President, Dr. Hal Jeffcoat, arrived, repairing the damage to the school’s finances demanded his attention. One of the first, and most difficult, decisions of Dr. Jeffcoat’s presidency was to switch the athletic programs from NCAA Division II to Division III. Although it was a sound business decision for the school, it certainly had the potential to disrupt the success to which athletic teams at Wesleyan had become accustomed. Division III schools cannot offer scholarships to athletes who play NCAA-sanctioned sports.

Almost immediately thereafter, Dr. Jeffcoat began searching for a non-NCAA sanctioned sport (one where the school could offer scholarships) to add to the Wesleyan roster, preferably one that had popularity across the globe. “It seemed like a good opportunity for us to do something different, to get our name out there in a different way,” said Jeffcoat. It also would help the school reach potential student-athletes outside the United States and give them an opportunity to study in America. After word of the search reached Cornett, he quickly met with the University President to tell him what the athletic department already knew: table tennis was the obvious choice.

Now that the Wesleyan administration knew which sport they wanted to bring on campus, they had to find the right person to lead the program. Again, to Cornett, the choice was obvious. Lillieroos had just returned to the United States, after serving as the director of sports for the International Paralympic Committee in Germany for two years. On June 25, 2001, 24 days after the school’s 2001-2002 budget had been set, Lillieroos met with school officials to discuss the possibility of starting a table tennis program at Wesleyan. Once it was determined that the program could succeed, the key issue became whether or not enough money could be reallocated from the already-established 2001-2002 budget to fund the program during the upcoming school year. On August 3, the decision was made – Wesleyan would have a table tennis program in 2001. This left precious little time for Lillieroos, who had gone to San Diego to coach in a training camp. He returned to Fort Worth on August 10th, just 13 days before classes would begin.

Luckily, there were some very talented players living in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Jasna Reed, Razvan Cretu, and Idan Levi were living within a few blocks of each other in a North Dallas suburb, about 40 miles from the Wesleyan campus. Lillieroos had coached Cretu as a member of the 1997 national team, but it was Reed who was most interested in the idea. She wanted to become a teacher, and would eventually need a teaching certificate to continue doing so. Wesleyan offered her a scholarship to their graduate program in education, and she accepted.

Cretu was the next to sign, accepting a scholarship to Wesleyan’s business program. With two of the country’s top players already on board, Idan Levi, a former member of the Israeli junior national team, became the third member of the Wesleyan squad, also enrolling in the business program. In less than two weeks, Wesleyan had gone from not having a table tennis program to having one of the best in the country.

After the fall semester, Wesleyan was looking to sign more top American players, and coach Lillieroos had his eyes on Eric Owens (who would soon after win Men’s Singles at the U.S. Nationals) and Jim Butler (1990, 1991 & 1992 USA Men’s Champion). Owens, a Houston native, was a longtime student of Lillieroos and was eager to join the program. Of course, having three other top players to practice with on a daily basis also was intriguing. He agreed to join the team in January, 2002, enrolling in Wesleyan’s pre-med program, specializing in biology. Butler, also in Houston, decided to stay put for the Spring semester, but is still considering joining the program in the Fall.

Life at Wesleyan

To a man, the players will tell you that the difficulty facing Americans in global competition is that becoming a world-class player requires several hours of practice a day – time that just isn’t available for Americans because the money in the game currently isn’t enough to support a player’s living expenses. Yet for all of the hardships that Americans face in the game, the Wesleyan players are happy to be where they are.

“[Wesleyan] takes care of things for me the way governments do for players in other countries,” said Reed, “and we have the best coach in the game – a player’s coach, not one who’s in it just for the money.”

The workout regimen for these student-athletes is fairly intense, given other academic and work-related demands on their time. Practices, held in the Wesleyan gymnasium, are scheduled every weeknight from 7 to 9, except Thursdays, and consist of different drills, depending on the time of the year. During the off-season, when the players are also subjected to more vigorous weight training, half of the practice time is dedicated to working on serves and returns, with time also dedicated to technique, footwork, and individual multiball practice sessions. Weight training, as mentioned, is most vigorous during the off-season. Three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the players meet in the school weight room from 7:30 to 9 in the morning. For purposes of allowing recuperation time, each muscle group is not worked during every session. The body is divided into three parts, and each part gets a strong workout once per week.

In-season practices and weight training are a bit different. To keep the players from over-exerting themselves, weight training is reduced to once per week, though the workouts are designed to hit every muscle group. This allows the players more energy for the evening practices, and they often will need it. In-season practices involve more physically demanding work, including lengthy block and drive sessions, where the players work on techniques and stamina necessary for winning longer points. Footwork is also emphasized, and the individual multiball sessions are also used.

“It’s hard work,” says Reed, “but we love it, and that makes it easier.”