President's Report

May/June 2004
By Sheri Soderberg Pittman

One of the primary responsibilities of the USATT president is to serve as the official representative of our organization.  Over the past several years I have described many of USATT’s interactions with the USOC.   In this issue’s “association primer series,” I will discuss what meetings and functions I attended at the World Championships.

Women’s Working Group (WWG)

As the ITTF’s North American representative to this group, I attended two meetings, and the half-day Women’s Forum.  In response to IOC targets, this ITTF working group is creating strategies to develop and oversee initiatives to increase the quality and quantity of women’s participation as athletes, coaches, tournament officials and volunteer leaders.  We created preliminary objectives and a plan to meet them.  If you are interested in working on these initiatives for USATT, please contact me.    

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

I attended the AGM as USATT’s delegate.  Besides delegates from national associations, the ITTF Executive Committee Members, Continental Vice Presidents and Committee Chairs attend this meeting.  The ITTF circulates reports by the officers and committee chairs in advance.  The reports are formally accepted by the ITTF at this meeting.  Propositions and other matters requiring votes are also taken up. 

During the service rule proposal, Koji Kimura (Japan), with paddle in hand, demonstrated how the proposed “simplified” language would actually create a whole new set of interpretation difficulties.  A working group will recommend a revised rule that will be easier to interpret and apply. 

The other important vote was the awarding of the 2007 World Championships.  Zagreb, Croatia was the winner over Sweden by a roughly 2-1 margin.  USATT had submitted a bid in cooperation with Killerspin, the City of Chicago, and the State of Illinois.  I explained to the body that as we were in the process of working on the bid, we decided to strengthen our mutual cooperation first by entering into a sponsorship and licensing agreement for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 U.S. Opens/ITTF Pro Tours.  As a result of that extensive agreement, we decided to postpone our bid until next year for the 2008 World Team Championships. 

The ITTF also introduced its comprehensive new book entitled Level 1 Coaching Manual.  This manual is especially helpful for training new coaches and community-level instructors.

ITTF Development Meeting

This meeting was run by Glenn Tepper, ITTF’s Development Manager.  Continental Development Officers and the ITTF Technical Development Officer Roman Plese also presented reports.  The ITTF funds a development officer in every continent except North America.  It was, therefore, a great opportunity to learn about promotional and coaching efforts taking place throughout the world.

ITTF Board of Directors Meeting

The ITTF Board of Directors consists of the Executive Committee Members, Continental Vice Presidents, Continental Representatives and Co-Opted Committee Chairs.  I attended this meeting because ITTF President Adham Sharara, North American Continental Vice President Aly Salam and I had mutually agreed that I would resume the North American Continental Vice Presidency.  Aly formally requested approval for the change, which was granted.  I thank Aly for his many contributions.

The most riveting discussion that took place concerned the decision to phase-in a ban of toxic adhesives for the benefit of our sport’s athletes.  

North American Table Tennis Union Meeting

USATT and Canadian Table Tennis Association representatives met.  (Bermuda and Greenland, the other two NATTU countries, did not attend the World Championships.)   Our executive directors will bear the primary responsibility of overseeing compliance with our Continental Agreement.  We will also register as an entity and open a bank account in order to handle NATTU funds.  Compared to the other highly active continental unions, NATTU is just beginning.   

Ceremonies and Celebrations

The Arabian hospitality shown by Qatar was exceptional.  I congratulate and thank the Qatar Table Tennis Association for a job well done.  Both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies featured state-of-the-art light shows and pyrotechnics.  I also attended a special dinner engagement hosted by the QTTA.  

Informal Meetings   

Every day I took advantage of the multiple opportunities to meet with other leaders and to benefit from their wisdom and experience.

I thank the Americans in attendance that, depending on their function at the time, cheered for our team or just lent their supportive presence.  Most especially, I thank the USATT national team, coaches and team leader.  Everyone gave their best effort and cooperated well.   Virtually every team we competed against consisted of full-time professional athletes.  USATT is working hard to move toward that model.  

As our association continues to evolve, there are greater needs for resources.  Thanks to our dedicated staff, tournament officials, and USATT’s volunteers at all levels who are stepping forward to help!  There are still many opportunities to participate.  Doru and I encourage you to contact us if you are interested in lending your talents or underwriting USATT initiatives.