President's Report

July/August 2005

By Sheri Soderberg Pittman

It’s bigger news when China DOESN’T dominate than when China takes home all of the golds at the World Championships.  This year China did it again.  And no one is surprised.  Elsewhere in this issue, Cheng Yinghua and Larry Hodges have collaborated to discuss the many “ancient Chinese secrets” that help China to yield such consistently excellent results.  In this month’s “association primer series,” I’d like to share my views on how China is able to mass produce champions and what the United States needs to do to move in that direction.

The simple reason why China is able to repeatedly sweep, or nearly sweep, top competitive honors is simple: they’ve got the total package.  They are the best in most things related to table tennis, not just on the court.  Their president is a former world champion.  Their head men’s coach is a former Olympic and world champion.  Many members of the Chinese Olympic Committee and top executives come from the sport of table tennis.  Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  Success breeds success.  Experience creates the possibility of excellent preparation.  Excellent preparation ensures confidence and courage.  Confidence and courage lead to fearlessness.  Finally, the experienced players fearlessly play all out for the top honors.

Conversely, let’s look at the American mentality.  I remember earlier during my presidency when the Board would contemplate USOC directives to create a plan that would put USATT on the medal path.  The prevailing feelings in the room, I recall, were resignation and cynicism.  Even some resentment and hostility.  Thankfully, the USATT Board has accepted the challenging activities related to our mutual aspirations. 

If you follow the Internet newsgroups, you’ll relate to the posters’ pervasive tendency to explain away the elusive breakthrough.  Or to blame someone.  Or to give reasons or justifications for the state of USATT’s current place in the world.

The fact is that until enough people, preferably our own members, band together and stand for the possibility that USATT also has a place on the medal stand, there is no probability that we will get there.  Why?  Simply because it is commitment that creates the clearing for the possibility to exist.  After we have the commitment and the possibility established, then we can begin to figure out what roles which people will play on the USATT’s support team.  Right now that team consists mostly of volunteers.  The sooner we fill in the gaps in our support team, the sooner we will be able to effectively compete against the other countries whose progress surpasses our own.

As president, it’s up to me to lead this charge.  Many times I’ve written about what an honor and privilege it is for me to serve USATT.  Were it not for the commitment my family has also made, I couldn’t do it.  My husband’s willingness to take on the financial burden of providing for our family has freed me up to put in the hours I do; his willingness to cover for me as a parent allows me to travel on necessary trips without worrying about our son; and the many other extra responsibilities he absorbs for the sake of my commitment allows me to focus on building up our association.  Likewise, our son’s commitment to absorbing the sacrifices he makes touches me and propels me to contribute fully and to concentrate clearly on whatever it is I have to do as president. 

If we talk about our sport as a game, and the game the administration plays as opposed to what our players do on the court, then the game I am playing is getting our players onto the arena’s main court.  But I am only one person.    

There’s just one way we’re going to get a player on the medal stand and that’s for a critical mass of people to stand for our future.  Are we going to engage in the real drama of what takes place at events like the World Championships and Olympics?  Or are we just going to worry about our own issues, complain about what’s wrong, or be people in the stands who refuse to get involved with what’s happening on the court?

Obviously there are people who have jumped in and who are making a difference.  One of them, who’s a national team member, showed great determination and unflinching effort in Shanghai.  That person is Gao Jun.  She finished in the top 8, achieving the same accomplishment she attained in 2003.  The sold-out crowd cheered relentlessly for her opponents, but there she was.  Each point.  Each game.  Each match.  Congratulations to Gao Jun and her coach Doru Gheorghe for such a fine performance.

Now the question is: what about the rest of you?  Are you going to make a commitment to USATT beyond your own commitment to play and compete?  Are you going to step up and offer your unique talents?  Are you going to commit to being part of the team that makes history?

In the past, I have asked for people to contact Doru or me if you are interested in volunteering.  Now I say, contact us.  Let us know what you can offer.  If you don’t step up and contact us, then we don’t know how to weave you into USATT’s strategy.  If we don’t know what unique talents you have, then we can’t specify which contributions you could best make.   If you’re waiting until we’re already there, ponder this: it’s more likely a player will get to the medal stand through our help than a player will make it to the medal stand without the strength and power of the national association’s backing.

I’m thankful to the many members who HAVE stepped up.  Now it’s more important than ever for us to have an effective plan in place for expanding the human and financial resources of USATT.  Wanting to win an Olympic medal and committed to doing that is necessary, but not sufficient.  China’s table tennis players are given all the tools needed to be the world’s best.  The United States Olympic Committee has recently announced that it plans to shuffle around the amount of money it gives to each national association.  We still don’t know exactly how much we’ll be impacted by the new policy.  But one thing’s for sure: to be at our team’s most competitive level, we need to expand, not decrease, our revenue sources, and we need many more committed people willing to contribute their talents and time to help USATT achieve this. 

Our national team’s performance is inextricably tied to whatever the members’ prevailing sentiment is.  If people want to expend their energies on blaming others for the state of table tennis in the US, then we’re likely to get drawn into that defeatist mindset or into debates.  Debates are just a fancy word for arguments and arguments are not going to help us get to where we’re heading.  The solution is very simple.  If more and more people step forward, we’ll be able to expand our strategic vision and to adopt great ideas put forth, and worked on, by others.

For now though, I invite you to close your eyes for a few minutes.  Think about how you can assist USATT.  If you share the same purpose-driven excitement that I feel, then step up.  Contact Doru at ed@usatt.org or me at sheripittman@yahoo.com.  I also encourage all of the US Open attendees to take the opportunity in Fort Lauderdale to speak to Doru or me about your areas of expertise.

In the meanwhile, I want to acknowledge the entire USATT world championships team.  You were all hard-working, serious and determined to do your best.  When you were out of the draw, you generously cheered Gao Jun on.  The team spirit was great.  I want to thank USATT’s staff for your ongoing patience and dedication too. 

In the next issue I look forward to recounting and highlighting excellent contributions.  For now, I’ll congratulate our own Dennis Davis and the various members of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, especially its president Anne Cribbs, for attending the ITTF Board of Directors meeting to take part in the delivery of USATT’s bid presentation for the 2007 World Junior Championships.  The competition will be held at Standford University.  Primary credit for the whole bid goes to Dennis Davis, who coordinated many of the details. 

The initiative Dennis took to coordinate all of the details is a perfect example of what can happen when we create the synergy of teamwork.  I look forward to writing about your contributions as well.