September/October 2008 Interim Executive Director's Report

By USATT Interim Executive Director, Michael D. Cavanaugh

In a pre-Olympic Games communication with our USATT Magazine editors, I am aware that this issue will focus on the Olympic Games in Beijing and on Women in USA Table Tennis. Therefore, I will refrain from providing a detailed report of the results from Beijing but I would like to provide some additional color from my perspective.

I was fortunate enough to visit the Table Tennis venue in Beijing (it was beautiful) and to see our athletes in competition. They made me feel very proud! In Teams our USA Women finished in fifth place overall and this was the best result ever in an Olympic Games for the USA in Table Tennis. Wang Chen finished in eighth place in singles and with Gao Jun’s sixteenth place finish in singles the USA had two women in the top 16 in the Olympic Games. I want to thank each of our Olympians, Gao Jun, Wang Chen, Crystal Huang and David Zhuang, for representing the USA and the USATT so well in Beijing. A special thank you goes out to our delegation Team Leader, Bob Fox, for his support of the planning and execution of the Olympic Games’ experience for our delegation. To our Olympic Team Coach, Doru, a very special thank you for your professionalism and dedication to the well being and performance of each of our athletes. A job well done by all!

In other news: the USATT Board assembled in Colorado Sprigs on July 17 for a full-day board orientation in conjunction with several USOC staff members. The meeting was led by an outside professional facilitator, Rose Snyder. Immediately following this board orientation, the Board conducted their first formal session. Peter D. Scudner, an Independent Director, was elected as the Chairman. The minutes of that meeting have already been posted on the USATT website along with a letter to the membership by Chairman Scudner. The Board has already taken steps to make themselves accessible to the membership and while there is an enormous amount of work ahead of them they are poised to provide the level of leadership that everyone in USATT can be proud of in the near and long term. There has already been a sweeping outreach to the coaching community within USATT to gather ideas on how to formulate and implement a sustainable high performance plan for our Senior, Junior and Cadet athletes.

My observation is that this USATT Board is composed of many talented, experienced people who are dedicating themselves to the challenges and opportunities ahead. They do not intend to operate in a vacuum; they will instead rely on the national office and the Bylaw-defined committees and task forces to be reorganized (following the review of the past committee structure). I must quickly add that there is significant athlete involvement at every level and it is encouraging to see so many athletes, including athletes from our Paralympic family, so eager to take on leadership roles and to contribute to the growth of our beloved sport. While many have seen this governance reform process as one moving at a glacial pace, I’m here to tell you that I personally believe that USA Table Tennis is in a “sunrise” position and that from all of your patience in the process there will soon be programs and directions that will take USA Table Tennis to new levels of positive development. I remain a phone call or e-mail away from any questions that you might have on USATT.

Michael D. Cavanaugh
Interim Executive Director – USA Table Tennis