Enron Millennium Friendship Tour

It was only a year ago that USA Table Tennis and the Chinese Table Tennis Association began discussing a youth trip to China. Several months later, our two associations informed Adham Sharara, president of the International Table Tennis Federation, of our proposed partnership pact. Sharara enthusiastically endorsed our plans. Within 60 days, Enron, one of the leading energy and communications companies in the world, emerged as the corporate partner for the trip.

The groundwork for the trip was actually laid many years earlier when China extended an invitation to the U.S.'s National Team in 1971. Shortly after that trip President Nixon and Premier Chou En-Lai signed the historic accord which remains, to this day, the foundation for trade and diplomatic relations between the United States and China. Slogans such as "Ping Pong Power" and "Ping Pong Diplomacy" emerged as a result of the new relationship between our two countries.

Our USA Youth Team will experience a vastly different China than our National Team did 29 years ago. In 1971, there was no cross-boarder trade between the two countries. Today it is in excess of $100 billion annually. Cell phones, the Internet and faster planes have brought our two countries closer than ever imagined.

The trip promises to provide USA's top youth players not only with an opportunity to compete against some of the world's best school-age players but also a chance to experience first hand a culture from a world half a day in front of us. Apart from training and competitions, the trip provides a chance for several of USA's best developmental coaches to learn from the world's best and to bring back ideas that can be used to develop future youth players.

From October 5-16 the delegation will visit Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Yangzhou. Following our footsteps will be a crew from Tianjin Cable TV, and reporters from China World Magazine and Peoples Railway Newspaper. The people on the entourage includes:

USA Youth Team: Ashu Jain, Mark Hazinski, Howard Lamb, Michael Liu, Mikhail"Misha" Kazantsev, Mimi Bosika, and Katherine Wu; USA Coaches and Staff: Jun Gao Chang, Teodor Gheorghe, Attila Malek, Mitch Seidenfeld, Bill Lui, Sheri Pittman, Ben Nisbet, and Xin Peng, Technical Delegate/Communications Liaison; Corporate Partner Greg Grissom, Sports Marketing Specialist; Chinese Table Tennis Association officials: Mr.Xu Bin, Deputy Secretary General, and Mr. Liu Wei, Staff; Tainjin Cable TV: Sun Li and Ma Song Po; China World Magazine: Yan Xue-Ning, Journalist; Peoples Railway Newspaper: Shi Jing Jing, Reporter.

What follows is an account of the tour by Mimi Bosika, age 20, a college student from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Her daily account provides some of the cultural and competition experiences encountered on this exciting trip.

After nine long years, I am finally able to travel to another country representing the United States Youth Table Tennis Team. My name is Mimi Bosika and I've lived in the U.S. since I was eleven years old. I am now twenty, and the Enron Millennium Tour to China is one of the last opportunities I will have to take such a trip as a youth player. By participating in this tour, I will miss ten days of classes at Washington University. I know it's worth it. Opportunities like this one don't come often, and while I'm in China, I would like to indulge and remember every moment.

During the plane ride to Beijing, which took about thirteen hours, I did some homework, slept, watched a movie, and talked to Ashu, Mark and Michael, my Enron Tour teammates. When the plane landed my excitement grew. At the airport, we met up with a cable TV camera crew that would join us on our trip to film a documentary about the Tour.

As I walked through airport customs, I noticed that it was 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon in China, but it was actually 3:00 a.m. at home. We entered a whole new world. I thought to myself, "I can't wait to experience all the ways in which this country is unique." My momentary amazement came to a pause when I realized that my luggage did not arrive! The only items in my carry-on were some books, my toiletries, and, of course, my racket. The airport authorities told me that my luggage would arrive the next day. I was worried - not because I had no other clothes, but because the first practice session was tomorrow morning and the only shoes I had were my humongous Nike sneakers. How would I ever be able to lift my feet and move!

After we checked-in at the Garden View Hotel, our Chinese hosts took us to dinner. The food was great, but I was so tired that I could hardly remember what I ate as we returned to the hotel. Before I went to bed, I was watching a Chinese television station and to my surprise, Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang, the Chinese table tennis Olympic medallists, were guests on a talk show. I was amazed! In the United States, I have seen table tennis on TV about four times since I've lived there. In China, I saw a show about table tennis only hours after my arrival.

Our first practice session in China was this morning and lasted three hours. When we arrived at the middle school where we played, the Chinese table tennis players welcomed us with applause as we stepped off the bus. They were very happy to see us. I remember thinking that it should have been our team applauding at them. Their hard work and table tennis strength seemed to deserve as much respect as they were displaying toward us.

During practice, I had a hard time with my footwork due to my heavy shoes. Nevertheless, I noticed that the female players were very consistent and that they seemed more comfortable playing with the 40mm ball. I played five matches and lost two. I knew that I had my work cut out for me for the upcoming formal competition on Monday.

This afternoon we went to the Forbidden City. The City was built in the 1400sby the Ming Dynasty. It was an honor to walk on the same ground as former Chinese Emperors. How amazing it was to actually visit the place that I was only able to read about in books! I absolutely had to buy a book about this place. The funny thing is that I negotiated my price to 50 yuan, while Attila, one of the U.S. coaches, bought his for 100! Since one dollar equals about eight yuan, I bought a great souvenir for only $6.25.

It was almost time for our most formal dinner of the trip and I still hadn't received my luggage. I was in trouble. Sneakers and warm-ups would not suffice for an event organized by the respectable Chinese Table Tennis Association. About five minutes before our departure to dinner, Sheri Pittman, USATT president, offered me one of her outfits. Luckily, she and I are about the same size, except for our feet! Since the shoes she gave me were a size and a half too big, Bill Lui actually had to keep me from falling over as I walked. The dinner went from being potentially disastrous to very entertaining.

It was a privilege to be in the company of the Xu Yinsheng, the President of the China Table Tennis Association (and past president of the International Table Tennis Federation), who also gave us a wonderful crystal gift on behalf of his association. I concluded that international table tennis trips was one of my new favorite things to do.

Bill Lui, Mimi Bosika and Yu Bin at the Great Wall.

One thousand five hundred eighty-seven steps! I cannot believe it actually took that many steps to reach the top of the Great Wall. But we did it. Our whole team. I took us about forty-five minutes to do it, and we sweated the entire way. Reaching the top and looking down on the Chinese mountainside was not only fun and rewarding - it also says something about the athletes that are on this tour. They may not be better table tennis players than the Chinese, but they have the passion to achieve something great. No matter how difficult the climbing became, they did not give up. They had the motivation and the strength. They only needed the opportunity. I was very proud to be in their company as their teammate. On the way down the wall we all stopped to get an engraved certificate for our accomplishment. This is probably the most valuable souvenir I bought.

Next we went shopping in a classy, six-story shopping mall. While Michael, Katherine and I were negotiating the price of some expensive souvenirs; I noticed Ashu, Mark, and Howard debating whether to buy the great-looking and cheap designer watches. Each of them ended up buying a watch for about $10 and they all matched. Despite the fact that the watches would probably fall apart in a week, the boys continued to brag about them and even wore them during practice.

We had dinner at an earlier time tonight because we were going to go to an acrobatic show. I was exhausted and I could barely keep my eyes open on the bus ride to the show. However, the acrobatics were so unbelievable that I absolutely had to stay awake. I can't decide which was more amazing - the girl who balanced four people on her head or the man who rode a bike with nine people on it.

We had our first formal team competition today and I was very disappointed with the way I played. I lost two matches, but I believe that I should have won both. However, should haves and could haves don't mean a thing. I did not deserve to win simply because I did not put in as much practice and hard work lately as the Chinese players. In addition, I'm still having a difficult time adjusting to the 40mm ball. I hope that I will be much more successful in the upcoming competitions. Overall, the rest of the team members seemed to be pleased with their performance. In other words, the Chinese school players have not demolished us yet!

Later today we traveled to Tianjin by bus. There, we encountered numerous signs welcoming the Enron Millennium Friendship Tour. We felt very honored to receive such special treatment, but we had no idea that the best had yet to come.

In the evening, we went to a Peking opera show that the local community organized in our honor. It featured Tianjin school children. Upon entering the auditorium we saw hundreds of students clapping for our team. I wish I had a picture of our enormous grins! The excitement was overwhelming. During the show, numerous cameras filmed us hoping to capture our reactions to the opera. I thought the show was different from anything I had ever seen. The performers wore masks and very high shoes. Their voices corresponded to the high sounding melody of the jing hu, a predominant string instrument played in the opera. After the opera, we were invited on stage to take a picture with the performers. We were as excited to be in their presence as they were to be in ours.

This morning we had a practice session at a middle school in Dagang. The players here were a little better than the players in Beijing. For example, Ashu played a 13-year-old boy who defeated him in a practice match. Also, I played with an eight-year-old girl whose level was around 2000 in rating. After the practice, a few dozen school children wanted to speak with us in English and asked for our addresses. We gave them some American candy and postcards from our hometowns. They were thrilled that we visited their school and we were impressed with their generosity.

In the afternoon we received the most amazing welcome from Tianjin Middle School No. 10. During the entire ceremony, I remember wondering what we had done to deserve such wonderful treatment. And the truth is that we did not deserve it, but the Tianjin people seemed unwilling to settle for anything less.

As we got off the bus, the school band was playing the drums, and hundreds of students and citizens gathered around to welcome us. All of us received flowers and enjoyed several dance routines presented by young school children. Later, Ben and Greg told me that our arrival at the Tianjin Middle School No.10 was featured on a Chinese television station. Next, there was an official welcoming ceremony where Sheri gave a speech. As in the other ceremonies, she thanked our Chinese hosts for their kindness and exchanged gifts with them. Sheri said something that I thought was very important. She mentioned the Ping Pong Diplomacy, whose motto was "Friendship First." However, today, she requested that the new motto become "Friendship Forever." It seems tome that through trips such as these, we are not only able to learn about table tennis, but also improve our diplomatic relations with China and strengthen our friendship.

I played a little better in today's formal team match, but still felt that I could improve. Meanwhile, Katherine played well, Michael and Misha faced very tough competition in their age group, and Ashu, Mark, and Howard were very close to winning their team match, but lost. After the matches, most of us were displeased with our performance. This Chinese School Team demonstrated their talent and hard work. Also, their schoolmates were very supportive and proud, cheering loudly throughout the competition. In general, the intense table tennis experience at Tianjin taught us many things, such as the importance of remaining calm, fighting hard, and accepting a loss.