Executive Director’s Report

By Teodore “Doru” Gheorghe

For those of you that don’t know me, here is some background information.

I’ve been in table tennis for 38 years.  I started playing when I was 12 years old, and finished my career as a player at 36.  During this time I played for the Romanian National Team, and participated in four World Championships, three European Championship, and dozens of international tournaments.  I have won 15 Romanian national titles, including men’s singles five times.

For seven years I was the General Secretary (which is similar to Executive Director) for the Romanian Table Tennis Federation.  I was responsible for all phases of table tennis, including administration, coaching, player and coach development, umpire development and testing, Olympic Centers, competitions at all levels and maintenance and development of an extensive club network.

I was the Table Tennis teacher at the coaching school at the Academy of Physical Education and Sports, which was the National Coaching School for all sports in Romania.

I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Economic Science, and Level One Coaching Certification for Table Tennis – the highest level.

Since 1997 I’ve been the USA Women’s Team and National Training Center Coach.  As USA Women’s Team coach I’ve trained and coached the National Team members and also the Junior and Cadet girls’ team.

My goals as Executive Director for USA Table Tennis are as follows:

Short-term goals

1. Make HQ operational according to USATT goals.

2. Create the USATT Strategic Plan with the help of the Board of Directors, and implement it with the help of USATT members.   

3. Form a new structure of USATT Committees with the help of the Board of Directors according to USATT Strategic Plan needs.

4. Focus USATT efforts on athlete support.

5. Create a better flow of communication between Board, Committees and members.

6. Develop and maintain better relations with the USOC and use USOC resources and facilities for developing Elite athletes.

Long-term goals

1. Olympic medallists.                    

2. A larger and wealthier association.

Since I was hired as USATT Executive Director on April 15, I have worked together with the HQ staff to accomplished as much as possible. Here is a short rundown of happenings.

Richard Lee, president of North American Table Tennis (NATT) is the new Tournament Director for 2003 U.S. Open, and he and his staff will do this pro bono.

After the U.S. Open we will nominate the Tournament Director for the 2003 Nationals.

The Selection Procedures for the 2004 Olympic and World Team Trials were sent to USOC for approval.  As soon as the Selection Procedures are approved we will post the information on the USATT web page and determine the host cities for the Trials.  A couple of cities have expressed interest in holding them. Keep an eye on the USATT web page.  As soon as USOC approves our Selection Procedures we will post the bid for the 2004 Olympic and World Team Trials.

As most of you know, we outsourced the ratings to NATT, and on April 11, Richard Lee came to USATT Headquarters and installed the software needed on our end, and went over procedures necessary to facilitate this process.

Starting June 1, 2003 Tommy Perkins (currently our intern) will join the USATT staff as Marketing and Program Coordinator.  He has a Bachelor’s Degree with a major in Marketing.  I would like to take this opportunity and thank USATT headquarters staff members Chris McCartney, Felisa Huggins, Deborah Gray and Tommy Perkins for the great and hard work they are performing.

Also a special THANKS to Robert (Bob) Allshouse for the great person that he is and the support that he has always given me no matter what.

During my seven years in the U.S., I’ve met many wonderful and enthusiastic people in the family of USA Table Tennis, and I have to say that without you, the members of USATT, it would be very difficult to achieve our goals.  So, please join me and work with me in this long road to the Olympic podium.

I know that I need as much help as I can get from all of you no matter which side of politics you are in. My only politics is Table Tennis!  If you really love table tennis, nothing can keep you from helping USATT and I know there are many people out there with great potential and skills that can help us achieve these goals.

If you would like to volunteer in helping USATT achieve these goals, please contact me.