USATT 2006 Annual Report
Dear USATT Members,
At the beginning of a new year, it is our pleasure to inform you briefly about USATT activities, programs and services provided to its members in 2006. USATT promotes table tennis participation and the development of table tennis athletes' skills at all levels through programs for table tennis coaches and officials.
The 2006 USATT Board of Directors composition was as follows:
| Sheri Soderberg Pittman | President |
| Jiing T. Wang | Executive Vice President |
| Tong Lee | Treasurer |
| Tim Boggan | Secretary |
| George Braithwaite | Vice President |
| Barney Reed | Vice President |
| Robert Blackwell | Vice President |
| Lily Yip | Vice President |
| Dell Sweeris | Vice President and Foundation Representative |
| Willy Leparulo* | Community Based Program Representative |
| Ashu Jain | Olympic Athlete Representative |
| Whitney Ping | National Athlete Representative |
| Khoa Nguyen | National Athlete representative |
| Teodor “Doru” Gheorghe** | USATT Executive Director |
| * Replaced by Joseph Wells ** Ex-officio member |
USATT, through its Nominating/Election Committee, conducted an election for the following six Board positions whose term was expiring: Executive Vice-President, Treasurer, two Vice-Presidents-at-large and two National Athlete Representatives. The elections resulted with the three incumbents being re-elected and in Ed Hogshead replacing Tong Lee who did not seek re-election. In addition, President Sheri Pittman nominated Joseph Wells to replace Willy Leparulo as the Community Based Program Representative
USATT would like to summarize its activities and services provided to the members in 2006.
USATT coaching certification system – Ongoing process for certification and education of US coaches. USATT members, fulfilling the criteria listed on the USATT webpage, could become a certified coach and then advance to the next coaching level. The certified coaches help/teach the young kids and members of all ages the necessary skills to become good players and get in good physical shape. As of December 31, 2006 USATT has 400 active coaches.
USATT held three coaching seminars:
USATT Officials – Ongoing process for certification and education of US umpires and referees was conducted by the Rules and Officials Committee. Any USATT members that fulfill the criteria could become a certified umpire and then receive training and take an exam to become a certified referee. USATT has 264 active Umpires, including 39 International Umpires, 46 certified Referees, 8 National and 8 International. We have begun recertification exams for all US umpires to ensure that they are up to date on the rules. We require recertification every three years.
USATT sanctioned 282 tournaments during 2006 organized within United States – Tournaments were sanctioned by the Tournament Committee through the Regional Tournament Coordinators. These tournaments were open to all members and contained events for all ages and levels. The tournaments were organized according to USATT standards, under tournament director coordination and following the International Table Tennis Federation laws. USATT set the sanctioning star level and certified umpires/officials for the tournaments, and processed the ratings of each participant.
USA Table Tennis Magazine – bimonthly magazine issued by our organization containing information related to table tennis activities in the USA and around the world, including coaching articles, physical training, ideas to improve the game, player profiles, interviews, tournament coverage and other info related to the sport. The magazines were sent to all USATT members.
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USATT web page – maintained and updated on a weekly basis the USATT web page in order to keep members informed about all aspects of table tennis activities in the US such as: schedule and results of sanctioned tournaments, ratings (updated weekly), news from the ITTF, USOC, coaching seminars, clubs and programs throughout the country, officials and umpires listings, national teams news, and other info related to table tennis activities in the US and the world.
National Teams – In 2006 USATT Men’s & Women’s, Cadet & Junior Boys’ and Girls’ National Team participated in the following international competitions and training camps:
Women’s and Men’s National Teams: Gao Jun, Jasna Reed, Nan Li, Crystal Huang, Jackie Lee, Ilija Lupulesku, Mark Hazinski, Adam Hugh, Barney Reed and Darko Rop.
National Junior and Cadet Teams: Judy Hugh, Atha Fong, Stephanie Shih, Barbara Wei, Olena Sowers, Ariel Hsing, Alicia Wei, Amy Huang, Adam Hugh, John Leach, Trevor Runyan, Misha Kazantsev, Joseph Cochran, Justen Yao, Amaresh Sahu, A.J. Brewer, and Joseph Wang.
Competitions organized by USATT
In 2006 USATT organized the following competitions:
Regional Training Centers
Two Regional training centers, New York International training center and Washington Table Tennis Club, were opened in order to help the local young kids to develop and improve their game. However, due to funding cuts by USOC, the program was discontinued in 2007.
2007 US National Team members:
Junior Girls: Judy Hugh, Olena Sowers, Atha Fong, Stephanie Shih.
Cadet Girls: Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, Alicia Wei, Janice Lan.
Cadet Boys: Justen Yao, Marcus Jackson, A.J. Brewer, Peter Li.
The Trials for Pan-Am/National Women’s and Men’s Team will be held February 28 - March 3, 2007. Gao Jun, by virtue of her World ranking as of January 2007, qualified as a Pan-Am/National Team member.
Junior Boy’s: The Trials for the Junior Boy’s Team will be held on February 27, 2007 and the team will be decided at that time.
2006 Athletes and Team of the Year
The Elite Athlete Committee proposed and the Board of Directors voted the following Athletes and Team for these awards:
Sportswoman of the year
Gao Jun
Sportsman and Paralympian of the Year
Tahl Leibovitz
Team of the Year
US Women's Team – ranked 7 as of November 2006 ITTF World ranking.
US Collegiate Table Tennis
Although the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association is not affiliated to USATT, for the purpose of helping to promote collegiate table tennis, USATT provided some financial and administrative support in 2006.
- USATT provided funding for the US Collegiate Team to participate at the World University Table Tennis Championships in Slovenia.
- 2006 ACUI Collegiate Championships in Ft. Worth, TX.
Finally, I would like to thank all USATT members, volunteers, staff, Board members,
officials, sponsors and last but not least the USOC, for supporting the development of table tennis in the USA.
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