Junior Development Task Force

Fifty-seven percent of USATT members are over the age of 40, which is a higher percentage than the US population (only forty-six percent of which is over 40). Only 15% of USATT Memberships of Junior Memberships, and perhaps most distressing of all, only 3% of USATT Members are under age eleven. That means that in the entire country, fewer than 300 kids, ten or younger are involved in organized table tennis.
Unless we do something about it, that small group of kids represents the future of our sport. Not exactly a rosy picture.

The USATT Board of Directors appointed a Junior Development Task Force to try to address this challenge and help set the organization on course for a brighter future for the sport. The task force consists of the following individuals:
David Del Vecchio, Chair
Mike Babuin
Dennis Davis
Rajul Sheth
Doru Gheorghe, Staff Liaison

The Junior Development Task Force is working to address three key challenges:
1) How to get more kids interested in table tennis
The number of kids that take-up table tennis compared to other sports is miniscule. How do we introduce many, many more kids to table tennis and get them playing regularly in some organized program?

2) How to keep kids playing table tennis
Many that start playing table tennis don't stick with the sport through high school and into college, but drop it, in some cases due to loss of interest, or to pursue other sports or activities. How do we make sure that many kids that are introduced to table tennis stick with it?

3) How to help kids improve their level
It's no secret that US table tennis is not competitive with the best in the rest of the world, and that many US juniors do not improve at the rate of their international counterparts. How do we make sure that kids that do stick with the sport, have opportunities and incentives for continuous improvement?
The task force will propose a set of ideas and measurable goals for making progress on each of these three challenges.