ITTF World Hopes Team 2010 Follow-Up
March 4, 2010

Text and photos by Zita Pidl REPORT ON THE FOLLOW UP OF THE ITTF WORLD HOPES TEAM Training camps and tournaments in three countries Budapest/HUN Feb 01-13 2010 (BVSC) Faak am See/AUT Feb 14-20 2010 (WSA) Köping, Örebro/SWE Feb 21-28 2010 (ITTF JC and Safir)

Report by Zita Pidl, Team Manager

INVITED MEMBERS OF THE WORLD HOPES TEAM 2009:

Salma KHALED (EGY) – one week in Hungary
Fermin TENTI (ARG) – Austria and Sweden – two weeks
Charles DENG (USA) – Austria and Sweden – two weeks
Patryk ZATOWKA (POL ) – Austria and Sweden – two weeks
Tamolwan KHETKUEN (THA) – Hungary, Austria and Sweden – one month activity
Christos CHRISTONOF (CYP) – Hungary, Austria and Sweden – one month activity

TIME SCHEDULE

Feb 01 Arrival to Budapest
Feb 02-03 Training in Budapest (BVSC )
Feb 04-07 Molnar Janos Memorial Tournament (Salma, Mo, Christo)
Feb 08-13 Training in Budapest (BVSC) (Mo, Christo)
Feb 14 Travel to Faak am See, Austria
Feb 15-19 Werner Schlager Academy on Tour training camp (Mo, Christo, Fermin, Charles, Patryk – WHT and Lily, Ariel, Caroline, Hugo – O.S.)
Feb 20 Feb Travel to Sweden
Feb 21-23 Feb Training in Köping
Feb 24-28 Feb ITTF JC and Safir International Tournaments, Örebro
Mar 01 Departure home

IDEA

After the end of the first year ITTF WHT activity it has been decided to follow the best players longer and offer them a so-called „Follow Up” activity in February 2010. Of course, ITTF budget is very limited, so associations (and/or their partners) had big financial part in making the participation possible for their players.

PARTICIPANTS

Five boys (Patryk ZATOWKA, Charles DENG, Fermin TENTI, Christos CHRISTONOF and Brian AFANADOR) and one girl (Tamolwan KHETKUEN) have been invited for the one month activity plus Salma KHALED - for one week in Budapest. Except Brian all participated in the WSA camp in Austria and also in the training camp in Köping/SWE, followed by the ITTF JC and Safir International Tournaments. Thanks to the big efforts of the Cyprus TTA and ITTF, Christos and Mo (Tamolwan) practiced additional two weeks in Hungary and played the traditional „Janos Molnar Memorial” Tournament in Budapest, where also Salma took part. Due to well known visa problems Mo could not take part in the French camp in August 2009, therefore it was extremely important for ITTF to see her this time.

ACCOMMODATION in Budapest

During the whole stay in Budapest the famous club BVSC - led by its Director Mr Ivan HERENDI – was our host. The team has been accommodated in Hotel Szönyi, which is a very good 3 star level hotel within 10 minutes walking distance from the TT hall. All rooms well equipped with air conditioning, minibar, etc. Sauna and Jacuzzi were at our disposal, not to forget the free Wireless Internet connection in the whole building. Also the meals have been served in the hotel. It was tasty; my only critic is that sometimes it could have been quantitatively more. We were very lucky, because Budapest has shown his real winter face during these two weeks, snowing nearly every second day, minus degrees, etc. These were really unique for some players (and coaches), who never saw and touched snow before.

PLAYING FACILITIES

The BVSC TT hall is quite old and not really modern. It is situated on the territory of the Hungarian Railways and the company does not agree in any renovation, better to say they do agree – accompanied by the threat that the building can be destroyed any time, even tomorrow. Under these circumstances nobody wants to renovate it, of course. However, it has also advantage, especially for me: Every time I go there I have very nice nostalgic feelings. I’ve played my very first TT tournament in this hall (in 19... ?) and nothing has been changed since that time. It does not sound very good, but I knew where I am going to bring my team and why. I am absolutely sure that those who practiced there will share my opinion: the playing conditions were absolute satisfactory, players and coaches felt very well there. In two separate halls there are 16 tables, in the main hall wooden parquets good standard tables. Always strong sparring was at our disposal and the most important thing was the willingness to help and satisfy us from the local coaching team’s side.

MOLNÁR JÁNOS MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

In 1995, a dreadful car accident ended the young life of Janos Molnar travelling to a Hungarian Mini-Cadet tournament. Young brother Krisztian survived but elder brother Janos and mother were both killed. The following year and already for the 15th time an international tournament was inaugurated in memory of Janos Molnar. There were three Mini Cadet age group categories (born on or after 1st January 1999, born in 1998 and on or after 1st January 1997) whilst there were also a Cadet Boys’ Singles event (born on or after 1st January 1995) and a Junior Boys’ Singles event (born on or after 1st January 1992). The tournament is traditionally only for boys but the organisers have given permission for our two female members to compete; Thailand’s Tamolwan KHETKUEN and Egypt’s Salma KHALED played beside Christos CHRISTONOF of Cyprus. All three did very well, Tamolwan and Christos reached the quarter finals in the Mini Cadet 1997 category and our “unpolished diamond” (copyright by Dejan Papic) was also in the Cadet category in the best 8 – among mainly 3 years older boys! The Prize Ceremony on Saturday was followed by a very touching moment, the lights were turned off and everyone received a candle – few minutes spent in memory of János Molnár. At the end of the tournament prior to the medal ceremony Hungarian national player Daniel Kriston and his dance group imitated the late Michael Jackson in a dance display. Organisers even provided the participants with sight-seeing by bus.

SIDE ACTIVITIES IN BUDAPEST

Our small team (8 members on the first week, 6 members on the second) felt quite well in Budapest, I believe. Players worked very hard – Dejan knew no mercy... – after the tournament they practiced often 6-7 hours TT, plus physical training. However, we found the time for relaxation too. On one forenoon we visited one of the most famous baths in Budapest, the Széchenyi Baths, on another day we went to the Tropical Zoo with the players surrounded by some shopping and ice-creams. Also experiencing “Budapest by night” was on the program for adults by having had the possibility to visit several pubs with live concerts in the evenings.

WERNER SCHLAGER ACADEMY

Faak Am See, situated in Carinthia, the most southerly part of Austria was the home for the last staging of the Werner Schlager Academy on Tour project.
Our team has been supplemented by the impressive US player, the left handed Charles DENG plus the talented South American mini cadet champion Fermin TENTI from Argentina and finally the leading European prospect in this age, Patryk ZATOWKA from Poland.
Here also some other players “under ITTF flag” (supported by Olympic Solidarity) joined us: Ariel HSING (USA) and Caroline KUMAHARA (BRA), both successfully qualified for the Youth Olympic Games, another two younger talents, Hugo CALDERANO (BRA) and Lily ZHANG (USA).

ACCOMMODATION

As the building of the WSA in Schwechat is not yet ready, the camp has been held in one of Austria’s professional Sports Centres. Our rooms were simple furnished, but always clean and according to sports purposes. We had big snow around and cold temperatures, but it was an underground corridor that allowed us to go to the restaurant without outdoor walking.
The food was just excellent, buffet system and very high quality, always plenty of choices, vegetables, pasta, fruits, salads, etc. Simply perfect!
The only negative thing to mention was the internet access, better to say the non-access. Considering the fact that we had to pay for using the Wireless Internet service, it did not work more than 3 days at all.

TRAINING CONDITIONS

The conditions for different trainings were excellent in Faak am See. We had 18 tables for every TT session, one table for multi-ball practice and one table reserved for Werner SCHLAGER, who played daily 5-6 hours.

Actually, the World Champion of 2003 played with each participant of the camp minimum 30 minutes, with some of them even more. He thought different strokes and movements with endless patience during the whole week. I am sure this added a big plus to the camp as players felt very honoured and got extremely motivated.

The coaching team has been led by Mario AMIZIC, Head Coach of the WSA, but also many other coaches (from WSA and from the Austrian national and regional teams) worked hard and a lot there. All of them were very helpful and tried to assist our players and coaches in all possible aspects during the whole week. Of course, the national coaches of our players, and the WHT Head Coach, Dejan were also always present, so 35 players with over 20 coaches - nobody could complain because lack of attention. The warming up, the cool down- and the fitness sessions were held by Claus BADER - responsible for physical practice at WSA -, who showed many different useful exercises.

LECTURES

Three 30 minutes lectures have been held extra for the ITTF group, in English language:

• The importance of good physical condition in TT – Claus BADER
• Sport and Nutrition – Claus BADER
• Mental training – How to cool down mentally during TT match? - Johnny WEITLANER, the mental coach of the WSA

All together I am convinced that the 5 training days spent in WSA were very useful for all of our players, moreover, also the national coaches saw some new things for sure. I strongly hope (better to say I am sure) that the successful co-operation will continue as soon as the WSA building will be built.

SWEDEN

I had not the pleasure to follow the team to Sweden unfortunately, more about this stage to be read in the Head Coach’s report. Just to mention here the impressive results of Safir International; those are speaking for themselves:

Tamolwan KHETKUEN (THA) – winner U14 girls
Ariel HSING (USA) – winner U16 girls
Lily ZHANG (USA) – runner up U16 girls

SUMMARY

Generally I am proud to have had this idea about “Follow Up” concerning WHT-2009 members and I am even happier that some other ITTF supported players joined the activity with their coaches. I believe that all of them will profit from this 3-stage activity, especially those who attended all stages and spent one month with very intensive practicing, but similarly those who joined us in Austria for the WSA camp and went through the rather tough Swedish tournaments.
Could be nice and useful to have more such activities, but the ITTF WHT budget is limited unfortunately and this year we’ll start with the new selected group too. Therefore it is essential to involve the national associations even more financially. Ideal was if these could find sponsor, who would finance their young hopes’ participation in different training camps. I know it is difficult, but for sure not impossible! I wish good luck to everyone!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On behalf of the ITTF Team I express my sincere thanks to:

• BUTTERFLY and in particular Sebastian RANGS for continuous working with the World Hopes Team
• The BVSC coaching team and in particular the club’s Director Ivan HERENDI for the excellent co-operation in Budapest
• The Werner Schlager Academy and all its collaborators for providing us with the professional training camp
• Sports Centre in Köping, in particular Sören Ahlen
• All collaborators of Safir International who assisted the ITTF team in Örebro
• Ian MARSHALL for the nice articles on the ITTF website
• All ITTF officials and officers for their help and support
• All National Associations of ITTF players for their care and financial support
• Dejan PAPIC for his professional approach and co-operation
• All present national coaches of the participated players for their contribution
• All WHT and other ITTF supported players for their motivation, fighting attitude and hard work during our stages in Hungary, Austria and Sweden

Budapest, March 1st 2010

Zita PIDL
ITTF Education and Training Dep.
Project Manager