Debate

Our champion girls

Tony Herbert, our inimitable veteran player from Queensland, his kindly contributed the following story on our first World Veterans Teams Championships in Europe, the home of independent veteran table tennis players.

Australia has followed Europe’s lead and now has three separate incorporated associations the first one being established and incorporated by NSW already way back in 1991, the New South Wales Veterans Table Tennis Association, then the Australian Veterans Table Tennis Association with formed in Perth in 2008 and incorporated a month afterwards; and the Victorian Veterans Table Tennis Association was incorporated the year after in 2009.

Apart from the NSW association which has been affiliated with TTNSW, have been truly independent and have been recognised for many years, the other two associations are still actively seeking affiliation with the country’s peak table tennis associations, but so far without success.

A lot of misinformation and misconception of these movements is the main reason why TTA and TTV are dragging their feet on this.

Never is it, or has it been the intention of any of the country’s veteran table tennis players to undermine or usurp the leaders of our sport.

All these players desire is to manage their own affairs, as is done in NSW.

The editor

Tony has undertaken to supply further news and reports of overseas activities and events in the coming months.

Thank you for that Tony!

FIRST INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS TABLE TENNIS SOCIETIES in Cottbus Germany – 2007 (by Tony Herbert)

Australia were one of the founding members of the TINCTS and the first Championship was in COTTBUS about 65 KM from Berlin just west of the Polish border.

Two countries, Germany and England, fielded a full complement of men’s and ladies teams. Several others countries entered a lesser number of teams.

The Australia Veterans TT Association entered three teams, two men’s (60 and 70 respectively) and one ladies in the over 50s. 

The Aussie squad comprised the 50’s ladies  of Alice Abbas and  Lorraine Baker,  the men’s 60s Horst Frolich, Buddy Reid with Werner Krafft as manager who stepped in for Allen Drury at the last moment, the 70’s team fielded Case de Bondt, Gordon Lee and finally yours truly Tony Herbert.

The highlight of the tournament with regards to Australia was provided by the girls, who were successful in winning their age group by beating the favourites England as well as the well fancied German team. This is a magnificent effort for our country!

The Aussie girls win was a remarkable team effort winning a number of matches 3 games to two, on three occasions Alice would beat one opponent and Lorraine would lose her rubber then in the reverse singles the opposite happened. It was their doubles combination that proved the deciding formula in not loosing a single match.

The final match went down to the wire and in the doubles one pair appeared to dominate, but then the others managed to fight back and the fifth game was a nail biting affair going down to the wire with the Aussies finally running out to be the winners. The combination of Alice’s powerful attack coupled with Lorraine’s deft touch made for a formidable pairing.

The men’s effort was commendable but lacked the killer punch, although in a number of games the winner was in doubt until the final couple of points, but nearly always favouring their more experienced opponents.

One noticeable win was by Gordon Lee over Fred Lockwood from England, the latter of course went on to win in the World Veterans Championships, in the over 75’s, the following year in Rio de Janeiro (2008).

 I would like to offer on behalf of our small contingent our many thanks to Der Club Germany, and to Konrad Steinkamper, for not just organising the event but the wonderful hospitality shown to us by Der Club members. They arranged transport and met us at the airport and took us to our hotel.  They invited us to their club in Berlin where we played against many of their club members.

The men did not win, the girls managed to do so. 

The welcoming get together in the evening was extremely enjoyable and the local Mayor was there to welcome us.

The next couple of days were spent sight seeing and being invited by a Der Club member for tea in their home.

 In Cottbus we stayed at a 4 star hotel with breakfast, 33 Euros and entry fees to the teams event came to 20 Euro per team member.

The  next morning sight seeing in a punt through a number of waterways to the sounds of birds singing as we viewed picturesque gardens with their flowered trellises in amidst beautiful manicured lawns and colourful flowers as we gently made our way through tranquil waters to a log cabin restaurant for lunch and of course a very palatable beer.

After the championship a number of us travelled to Zagreb to watch the worlds’ individual table tennis championships and watch some magical matches.

The girls appeared to get bitten by the travel bug and left their luggage at the hotel and off they trotted to Poland.

The system I adopted was that each person was responsible for their own travel arrangements to Berlin and was to arrive on a certain day at the hotel in Berlin.

After socialising and site seeing travel in a group from Berlin to Cottbus. (Travelling in a group one can get a very much reduced train fare.) 

 I will keep a news letter going about the event in Istanbul together with TT tournaments in Europe.

Trier, in West Germany, is a great tournament, I managed to get a medal not because of my prowess of table tennis or lack of it but because I had travelled the furthest to play in the event. I still hold that record.

(Nets and Edges)-Tony Herbert.

 

The Future of our Sport in Victoria

Opinion

I have been asked by several players what in my opinion is the way to go forward in Victoria, table tennis wise.

We are always short of money and resources, so how can we improve the running of table tennis in general within this State?

This does not take away or detract from the needs of other States of course.

It is a fact that table tennis is stagnating in what is (arguably was) the premier State of Victoria.

We are going backwards at a rate of knots. TTV has been operating at a loss.

The enormous overhead in remunerations amounted to more than $105,000.00 the last financial year (07/08). The Australian Championships ran at a $16,000.00 loss. These are just a couple of examples.

MSAC is the largest mill stone around our collective necks.

And I mean every registered table tennis player and not just the veterans.

But as the next Veterans Australian nationals will be held in Victoria under the much maligned conditions at MSAC, it is most pertinent to see how we can benefit from fresh ideas.

Already Martin Solomons in his proposal to TTV in 2008 (under News on our blog, July 24 2009) stated that:

MSAC is TTV’s ‘Sword of Damocles’.

TTV never accorded his submission with a response.

Another example of TTV not wanting to listen to constructive advice is that some 15 hours of research, on the project of getting a better financial deal for our sport, was done on an honorary basis by a voluntary expert.

It was obvious to most everyone that a new contract sorely needed to be negotiated between MSAC’s management and TTV, the peak body in our State.

However TTV declined/ignored this noble offer too and seemed oblivious to the indisputable fact that MSAC is a bottomless pit where table tennis players’ money is rapidly disappearing for NO BENEFIT, least of all to the sport of table tennis.

You may have read my editorial of July 24, 2009 posted on this blog www.ausvet.wordpress.com (it is still there under News).

For two days, during the last June’s Country Week championships, the MSAC Stadium Committee charged the Country Week Committee $5,500.00 in rent.

Next year, when we tally up the days our nationals (8) will take up, and the two Victorian championships, Closed (1) & Open (1) at MSAC, we come to ten (10) days of hire.

Multiply $5,500 x 5 and we come to well over $20,000.00

Even if some reduction of this cost were to be negotiated, say around $15,000 for the 10 days, the money is totally lost to our sport, we get terrible conditions to play under for this extravagance and I have yet to hear of anyone really happy playing there. Since 1996 the players have voted with their feet; enough said.

Martin Solomons went on to say:

We need to develop and implement an exit strategy from MSAC.

No word was ever more truly spoken within Victoria’s table tennis circles.

Now since 1996, when we first started using MSAC for table tennis, over a million dollars has been spent on running the administrative side of our sport alone.

We have two full time employees, a CEO and an Events & Administration Officer who combined cost us more than $100,000 per annum.

Then the MSAC costs must be considered and the mind starts to boggle.

Our sport is very much a minor sport.

We should endeavour to live within our means.

If we ever are to get a Home of our Own again, we need to tighten the belt right now and jettison one employee and save some $50,000.00 per annum.

We should play our ten (10) days at MSAC elsewhere, say at Croydon, and save thousands more.

We do not need this expensive TTV Office and the MSAC venue at all.  The CEO-cum-Events & Administrative Officer can work from a much more modest office elsewhere.

Meetings of the Board and other committees can easily be arranged elsewhere for little cost.

Any table tennis presently played at MSAC (which is pitifully little compared to pre-1995, and a further example of us going backwards) can easily be absorbed within our neighbouring Associations, which we are fortunate to have within the Metropolitan area.

In no time at all we’ll have saved sufficient finances to put a deposit on the purchase a large building/warehouse similar to the old Nissen Hut we had before 1996.

This is really not a novel idea at all.

It is “A la Bruno Zimmaro’s offer” of 1995.

You hadn’t heard of this offer before? Let me tell you about this astute business man, whose love of the game was extra-ordinary.  He offered TTV in 1995, when we were forced to leave our Old Centre because of the Formula One Grand Prix, the following gesture:

“I’ll buy a large defunct warehouse, similar to the Old Centre; have it converted to house some 30 tables with office space and a canteen. You may initially rent it with the option to buy as soon as possible.”   TTV answered:

“Thanks Bruno, but no thanks. We’re opting for the Taj Mahal instead.” Look where this has landed us. What a shame and what a missed opportunity.

Most of us are wise after the event; Bruno had the foresight to recognise we were making a retrograde step and for that reason made this philanthropic offer to assist us making the transition.

The conversion of it into our own Table Tennis Centre, to house some 30 tables, will not be difficult.

A modest office can be constructed within the confines of this building, as well as a cafeteria.

Precedents have been set. Christchurch in New Zealand has done this with great success.

They purchased a large fertilizer/seed complex, a very large warehouse, and installed proper flooring over the concrete.

They are presently in the process of building a Mezzanine upstairs for a cafeteria, toilets/showers and an office.

This in turn frees up space downstairs for additional tables, they’ll have 30 of them, and the Canterbury Club has not looked back since.

At present we are in a dead-end alley, going nowhere.

Our sport is stagnating and our headquarters at MSAC is an expensive white elephant.

We are wasting our limited resources and are getting nothing back for it in return.

WE NEED A HOME OF OUR OWN AGAIN and the sooner the better.

The resurgence of our sport will be immediate, our membership will increase again and we can all enjoy perfect table tennis conditions, at least as it was in the ‘Old Centre’.

Please, let us learn from our mistakes of the past and aim for a better future, before we are lost altogether.

Let us concentrate on the basics, get our identity back again by feeling at home once more.

Let us start a debate on the subject, so dear to us all.

Comments, any criticisms or further ideas are warmly invited.

 

The editor

 

February 2009:  Welcome to this forum where appropriate opinions may be aired with the understanding that  opinions expressed may not necessarily be those of ausvet.

FREE TABLE TENNIS AUSTRALIA.

By Tony Herbert anthherb1@yahoo,com

This is my first Free Table Tennis letter. I hope it will help create meaningful debate that will lead to a more viable table tennis environment, as a response Neil Coy’s invitation to write an article for posting on this website.  ‘Free Table Tennis Australia’ is based upon the concept of Howard Middleton’s Free Table Tennis UK whereby table tennis players in England are given the opportunity to express their views without fear or favour with regard to issues they perceive affects the well being of their beloved sport of table tennis.

 My successes in table tennis are relatively insignificant when compared to Inh Van Lee, Igor Klaf, and Paul Pinkewich, who are the three male icons of Australian veteran’s table tennis.

 International Veterans Table Tennis Society:

 Firstly, I wish to explain the objectives of the International Veterans Table Tennis Society which is “To promote the development of Veterans Table Tennis.” The committee is made up of volunteers and each country pays an annual fee of 18 Euros.

 Every other year the Swathling Club promotes the “Veterans World Championships” but many countries believe there should be a teams event every alternate year to that of the VWC.  Meetings have been held in Bremen, Rotterdam and Rio and correspondence has been entered into with Mr Chan the Chairman of ITTF Veterans Advisory Committee (each continent has a representative on this committee). I have been involved in two of these meetings and no doubt will be at another meeting in Porec, Croatia. I believe it will only be a matter of time before the VI team event will be recognised by the ITTF, particularly when there are 240,000 Vets in Germany alone who are very supportive in this project.

 One of the projects I have been involved with the President is designing a questionnaire as to player’s opinions of World Vets Events.  Some of you know I have given a number of these questionnaire papers to players and if anyone is interested I will forward you the results together with my comments. The representative of Oceania is at this stage is Mr Ron Garrett who has been a positive appointment for us Vets in Australia and I believe it would be a retrograde step for us if he was replaced with someone from the TTA board.  Many of us are aware that TTA’s policy toward Vets is mostly monetary and we only receive token recognition.

Comments sought:

Perhaps this issue is a good starting point for player’s comments and with this and other issues in mind I will be posting a Free Table Tennis Australia each month, hoping to draw comments on matters of importance to veteran players and table tennis in general.  Other relevant issues for Vets especially include selection of teams, better communications, and details of proposals for government grants so the stakeholders can make valid decisions on achievement of objectives.

Selection of national teams, money made to national junior and senior squads when there is no money available to develop table tennis for all stake holders. Better communications, making public details of proposals to obtain government grants so stakeholders may make a valid decision as to whether the money spent has achieved its objectives.  Other topical opinion includes the national ranking system which to me is not statistically viable as one State can be advantaged over a lesser State because of the number of competitions?

For you to understand the culture of the TTA and Qld boards I will periodically outline some of the suggestions and the work I have done for table tennis to both these boards.  Although I have been completely ignored with the work I have done yet I find some of these suggestions have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented.

 Please forward your comments and suggestions with regard to the possible future direction of Aust TT, as you would like it to happen.  Many others would also appreciate reading your views.

 Information for the 2nd International Veterans Table Tennis Societies Event in Sofia.  Copy of Entry Form is included on this site under the Calendar category:

 If the Inaugural Event to Cottbus in Germany is anything to go by those who participated were very impressed, not only with the competition but also the hospitality shown by ‘Der Club’ in Berlin.  The over 50s girls played wonderfully well as a team and won the ladies over 50s event.  After the tournament a number of us went on to Zagreb to watch the World Individuals Event and what a feast of table tennis we witnessed from a very good vantage point. (Not like Guangzhou where one was a bus ride from the table.)

 I think we should adopt a similar procedure to the Cottbus trip, whereby individuals should make their own travel arrangements to a predetermined point and from there a group travel arrangement is possible.  However I will make some suggestions as to places to visit with consultations to those who wish to participate in this event. Due to the economic conditions prevailing at present the organisers will accept one or two teams. At the time I had expressed a view to the organisers in Sofia that because of a number of problems Australia might not be able to participate in the event this time.  However, two teams have recently been chosen to represent Australia.

 Due to the lateness of the event being July we will be travelling in the high season which makes travelling expensive but once in Europe there are many budget airlines.  Suggestions for places we could both play table tennis or go sight-seeing include Berlin, Nova Said, Istanbul and Bratislava are just a few cities we could visit.  Or we could simply travel through Switzerland, Germany and Austria before flying to Istanbul.

 I myself arrive in Milan on the 2nd June where I will be classifying in the European Disabled Championships, (My fare to Milan is at my own cost. Being a bit of a bargain hunter I managed to procure a fare from Melbourne and returning from Heathrow for $1690) I then travel to Porec where I will be playing in the European Vets.   I finish in Croatia on the 21st June and am available from that date or a couple of days before so I will be able to catch up with those who wish to travel around Europe or the Balkans. (That is if there are enough people wishing to participate in the event.)

 Please if anyone is interested please contact me as soon as possible. anthherb1@yahoo.com 

 

Many thanks,

Tony