November 2024
BTT honor Member met table tennis young talents from around the world
by Emma Yang
From November 1st to November 7th, I experienced the 2024 World Hopes Week and Challenge at Estadio Federación Paraguaya de Tenis de Mesa (FPTM). A total of 18 girls and 15 boys, representing the top U12 players from each continent, along with their coaches, trained for 5 days then played matches for 2 days. I was one of the four members in junior team U.S.A.
Each day, training session was about 3 hours. It started with a warmup, which is running and stretching. Then we practiced the fundamentals, such as forehand and backhand with each other for 15 minutes. After that, we worked on a variety of drills that trained our footwork, technique, mindset and other key components. After the drills we play top table (up and down) Which is where you play one game to 11 points. The winner moved up and the loser moved down. The goal for each player was to get a highest performance table, because the table where the player ended up with in the morning was the table where the player played in the afternoon. After the matches we picked up balls and stretched. At the end of each training session, we ate lunch and dinner in the venue.
In the afternoon of the sixth day, the round robin matches were played in a 4 games format. Where 2 players played 4 games against each other. The score could be 1-3, 4-0, or even 2-2. When the score from any game was 10-10, the two players played one golden point to decide the winner of the game. After the round robin, top 8 players entered the elimination rounds of matches then became the best of three, which meant players had to win 2 matches to win. Top 4 girls and top 4 boys were selected and awarded at the last day of this week.
I felt that the training period was such a valuable opportunity, helping me and others improve our techniques and learn new skills. Because we expected what was coming every training day, we were able to prepare and think about it. It also trained our muscle memory. Lunch and dinner together and the experience were a great way to socialize with kids around your age who also love the same sport you do. Overall, I'm very grateful for this opportunity to go to World Hopes. I made so many new friends, I learned so much, and I got to play against top young players under 12 years old from around the globe.
During this event, I informed some of my new friends about BTT and BTT's goals to promote table tennis starting from local community. Some of them seemed to be interested. As one of BTT honor members, I would like to invite table tennis enthusiasts on each continent to join us. Becoming part of BTT family, they are able to introduce themselves then share their local table tennis activities and events with our community in New Jersey, U.S.A. through our website.
BTT member volunteered: Emma Yang, November 1st-7th, 1 hr per day, total 7 hours