April 16, 2009
High School Profile: Eastview High School, Apple Valley, MN
Eastview High School Table Tennis Team
Bronze Medalists at the 2008 Minnesota State High School Team Tournament
By Mitchell Seidenfeld
Apple Valley, MN - In the beginning, there was Eastview High School. Or, more accurately, there was Eastview High School Work Experience Coordinator, Dan Seifert. In 2003, Dan sparked the interest of 24 students to form an intramural table tennis club at his school. In its second year club participation increased to 50 students. And in its third year club participation exploded to 120 students. In 2004, Eastview was one of four trailblazing schools to compete in a groundbreaking state high school championship tournament. How did a high school with no tables and no money grow their table tennis club so quickly?
First, they used the Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) to notify families in the community of their need for well-preserved ping-pong tables. Twelve tables were donated the first year. Families were happy to reclaim the space in their basement and help the kids at the same time. This effort was so successful that the club still asks for table donations each year. When the club receives a table that is in better condition than the worst of their current supply they allow a club member to take the older table home to rehabilitate it for their own use.
Another factor that contributed to the club’s tremendous growth was Dan Seifert’s club philosophy, “Everybody Plays!” Dan observed that participation in most of the school’s sports programs had dropped by about fifty percent in recent years due to the more pressurized, win-at-all-costs environment, longer seasons, and greater commitment required of athletes and parents. He encouraged girls to get involved, divided players into three skill levels, and organized weekly ladder competitions.
And finally, Dan sought out ways to connect his school club with the local table tennis community and other schools in the area. He contacted Rusty Radabaugh, a Table Tennis Minnesota league coordinator and USATT certified club coach, and asked if he would stop by to provide some playing tips for the kids. Rusty did much more than offer playing tips. He brought in two of Minnesota’s top juniors, Joel and Noel Roberts, for a power-packed demonstration and he set-up his trusty Newgy Robot so all the kids could work on developing their basic strokes.
Dan Seifert is retired now, but the Eastview High School table tennis club lives on. And the Minnesota State High School Team Championships that he helped to initiate has grown from four teams in 2004 to fourteen teams in 2008.
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