June 19, 2009
Interview with Mikael Andersson
Mikael Andersson
Courtesy of Butterfly World
Mikael Andersson, Junior & Youth Development Manager, ITTF
We want to develop table tennis around the world
The Table Tennis World Federation, ITTF, is offering several programs under the name of Global Junior Programs to promote the table tennis juniors around the world. In 2002 the ITTF Junior Circuit was established, an international series of tournaments with precisely fixed terms which should help to raise the standard of juniors of the so called little table tennis nations and bring them up to international level. One year later the ITTF World Junior Championships were founded and take place every year. Accordingly there is a U21 and a U18 World Ranking List since the end of 2002 and since last year also a U15 World Ranking List. Apart from all these competition measures the ITTF has a broad development program which includes the promotion of players (Training Camps), coaches (Coaching Camps), umpires and girl’s/women table tennis.
Butterfly has supported the activities of the ITTF on junior level right from the beginning and is still one of the biggest sponsors. Mikael Andersson is the Director of Education at the ITTF. He is together with Glenn Tepper, the ITTF Development Director in charge of the projects on junior level. The ITTF WORLD HOPES TEAM is the latest project and is supported by Butterfly. From 169 applicants seven boys and five girls were nominated with their coaches for a team which will take part in a special education, training and competition program for one year.
Mr. Andersson, Butterfly and the ITTF have been in close cooperation for years concerning several projects to promote table tennis for juniors around the world. As the person in charge for education and development in the ITTF could you explain to our readers what this cooperation looks like?
Indeed the cooperation with Butterfly is very close. Butterfly is a big sponsor of our youth development program (Global Junior Program) world wide. I am very happy about the fact that Butterfly and we always come up with new enlightening ideas and put those in practice like now the WORLD HOPE TEAM. This is one of the numerous promising initiatives which we have developed recently. This is our first try but we have had a good start so that I believe that many member countries will be involved in the project in the future.
Is one of the targets of the WORLD HOPES TEAM to involve table tennis development countries more and make them stronger?
We want to develop table tennis world wide. That is our target. I think that many of the responsible people of the big table tennis nations in Europe and Asia have not really noticed that a lot has happened in the small table tennis countries if you compare that to the situation of ten or fifteen years ago. Our activities lead in some cases to a completely new situation for our sport. We had to become active on these markets. We had to give young players the possibility to reach professional standard. If you think about that we have only worked intensively for 10 years and if you look at the successes that brought to our sport you can imagine that table tennis may become a lot more popular around the world in the future.
How many players and coaches are going to be involved in the project?
This year we have selected twelve players, seven boys and five girls. They are going to take part in two events. The first one is in China. They are participating in a training camp and play in some small HOPES competitions. At the tournaments where our HOPES team is starting we will present our ideas with logos and cooperation with the organization and publicity to get even more countries interested.
You say that the WORLD HOPES TEAM is one of the projects of the ITTF to promote junior sport around the world. Who else is supporting these projects apart from table tennis companies?
Our projects are numerous and we have accordingly numerous supporters. One example is the International Olympic Committee with its national establishments, who support our coaches and our junior education.
You said before that many of the people in charge in Europe, coaches among them, have not noticed all the positive things which have happened in the table tennis world. Why is that so?
They are too fixed on European table tennis. They lack the knowledge that you can play table tennis professionally all over the world by now, especially young players. Here I mainly think about events in America which are very well organized. With young players a different planning and organization of training is necessary. It is important for them to achieve international successes because success produces success. Here some re-thinking must happen.
What is the meaning of WORLD HOPES TEAM?
This year there are three European countries involved: Lithuania, Poland and Cyprus. From Asia there are Thailand, Malaysia and Korea and participants from America and Africa. We want to manage the teams professionally and train at top level. We have not yet made all decisions concerning personnel.
Does the table tennis super power China support the development projects of the ITTF?
Yes, we have their support. They are sending sparring partners to the training camps and they take part in the Junior World Championships and the Junior Circuit. They also play an important role here but by far not as clearly as in the senior areas. That is important for the other young players who may learn also that the Chinese can be beaten too. Mr. Andersson, you are really engaged in developing the table tennis sport all over the world.
What will table tennis look like in 20 years from now? Do you have a dream?
Rather ask me who is going to win the next Olympic Games. I could probably guess that (he laughs). No, I don’t have a dream. We do have a vision though: to give young players the opportunity to do this, independently where they come from as long as they want to play table tennis professionally and are talented. That way our sport will continue to grow. We have experienced that new good players from the so called little countries really increase general sport and got the media interested. That leads to a growth of table tennis on national level. In development countries one good player and one good coach is enough already. The promotion of this couple is our task. If they manage to get to the top the country where they are coming from will prosper. Finally one word about Butterfly. Especially in the beginning of the WORLD JUNIOR PROGRAMMES Butterfly supported the ITTF immensely.
What does the engagement look like today?
We would not have had these results if Butterfly hadn’t supported and sponsored us so much right from the beginning. At the time we didn’t know if our efforts would be successful. Today we know more: it works very well.
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