TT as a profession

[dguerra]

About the title... is there any chance to make a living out of table tennis? i mean as a player not a coach or stuff seller

I mean, i've heard in China you are like a super star if you are one of the top players so i guess is not difficult to have a good life (i'm guessing anyway)

but for the rest?, Timo said once that in Germany is really hard to make a living out of tt, you have to be really great to do that.

Here in my country football is the main sport like many other countries

How is it on your counties?

 

[Vega]

You're right about what Boll said, you can make a living out of it but it's only a few players (about 5 or 6 in germany). Some more (again about 5 players) are playing as professional but get support from the german armed forces as "sports soldier". I don't know if there is something like that in other countrys, they are officially part of the armed forces but only have to go to some courses and be there a few days every now and then. Apart from that they can fully concentrate on their sports and get financiall support from the army..

But that's only for the Mens players, for the women there is none that can make a living only out of tabletennis. Again there are some "sport soldiers" which therefore can play tabletennis professional and full time but without this support and only the money from their clubs they would not have enough to make a living out of it..


P.S: Short addition:
Of course it always depends where you live, there are several players from the eastern countrys (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and so on..) which play in german 2nd and 3rd league and get paid by their clubs. It would be far too less money to live here in Germany but they only come to their matches on weekends and live at home and there it is enough to be the main part of their income..

 

[dguerra]

wow, i didn't know that!

here in Chile some players play representing zones or regions of the country, but they have to combine it with classes.

 

[azlan]

In Malaysia too, some players represent the army, navy, air force and even local authorities. They're paid by their respective "employers". This go to the extend of other sports too, where the financial institutions (banks) pick up their tabs.

Aside from that, if you're not attached to anyone, it's almost impossible to survive just by playing TT, without having a day job. I've told many youngsters to go out to pursue their dreams, but most are reluctant. Education comes first, but people like Anders are benefiting both worlds. They're getting good education and train as TT player at the same time. It's the way to go.

 

[dguerra]

but at some point you'll have to decide if you stay on the amateur level but be a professional degree or leave studies and be 100% tt player, i think is impossible to be a non tt professional and a tt player as well is always about choices...

if you have a degree, then you will not be a top player, at least here in Chile

 

[Anders]

In Malaysia too, some players represent the army, navy, air force and even local authorities. They're paid by their respective "employers". This go to the extend of other sports too, where the financial institutions (banks) pick up their tabs.

Aside from that, if you're not attached to anyone, it's almost impossible to survive just by playing TT, without having a day job. I've told many youngsters to go out to pursue their dreams, but most are reluctant. Education comes first, but people like Anders are benefiting both worlds. They're getting good education and train as TT player at the same time. It's the way to go.

Yeah, I really feel good about it.. It should have been more focus on combining sports with education in every country. I think it is good for the sport

 

[jmillsy2]

In England it's almost impossible- only a few men and women go pro, and they tend to play on a foreign country eg pitchford plays for oschenhausen and they pay him plus the ETTA funds some trips. Lots of them rent tho, and try have to save for ages before they can buy...wonder what it's like in USA?

 

[dguerra]

yeah!, how it is in USA?

 

[Matt Hetherington]

Well interesting you should ask. Me and Carl (Horowitz) are going to be conducting some interviews soon on professional players in the USA and poking some questions at how difficult the path to professionalism is in the states and other topics. We are just working on an interview for Dora Kurimay at the moment

 

[azlan]

Definitely looking forward to it...

 

[dguerra]

please post it!!

 

[YosuaYosan]

I wanna play TT professionally but I need it backed up with my other career
So I guess that is called semi-pro?

 

[dguerra]

i think you wouldn't be a pro player, i mean, play against pro player who train all day...

 

[YosuaYosan]

Oh yes I will

 

[Mr. RicharD]

Truly Table Tennis is a hard profession to make a living with. Unless you are within the Top 10 or 20 playing in events and living off of prize money is just impossible. The Leagues are a great way to gain some salary money, but again it usually depends on the team you join and also the track record of how well you will do. Coaching is almost a necessity to be a professional in most countries because for every tournament you go to you are hoping to make the lowest round possible to at least break even where as in the same amount of time you could earn a comfortable living coaching a few dozen students. Very few people can make a living off of product sales more often than not it's a club that benefits (at least in the U.S.) from the product sales.

If you want to see professional players making the type of money that other sports stars make the answer is simply to sacrifice a little in the beginning for an even better ending. I always look at it this way: Would you rather win $1000 for first place or would you rather win $1000 for the last 16's? If you answered the first one then you are not thinking of growing the sport because the latter will truly make the sport more money for our professionals.

 

[Alan Williams]

yeah!, how it is in USA?

A handful of top players in the USA are banking about 45,000 to 50,000 a year, almost all of that from coaching. Total prize winnings annually are well under 10,000 if they only play domestically. A few are getting cash stipends from manufacturers for brand endorsement. Fan Yi Yong made about 10,000 in prize winnings in the US around 2005, much of it on the NA Tour but he was pretty much undefeated that season

 

[Matt Hetherington]

I work as a table tennis development officer, it's not fulltime but if I'm on a 6 month contract and it's a really cool job, means I get to spend a lot of time playing and training and also coaching. It's not huge money but hey, getting paid to do what you love and having money left after covering expenses is a huge bonus in my books