USA Table Tennis at it's finest

Alan Williams said:

You odds of sitting next to a murderer on an airplane in the usa are better than sitting next to a USATT member.

Click to expand...

Lol. I wonder what the odds are that it is a murderer who is also a USATT member? Surely there has to be some crossover.

Alan Williams said:

Well, I think any discussion is better off when it is dealing with facts, and the tournament participation numbers that had been quoted were simply wrong, so I corrected them. Here's another way to look at the size of organized TT in America. There are more murderers who have served their time and been released from prison or are on parole than there are USATT members.

You odds of sitting next to a murderer on an airplane in the usa are better than sitting next to a USATT member. I would welcome a change in that fact either by increasing membership or by decreasing murder.

Click to expand...

To compare: The Dutch TT Association (NTTB) has around 35.000 members, in a country with 16.7 million inhabitants.

Read on the site of the NTTB: "At this moment we are a relatively small sports association..." xD

WiWa said:

To compare: The Dutch TT Association (NTTB) has around 35.000 members, in a country with 16.7 million inhabitants.

Read on the site of the NTTB: "At this moment we are a relatively small sports association..." xD

Click to expand...

Just to compare also : the Belgian (divided into Flemish part and Walloon part and Brussels part ; yes Belgium is a very complicated small country) table tennis associations have about 25000 members (i would say 95% of them actively playing in competition, some are just on the list for practical reasons) in a country of 10,8 million inhabitants.

I just spoke to a 2nd division player of Belgium , and he said the Belgian youngsters will not do good in the future, the associations in Belgium are divided, not enough good coaches (one of them just stopped because of health problems, a small country with the typical Belgian fighting between Flemish and Walloon parts making the functioning of table tennis organisations even weaker).
He also said that the Italian open junior event is not a strong one, so the Belgians winning the doubles final doesn't mean too much really.

On world level there is only China, Japan, Korea, Germany, France who will deliver the future players (and here and there an individual talent of course).

bircham boi said:

Lol. I wonder what the odds are that it is a murderer who is also a USATT member? Surely there has to be some crossover.

Click to expand...

bircham boi, I am not a murderer, only a killer.

See you around the airport one of these days...

bircham boi said:

Lol. I wonder what the odds are that it is a murderer who is also a USATT member? Surely there has to be some crossover.

Click to expand...

None, at the moment. It won't become a statistical likelihood until membership numbers become much higher.

Around 600.000 registered members and about 350.000-400.000 of them playing competitively over here

Alan Williams said:

None, at the moment. It won't become a statistical likelihood until membership numbers become much higher.

Click to expand...

Hopefully we'll get there soon! Wait, what?

I've heard ping pong is pretty popular in American prisons. USATT should send some magazines there and offer a special membership rate

Back on topic - Team USA is training in Grenzau, Germany:
http://www.rhein-zeitung.de/sport_a...n-sich-zufaellig-in-Grenzau-_arid,399691.html
(with video of Michael Landers practicing with Fejer-Konnerth)

I just heard that, as of now, Michael Landers is the last American still in contention in the North American Olympic trials.

Here is the draw:

http://www.ittf.com/Ol_Qual/2012NA/2012_ITTF_NA_OGQUAL_msko1.pdf

Landers got to the semifinals.

It was really entertaining to watch Landers play in the qualification. Without a doubt he's a great player and in my opinion he will improve more to be the best USA player ever.
I strongly disagree with everyone saying that Landers have nothing special in his game. I think that he has a killer forehand and I like how he is 1 shooting his opponents.
I am the person who doesn't care what equipment pro's use, but I promised my friend that I will ask: maybe anyone knows with what setup Landers is playing??