ATHA FONG'S TRIP TO CHINA-SUMMER 2006

BY ATHA FONG

Last summer, from August 15 to September 4, USATT sent the National Junior and Cadet Teams to China for a training camp and ITTF tournament. The Junior Team consisted of Judy Hugh, Stephanie Shih, Barbara Wei, and me on the girls’ side and Adam Hugh, John Leach, and Trevor Runyan on the boys’ side.

The Cadet Team consisted of Olena Sowers and Ariel Hsing on the girls’ side and Justen Yao, Joseph Wang, AJ Brewer, and Amaresh Sahu on the boys’ side. Chaperoning the trip were Coaches Lily Yip and Masaaki Tajima. We met up at Zheng Ding National Training Center on August 15, jetlagged but excited.

We had arrived a couple days before the ITTF training camp started, so we participated in regular training with the Chinese players. The first couple of days of training were very helpful and intense. We played five hours a day, in two two-and-a-half-hour sessions. We did regular drills, multi ball, and some match play. There was an optional third session, which was open-play. We would practice serves, do more practice, or give each other multi-ball.

A few days later, though, the ITTF camp commenced. Teams from many countries such as India, Kazakhstan, Romania, Egypt, Sri Lanka, and Singapore convened at the training center for the much-anticipated camp. The camp turned out to be much less helpful than I hoped it would be. Two camp participants were assigned to a table, where they would alternate playing with one Chinese player.—if a participant missed, she would have to give up the table, get the ball, and wait for the other participant to miss. It was a mess and made me very unhappy. However, I did improve just because of the repetitions and because of the consistent practice.

After two weeks of training, we, along with the other camp participants, left Zheng Ding for Taiyuan for the ITTF World Junior Circuit tournament. The Chinese National Junior Team, other local Chinese teams, and the Taiwanese team joined us at the tournament. The Junior Girls’ teams lost in the first round, but the Junior Boys advanced and did quite well. Ariel also did very well, defeating a Korean cadet. The tournament was fun—we got to watch good matches and got to explore the city of Taiyuan.

Overall, we all improved and did quite well. The National Junior and Cadet teams bonded very much during this trip. I was roommates with Ariel, and it was a fun and interesting experience. I really enjoyed meeting players from other countries. I will keep the memories I have taken from this experience forever. Thank you USATT, Butterfly, and everyone else who made this possible.