TT in USA

[TAU]

How much TT players are there?
Where are you practise table tennis?
Are many tournaments there?

[chung]

Hello, all.

TT in the US is still in its infancy, as far as professional sports is concerned.

The national organization USATT has more than 11000 current members, but the number of people in the US who play TT is much much larger. The problem is that most of these people only play 'recreationally' - they never play in tournaments or in clubs, but only in their own basements.

In all large cities, there are a few clubs where one can play regularly a few times a week, usually for a small fee. At some of these clubs, there are also professional coaches - many top TT players in the US have to coach as well as train and compete in order to earn a living.

Last year (2000), there were 233 official tournaments in the US. 15152 players participated.

I think the main things that the US is trying to do in terms of improvement in TT are:
- getting more recreational players to play in tournaments
- producing a younger generation of top-players, instead of relying on older (non-American-born) players [the American/non-American opposition is not official policy of course, just my personal interpretation]
- attracting sponsors to the sport so that there is more prize money, etc.

Hope this gives a general impression of TT in the US, at least to my eyes. There are just my own opinions, of course, and I would be glad to discuss any different experiences of American TT.

Chung

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