October 28, 2024
Tip of the Week
Why Rapidly Improving Players Often Don't Have Good Serves - and Getting the Best of Both Worlds.
USATT Coaching Certification
As of this morning, there are 101 USATT certified coaches. This is actually up from previous numbers, which have been mostly in the 80s the last few years. But it’s a far cry from the 318 we had when I left as USATT Coaching Chair five years ago in 2019, my second tenure as coaching chair. (I stayed on as a member of the coaching committee until 2023 when I was term-limited out.) How did we lose over 2/3 of our certified coaches? Three primary reasons in my opinion.
First, they prematurely dropped the ITTF coaching certification program. ITTF stopped actively using it, but it was available to use, with several US coaches teaching the program. But I was assured three years ago that USATT would have its own certification program at all levels by the end of the year (2021). I argued we should wait until we have our program in place before dropping the ITTF program, but was overruled, as well as being overruled on the new annual $50 licensing fee for coaches. And so now we only have certification at the Club Coach level on our web page, the lowest level. Here is the USATT Coaching Certification program. But note that even though we have it at the club level, the price is $299. It's WAY overpriced. Result? Very few people pay it and go through the process. And note there’s no mention of the ITTF program or any way of getting certified beyond the Club level. (There are four levels – Club, State, Regional, and Nationals.)
Second, SafeSport is a necessary but huge hassle. There’s no getting around it – if you want to be a USATT coach (or in any other official capacity, including umpires and referees, tournament directors, etc.) you have to take and pass the annual SafeSport test as well as the background check. They say the test takes about an hour, but it takes far longer than that (a lot of video and reading) and is a big hassle for many.
Third, in 2021, USATT started charging certified coaches a $50/year licensing fee, partly to cover the costs of SafeSport. This was the final issue that pushed many coaches too far and led to so many dropping their certification and USATT memberships (since many don’t play in tournaments anymore). It’s not just the annual $50 fee – they also are required to be USATT members, another $75/year, so they went from $75/year to $125/year, just so they could be listed as a USATT certified coach, which (at the moment) adds little value for most coaches. It was just too much. I’ve argued this vehemently, and I think the results have shown this to be true.
The argument made when they added the $50 annual fee was that we’d only lose the “hobby” coaches (coaches who like the title but don’t actively coach that much), that the serious ones would stay. Actually, we ended up getting primarily these very “hobby” coaches, and coaches who get certified just so they can coach at the US Nationals, Open, and Team Trials, where USATT coaching certification is required. The many highly active coaches in clubs around the country who don’t coach at the US Open or Nationals – we mostly lose those coaches. Those who do get certified generally do it not because coaching certification is a big plus for their coaching careers, but because they are forced to if they want to coach at the big events. These are where we get those 101 certified coaches.
To give one example, the very nice Westchester club in NY has been ranked as the #1 USATT club every month for nearly four years now (posted month after month on Facebook), because they run the most big tournaments - which is only one of many aspects of being a successful club – it’s a silly system. But they don’t have a single USATT certified coach, and haven’t had one in years, since their coaches don’t generally coach at the Nationals, Open, or Team Trials, and so certification is of little value to them. For perspective, the huge 888 club in California has four certified coaches, since those coaches are the ones who generally coach at the big events – but their web page shows they have 17 coaches. My club, MDTTC, also has four certified coaches, since we have four that generally coach at the big events – but we have about ten coaches. Many of these other coaches might have continued as certified coaches and USATT members at $75/year, but since they find little value in it, few find it worth paying $125/year (or an addition $50/year if they are USATT members) just to be officially certified as a coach, when they are already actively coaching.
Most important, we need to find ways to add value to being a USATT certified coach. The primary “value” right now of coaching certification is that USATT won’t let you coach at major events otherwise. That’s not adding value – that’s coercing them into getting certified and paying $125/year. Most of the benefits to being certified as a coach on the USATT Coaches pages aren’t really useful to most coaches. We need ways to make coaching certification add real value so coaches want to be certified, instead of doing so because they have to.
So, how can we fix the problem? Here a few suggestions.
- Since the SafeSport testing is such a hassle, have SafeSport testing at the start of the US Nationals and US Open, perhaps the night before. Invite coaches, officials, and others in as a group and take the test at the same time, with USATT people around to help when needed. Make it easier to become a coach by making it easier to take the SafeSport tests.
- Drop the $50 annual fee. Sure, it’s supposed to cover the SafeSport testing (though I keep hearing that it costs less than that), but the simple math doesn’t work. It’s far better having 300 coaches paying $75 USATT membership each year than having 100 pay $125. (Yes, it’s more complicated than this, but that’s the basic picture. The $75 USATT membership fee should cover these other costs. We’re talking small numbers here for USATT, and if we get back to our previous numbers, USATT comes out well ahead financially.) Plus, we need those coaches more than they need us – they bring in new students who become serious USATT members, while the dropping certified coaching numbers have shown they don’t need us and most of them get certified only because they are forced to so they can coach at the big events.
- Lower the club certification fee. That $299 fee is ridiculously high. (It may be worth that when the sport is more developed in this country, but not yet.) We need many more club coaches, and such a high price tag discourages this. Make it $100 or even $50 and you’ll get far more takers. Remember, “The mission of USATT is to support, grow and inspire the table tennis community, and to provide resources that enable athletes to achieve sustained competitive excellence and pursue international Olympic and Paralympic success.” Read that first part again – and way overcharging for this in no way supports, grows, or inspires the table tennis community.
- Fully endorse the ITTF certification plan as we did before, and encourage USATT coaches who are qualified to run as many certification clinics as possible. At the same time, we can develop our own coaching certification program for higher levels. Or, better still, use a hybrid, where we take the ITTF program but make needed changes and add our own touches. (There are known problems with the ITTF program – but the key thing is they are known. I know since I not only took them, I taught the five-day course. Those who taught the course learned to teach around those problems.)
- In these automated days, when a coach is USATT certified, he should automatically get a USATT coaching page, which would list his credentials and give him a link to promote his coaching business. This is a way to add value to being certified.
- Have major Coaching Seminars at the Nationals and Open, for USATT certified coaches only, run by high-level USATT coaches. We used to do this – I used to run them. This is another way to add value to being certified.
- Do major promotions to get USATT members to sign up for coaching from USATT certified coaches. News items on the USATT webpage and newsletter could do this. This is another way to add value to being certified.
- Bring pride back to being a USATT certified coach. Long ago we used to have USATT coaching patches for certified coaches. Bring those back, or pins, or other such items. They should also be featured in regular news items and in other ways. These are simple ways to add value to being certified. A few get featured in the annual Coach of the Year program, but that’s a very small number.
Drive More Revenue for Your Table Tennis Club
Here’s the info page for the Zoom Webinar run by Major League Table Tennis, to be held TOMORROW (Tuesday, Oct. 29) at noon eastern time.
How can MLTT, America's first pro table tennis league help YOUR club? Learn all the perks of a Major League Table Tennis partnership -- and how our organization can support your business goals -- at our free Club Partner Program Webinar! Hosts Mimi Bosika and Summer Behling will be joined by Taher Jaleel and Viful Mhapsekar of High Performance Table Tennis Academy for a behind-the-scenes look at how our programs thrive at the club level.
Major League Table Tennis
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Butterfly Training Tips
- FETHOMANIA 17: Drill 4 (49 sec) with Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman
- FETHOMANIA 17: Drill 5 (45 sec) with Stefan Feth and Larry Thoman
Forehand and Backhand Push!
Here’s the video (3:07) from Pingispågarna
Forehand Cross Step with Robert Gardos
Here’s the video (3:04) from Pong Space. “The forehand cross step is an advanced technique when playing against offensive players with good placement. Robert Gardos goes through the key components of what makes a good forehand cross step and how to recover.”
New from PingSkills
- Show #369 - The Olympic Effect
- Show #370 - Mental Preparation
- Show #371 - Practical Mental Strategies
- Show #372 - 4 Points to Victory
- Ask the Coach
New Videos
New from Steve Hopkins
- Felix Flies in France: WTT Champions Montpelier
- Duda Joins Harimoto, Lebrun and Shidong in Semis
- Two Harimotos Lift Japan to New Heights
New from USATT
- USA Table Tennis (USATT) Announces Bidding for the New USATT State Series
- USA Table Tennis Announces Two Major Back-to-Back Events in 2025: 2025 U.S. Nationals and Inaugural WTT U.S. Smash
- USA Men’s Team Makes History by Winning Gold at 2024 ITTF Pan American Championships
- WORLD TABLE TENNIS SET TO ELECTRIFY AMERICA WITH INAUGURAL UNITED STATES SMASH 2025
How a Midlands Tech student started a 'ping pong revolution' in Columbia
Here’s the article from the Post and Courier in South Carolina. “Every Monday, there's no place Tripp Roche would rather be than in St. Andrews Park, where he's been leading a "ping pong revolution" across South Carolina.”
New from ITTF
- ITTF Calls on Table Tennis Community to Nominate GEDI Champions for 2024 Awards
- World Table Tennis for Health Congress 2024 Kicks Off, Promotes Global Health and Wellness through Table Tennis Practice
- World Table Tennis For Health Festival Launches with Record Participation in France
- One Month to Go: World's Young Stars Set to Shine in Helsingborg
- Statement of the International Table Tennis Federation on the 2026 Commonwealth Games Sports Programme
Chang Yu An Flying Racket
Here’s the video (12 sec) – that’s some good distance! Can you top this distance from the World #81 from Taiwan?
The Talent Has Arrived
Here’s where you can buy the shirt at Amazon!
Ma Long Funny Moments
Here’s the video (42 sec)! Even the GOAT has fun with TT!
Non-Table Tennis - Southern Truths
My rather political story just came out, “It's Election Day in Texas and I'm a Democrat Rarin' to Vote,” in the “Southern Truths” anthology, available at Amazon or direct from B-Cubed Press, in print, ebook, and audiobook formats. It’s an intentionally over-the-top humorous look at the trials and tribulations of a Democrat in Texas attempting to vote for president – think of it as an extended Saturday Night Live skit. It’s ten pages long in the print version. (The story right after mine is “The Trouble with Dribbles” by David Gerrold, of “The Trouble with Tribbles” fame!) Here’s the Facebook posting about it from co-editor Karen G. Anderson, where she singled out my story, writing, "Larry Hodges' story 'It's Election Day in Texas and I'm a Democrat Rarin' to Vote' is not to be missed.”
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