Pay to play: table tennis players knock off the national body

Sport

8 hours ago

VETERAN Trinidad and Tobago women's table tennis player Rheann Chung and a men's national player, who wished to remain anonymous, have blasted the TT Table Tennis Association (TTTTA) saying it has become a pay-to-play national selection policy.

They said the association's inability to raise funding has resulted in national athletes having to pay for airfare, accommodation, meals, ground transportation and other related costs to represent the country in overseas competitions.

In an email to Newsday, Chung, a five-time Caribbean singles champion, said the national body was not functioning properly.

She said that before the 2024 Caribbean Championships were held in April in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the association had sent guidelines on financing to the selected players.

“The TTTTA will make every effort to fully or partially finance your participation in this event,” the association said.

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“Should the TTTTA's funding efforts be unsuccessful, you will be required to self-fund and upon request, the TTTTA will provide you with letters in support of your fundraising efforts.”

Chung, who attended the championships, said that all players ultimately had to “find their own sponsor or financing to go to Santo Domingo. National representation has become a pay-and-go system! The TTTTA does not want to send the best players. ” players.”

Chung said TT did not have its best team as some top players said they could not go.

After the Caribbean Championships, Chung said coaches were compensated, but not the players.

“The senior coach (I think it's the same for the junior coaches) received a full refund, i.e. all his airfare and accommodation…while the national players received a partial refund of about two and a half times less refund than the coach.”

With a General Assembly scheduled for January 11, Chung wants a new government to lead the sport.

“I hope for a serious, passionate and honest new leader with a group of officials who will absolutely put the players first,” said the 2014 Latin American Championships bronze medalist.

She said the association will need to rely less on government funding in the future.

What does she want to see from the winner of the TTTTA election?

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“A leader who will ensure that the national players do not spend their own money to represent TT and ensure that if they do, they are fully reimbursed.

“One that can activate all civil servants to be self-sufficient by organizing fundraising events and not having to rely solely on government funding and/or by hopelessly sending letters for sponsors.”

Chung said she wants a new leader to “save table tennis in the TT and put it on the right track.”

The veteran men's player had similar concerns as Chung.

He has not traveled with TT teams in the past due to his inability to raise funds for airfare and other related costs.

“I missed tournaments due to lack of funding and I didn't want to put money out of my own pocket,” he told Newsday. “For example, in 2019 they had a trial for the national team… when it came time for us to go to the Caribbean Championships, they said they had no funding and they wanted us to pay our own costs, but we did I don't.” It. I said no.”

He said he took a year's break from the sport because he felt demotivated.

He said national championships struggle to gain corporate support, but smaller competitions do.

“This year our national championships, our most prestigious local tournament, were not sponsored, and for all the years I played table tennis, they always had sponsors for your national championships.”

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He said the prize structure for national championships is sometimes not revealed. “Some top players will want to know what they are playing for.”

TTTTA: We do our best

Commenting to Newsday, TTTTA president Shellyanne Wilson said efforts are always being made to raise sponsorship for the athletes.

Wilson, who has been on the board for nearly two years, said the association is exploring all options. “In the selection letter we indicate that we do not have money to cover the team and that we will do what we can to facilitate the acquisition of sponsors. We write letters. Maybe you can ask me which company we have not written to. “

As an example, Wilson said the association had contacted Caribbean Airlines. “Last year we went to Caribbean Airlines for a special rate. We did everything we could to get financing to send teams (abroad).”

As for coaches getting full reimbursement for overseas service instead of players, Wilson said the intention was to fully reimburse everyone.

'We try to be as honest as possible. The situation is that we do not get 100 percent financing from the government. We do everything we can to get sponsorship. We even tried to arrange our internal financing. (event) we had was a bingo.

“When the decision was made to cover the coaches, we had not yet received the subsidies that we expected. We expected to receive these things, but that was not the case. That did not materialize.”

Wilson claimed that a national player told the fraternity to boycott the bingo event.

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She acknowledged that the association has not been able to reimburse athletes for the 2024 Caribbean Championships.

However, she said she is disappointed that a player would go to the media to criticize the association as it would make potential sponsors more reluctant to fund table tennis.

“These kinds of things where they want to make a scandal out of it only hurt the sport…

“Why would a business organization want to associate its brand with a sport? Instead, they could adopt a school, or clean a beach. There are so many other things you can do with your limited sponsorship money.

“You ask us to be able to find sponsors, does this help?”