President of the Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) Guyanese Teddy Matthews says constitutional reform and the launch of a Top 16 tournament next year are among his plans for the sport.
Matthews was elected CRTTF president last year but had been installed as president the year before when incumbent Juan Vila, a former Caribbean men’s singles champion gave up the post.
“I was elected last year. The year before, Juan Vila had given up the presidency and delegates of the various countries decided that I would continue for that year but essentially, I was elected last year for a two-year term which ends in 2018.
Matthews, a former Guyana and St Lucia national player, was asked if he found being president of the regional body challenging said: “It is challenging certainly, but, as with anything else, when you have challenges you have to work them out.”
Constitutional Reform
Matthews contends that the constitution of the CRTTF has not seen much modification since the birth of the body.
“Some of the things that we are trying to do and we’ve already started, we’re moving ahead with constitutional reform. We’ve already started the process last year and, at the moment, one of the things is that the Secretary General does not, of necessity, have to be from the country where the president is.
“That has already been changed. We’re looking at further changes which will come into play at the AGM (Annual General Meeting) this year. Once the delegates ratify it, we’ll have a brand new constitution with a different style of executive and a different method of running the organization.
“As I said, there’s need for quite a bit of reform especially in terms of organizing our executive and ensuring that the various countries are well aware of what the CRTTF is all about. That is not so clear cut at the moment. We’re still using basically the 1958 model which, of course, is not ideal for the present time. We’re working hand-in-hand with the Latin American Table Tennis Union (LATTU) to ensure that table tennis in our region can be developed the way we would like to see it developed.”
Asked if the one Caribbean tournament a year was sufficient in order for the table tennis players of the Caribbean to expand their game Matthews pointed out that there were more than one Caribbean tournament held annually.
“Actually we have one Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships but we also have the Mini-Cadet and Pre-Cadet and also the Cadet and Junior championships which are separate tournaments. So we have three CRTTF competitions a year.”
He elaborated:” I would not say it is sufficient and that is where the countries themselves come in.
“What has to happen in each of the countries is that they should move ahead to ensure that they have their Primary School competitions; High School competitions and the startup of junior leagues and senior leagues so at least, at the local level, they are always competing. Of course there are other competitions that are wider afield, Latin American Table Tennis Union championships, there’s also the Pan American championships qualification competitions, you’ve got Olympic Qualifiers, you’ve got Commonwealth Games competitions and the CAC Games, so, in essence, it’s not on the CRTTF to run off a lot of competitions. What we’re trying to introduce for the next year is a Top 16, but essentially, what the CRTTF is all about now is attempting to see how best we can develop table tennis in each of the territories. We have particular programmes that we will roll out in conjunction with the Latin American Table Tennis Union and I’m sure you will hear more about it later this year.”
CRTTF funding
Asked where does the CRTTF gets its funding from Matthews said it didn’t.
“Well, the CRTTF is not funded basically at all. The CRTTF gets subscription from the various delegates but that is not sufficient so one of the places that we look for funding, we do it in conjunction with the LATTU and the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) so that our various countries, delegations from the various countries can at least get some form of funding on a yearly basis. Outside of that one of the ways that countries can get funding is through their Olympic Committees (NOCs) and through their government and the private sector in some countries.”
Matthews said whatever funding the CRTTF derives from the subscriptions is given to the countries according to their needs.
“The funding basically are for countries and not the CRTTF. As such, what happens is that the CRTTF, in conjunction with LATTU, what we do is look at the various needs of the various countries and make a determination based on what is available, which countries would be able to get it for what year. Of course you’re always constrained by the amount of funding that you can get and of course it’s not every country that is going to get funding every single year.”
Asked if the CRTTF gets a subvention from the world governing body the ITTF Matthews said no.
On the issue of scholarships for players Matthews said the CRTTF was not in a position to help regional players acquire scholarships.
“Here again that would be an association issue, or country issue,” he declared.
Matthews, an Aviation Consultant who now resides in St Lucia, said he was very impressed with both the organizing of and the standard of the recent cadet and junior Caribbean table tennis championships held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
“I very impressed with the standard and the quality of the players and the techniques. Some of the players have the modern techniques. It means that either they have been coached very, very well and/or they have been watching a lot of videos on YouTube so that they can learn what the modern techniques are and I’ve seen it incorporated here which augurs well for Caribbean table tennis for the future. From what I’ve seen at this competition, some of the players that are here are 12-13-years-old playing on the U15 and U18 teams and playing at a very good standard. So I think that we’re well on our way to having really good players for the future just like we had back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Asked if he will be running again for the post of president, Matthews said:” I can’t say with certainty. You never know what 2018 will hold. It depends on the other things that I will be doping in my life but I cannot say with certainty right now that I will be running for the presidency.”
