Prepare to be nauseated:
By Sheri Cioroslan | Sept. 05, 2014, 12 a.m. (ET)
We were taken on an "Odyssey into the ITTF Universe. We may not have discovered any new sub-atomic particles to complete the "Standard Model of Particles", but we surely discovered a lot more about the ITTF, and we all have now a better understanding of our Federation thanks to the Countdown Series (- Adham Sharara)
On September 1, several transitions in ITTF governance took place. Adham Sharara assumed the new position of ITTF Chair, Thomas Weikert became the ITTF's 7th President, Khalil Al-Mohannadi moved up to Deputy President, Bruce Burton joined the Executive Committee, and Tony Kiesenhofer was installed as North America's Continental President.
On Day 100, I invited the worldwide table tennis family to join me on an odyssey, known as the Countdown, to honor Adham Sharara for 15 years of volunteer service at the helm of the ITTF.
Today I'd like to acknowledge the many contributors and provide a summary of the series. In some cases an article or contributor may be cited in more than one category.
ITTF Presidents
Let's begin with past and present ITTF Presidents. Adham Sharara recounted the impact of the 2013 election on Day 91. Thomas Weikert shared on Day 90 the experiences that will influence him going forward. Day 87 described Adham Sharara's commitment to adding a 5th P, "Promotion to the ITTF's newly-minted P5 Plan. Day 86 summarized the accomplishments of the first five ITTF Presidents, and Day 85 focused on President Sharara's impact on the ITTF.
On Day 81 Adham expressed the ITTF's views about capping team entries at 96 at future WTTC's.
On Father's Day, Day 78, Adham shared his precious memories of his father.
Next up was Ivor Montagu's motivation to reach all of mankind through our sport on Day 77. Earlier Montagu's vision for a world-embracing ITTF, leading up to today's ITTF membership of 220 national associations, ran on Day 96.
Adham shared his agony about missing out on the historic Ping Pong Diplomacy trip, on Day 71, and he explained how that impacted his devotion to the sport from then on. On Day 70 Adham shared PEACE initiatives that have taken place during his tenure. Thomas Weikert explained his view of the role of PEACE in our sport on Day 69.
Adham addressed the ban on speed glue on Day 64 and Day 63.
Choosing to "hijack the series on one of my travel days, Adham spoke about the series and the nature of the P5 initiative on Day 57. Adham preferred to see as many people participate as possible, so the daily slots then stayed highly occupied by others for the next 50 days or so. Then he revealed on Day 5 why the elevation of table tennis by the IOC to the next highest funding level gave him a particular sense of satisfaction.
Adham closed up the series on Day 1, but then immediately followed up about the logistics of the transition on Post Countdown +1. And new ITTF President Thomas Weikert similarly reflected on the changeover on Post Countdown +2.
ITTF's Executive Committee & Continental Presidents
All of the ITTF's Executive Committee members and Continental Presidents contributed.
Beginning with the Executive Committee, articles featured Patrick Gillmann on Day 59, Petra Sorling on Day 51, Melecio Rivera on Day 47, Shi Zhihao on Day 44, Khalil Al-Mohannadi on Day 43, Cherif Hajem on Day 42, Masahiro Maehara on Day 41, and incoming member Bruce Burton on Day 35.
Continental affiliations were explained on Day 56. Continental Presidents contributed as follows: Ronald Kramer (Europe) on Day 89, Khaled El-Salhy (Africa) on Day 34, Tony Kiesenhofer (North America) on Day 31, Cai Zhenhua (Asia) on Day 21, James Morris (Oceania) on Day 16, and Oswaldo "PapelonBorges (Latin America) on Day 4.
Other Contributors
Some of our top players participated, including Vladimir Samsonov on Day 88, Peter Karlsson on Day 58, Ariel Hsing on Day 36, and Krisztina Toth on Day 10. Plus, all three of our 7-time Olympians contributed: Jean-Michel Saive on Day 68, Zoran Primorac on Day 6 and Jorgen Persson on Day 2.
Several others profiled in the series include members of the Board of Directors, Committee or Commission chairs, members of the President's Advisory Council, and other long-time members of the table tennis family. Those include: Mike Babuin on Day 92, the late Hikosuke Tamasu on Day 98 and his beloved company on Day 97, Dennis Davis on Day 66, Koji Kimura on Day 53, Miguel Delgado on Day 52, Tim Boggan on Day 32, Richard Scruton on Day 60, Alan Ransome on Day 30, Andre Damman on Day 26, Shahrokh Shahnazi on Day 24, Han Sang Kook on Day 19, Jane Pinto on Day 15, Rudi Sporrer on Day 14, Hans Wilhelm Gab on Day 13, Neil Harwood on Day 12, Michel Gadal on Day 11, Zlatko Cordas on Day 9, Chan Foong Keong on Day 8, Ivan Santos Ortega on Day 7, and Walter Ronmark on Day 3.
On the media side, there were also several contributors, including: Adam Bobrow on Day 95, Ian Marshall on Day 39, Sean O'Neill on Day 38, Alan Abrahamson on Day 37, Arne Madsen on Day 28, and Larry Hodges on Post Countdown +3.
ITTF Staff
During the 15 years of Adham Sharara's presidency, the staff grew from a handful to approximately 25 people. Due to the limited duration of the Countdown series, there weren't enough days to cover everyone.
ITTF Judit Farago described her background on Day 18 and her functions on Day 17. Deputy CEO Glenn Tepper was referred to continuously throughout the series in terms of the ITTF's development programs, and Day 80 was dedicated to his achievements and focus areas.
The thirteen other staff members featured were Mikael Andersson on Day 67, Matt Pound on Day 62, Raul Calin on Day 61, Polona Cehovin on Day 49 and Day 48, Steve Dainton on Day 46 and Day 45, Leandro Olvech on Day 40, Ian Marshall on Day 39, Anders Thunstrom on Day 33, Karl Jindrak on Day 29, Christian Veronese on Day 27, Alison Burchell on Day 25, Chuck Hoey on Day 23, and Didier Leroy on Day 20.
World Table Tennis Championships
One of the earliest articles, Day 99, discussed why Tokyo hosted the 2014 WTTC's. A description of the first WTTC's appeared on Day 84. Day 83 contained a survey of all of the WTTC's held to date. On Day 82, Chris Band shared his concerns about the new cap on number of teams that can enter in the future, with Adham Sharara's response on Day 81. On Day 8 Chan Foong Keong gave advice to associations who may want to host future WTTC's.
Waves of Dominance and Peace Initiatives
Day 75 covered the era of predominance of Jewish champions. Day 73 described Japan's emergence as a world power. And Day 72 summarized how China came to be today's leading country in the sport.
Closely associated with the eras of dominance were several peace initiatives and humanitarian issues. Day 96 revealed the connection between the ITTF being tied for the highest number of national association affiliations, 220, with the humanitarian motivations behind the expansion of the ITTF.
Day 74 described the call for the ITTF to adopt peace resolutions in furtherance of world peace. In honor of the most famous activity in our sport's history, Ping Pong Diplomacy, Day 72 honored those who contributed to the event. On Day 71, Adham Sharara described how he missed being part of the historical event due to university exams and how that led him always to follow his heart when it comes to table tennis. Day 70 covered current ITTF peace initiatives. Then, on Day 69, Thomas Weikert discussed how the DTTB (the German TTA) has been committed to Peace initiatives. See Day 43 featuring Khalil Al-Mohannadi and Day 19 featuring Han Sang Kook for an explanation about the ITTF's Peace and Sport Cup event that was hosted by the Qatar TTA in 2012.
Day 55 revealed the record of awards the ITTF has received for humanitarian projects. And Day 54 described the vast reach and depth of the projects.
P5, Promotion and Countdown
Day 87 described the ITTF's P5 Plan, with an emphasis on promotion and a commitment to reaching the TOP 5 IN ALL WE DO, and Adham Sharara elaborated on the plan on Day 57. Player-turned promoter Philippe Saive, organizer of the Legends of Table Tennis Tour, was featured on Day 93. The founder and owner of my childhood table tennis club, promoter Charlie Disney, was memorialized on Day 76. Best-seller Daniel Amen contributed his thoughts on why table tennis is the best sport for the brain on Day 65. And, I momentarily became "Best in the World at Table Tennisat the popular social media site Quiz Up, as I humorously explained on Day 94.
So, today the series comes to a close. On Day 100 I set the Countdown expectations. Day 79 described logistics of the series. Day 50 provided a mid-point assessment and commentary. Day 22 gave further reflections. Day 1 wrapped up the 100-day commitment. And today, Post Countdown +4 closes the series with this final summary.
Closing Remarks from Author
All that is left on my part is to make some closing remarks about Adham Sharara's 15 years of volunteer service as ITTF President.
I would like to start by adding that Adham actually began volunteering his services on a full-time basis in 1995 when he became the Deputy President and CEO of the ITTF. Calculating conservatively at 2,000 hours/year, and rounding up for previous service as North America's Continental President, that's more than 40,000 volunteer hours! Truly an astounding display of dedication.
What's more amazing yet is the fact that part of his reasoning for relinquishing the presidency is so that he can focus his energies more intensely on a review of the Constitution, the P5 roll-out, other representations of the ITTF, marketing and advising as needed.
As he and I were emailing from time to time, especially over the last 5 years, I often understood that the workload combined with lack of adequate sleep and chronic jetlag was taking its toll. At times, he was utterly exhausted. Yet, out of sheer dedication, he willed himself to be energetic, helpful, creative, interactive, patient, dynamic, sharp-minded, and focused on others and their needs.
What I admire most about Adham's service is the way he always encourages others and the way he positions himself to bring out the best in everyone. In the course of a conversation, he will often mildly inquire about matters of importance to you. Eventually in the dialogue, you will bring up challenges and problems. Subtly he will interject some recommendations, almost get you to voice the suggestions as though they were your own idea. Then, when success comes, he will smile for you. He loves to make you shine.
When you reflect on the situation and realize you should thank him, he kindly dismisses those words of appreciation. He'll say, for example, "No need to thank me. You had a brilliant idea and you handled the situation perfectly." Then he'll pause. He will look you in the eyes, and smile as he says, "So, what's your next step? How are you going to build on this success?
And then he will tell you how impressed he is by your efforts. Your capability. Your intelligence. Your motivation. Your creativity. Your perseverance. You get the idea. His words of affirmation make you want to contribute and do your best. For me, that is his most outstanding contribution and greatest legacy.
Literally EVERYONE it seems is keyed up to do their utmost to help table tennis be in the TOP 5 IN ALL WE DO! Simply because we have all been trained up to want the best for our sport and our colleagues.
That is why I also want to credit Adham for the success of the Countdown series. It wasn't difficult to persuade people to participate. Why? Because in our sport, people feel as though they belong to the worldwide "table tennis family."
I do regret that the days went by too quickly. There are so many more worthy individuals who I'm confident would have loved to be profiled. And, because so many people participated, there weren't any slots for Adham to share his "retrospectivesas the anticipated finale approached. I hope that when things slow down for him, he will take the time to compile his recollections for posterity.
I thank everyone again who participated, read, or otherwise cheered on the Countdown series. That includes, of course, Adham. I'm sure that, in the end, he spent hundreds of hours on this project that I spontaneously presented to him in May.
Adham, I thank you for your stellar service and accomplishments. I now turn over the final closing message to you.
"A big THANK YOU to Sheri Cioroslan, ITTF Media Adviser, for the superb and tireless work in realizing this amazing series of articles and interviews giving us all a better insight into our ITTF family and into the working of the ITTF. I cannot believe that this task was actually accomplished as planned by Sheri. I thank her on behalf of all ITTF members, officials and staff, and I hope that she takes a well-deserved rest.
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