History
Introduction
BOLAND was always an integrated part of the South African table tennis family. There are lots of famous sportsmen playing in provincial or even national teams on different level in various age groups.
Since its unification in 1991, the South African Table Tennis Board (SATTB) has come a long way in introducing the sport of table tennis to all spectrums of the South African population, on one level, and to start the journey towards international competition medals, on another.
The idea of this business plan is to bring into perspective the long-term vision of the South African Table Tennis Board for the next five to ten years.
The South African Table Tennis Board has already implemented a number of far-reaching developmental programmes, in partnership with local, regional, provincial and national Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA), Department of Education and the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).
In the past years, with the financial resources and support received from its stakeholders, the SATTB has been able to successfully embark on a program to promote and popularize the development of table tennis in South Africa.
There are 25 sports organisations affiliated to the SATTB at the moment. Within the Western Cape Province – there are only two of them: Western Province which only covers the area of the city of Cape Town and BOLAND.
Table Tennis
Table tennis is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth with rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side. Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart several varieties of spin to the ball, altering its trajectory and limiting an opponent's options to great advantage.
Table tennis is the most popular racket sport in the world, with over 300 million active members of governing associations worldwide.[1] The game is controlled by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), founded in 1926. Since 1988, table tennis has been an Olympic sport which includes four event categories. From 1988 until 2004, these were: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008 the doubles have been replaced by the team events.
The game originated as a sport in Britain during the 1800s, where it was played amongst the upper-class as an after dinner entertainment activity, commonly known then as "wiff-waff". A row of books were to be stood up along the center of the table as a net, two more books served as rackets and were used to continuously hit a golf-ball from one end of the table to the other. Later, table tennis was played with paddles made of cigar box lids and balls made of champagne corks. Eventually, table tennis evolved into the modern game in Europe and the United States. The popularity of the game led game manufacturers to sell the equipment commercially. Early rackets were often pieces of parchment stretched upon a frame, and the sound generated in play gave the game its first nicknames of "wiff-waff" and "Ping-pong".
History of Table Tennis in SA
2001 was a historical year for the South African Table Tennis Board as it celebrated ten years of unification. The unity was between the then South African Table Tennis Union (SATTU) that was formed in 1939 and the South African Table Tennis Board (SATTB) that was formed in 1948.The two organisations SATTU and SATTB signed a declaration of intent on 21 July 1991 to unite the SATTB and SATTU into one controlling body for Table Tennis in South Africa.
SATTU was affiliated to South African National Olympic Committee (SANOC) and the Confederation of South African Sports (COSAS). SATTB was affiliated to the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and National Olympic Sports Congress (NOSC). The SATTB enjoyed the membership of both the ATTF and ITTF during the isolation years.
In 1993 South Africa’s participation in the World Championships, raised the issue of merit selection versus a team of national unity. The SATTB then sought the advice and assistance of Dr Sam Ramsamy, President of the newly formed NOCSA. The interim executive agreed that a team of National Unity would represent South Africa in Gothenburg, Sweden. This decision was made to further consolidate the transformation process.
Success of Transformation since the unification
One of the key principles of the SATTB was and still is to ensure that table tennis reflects the demographics of the country. In 1995 at the All Africa Games, the SA team had 40% black representatives. By 1997 the national team that participated in the World Championships reflected 72% black athletes and this trend have continued.
Further inroads have been made at Provincial level, whereby at the Junior Championships more than 80% of the participants were black. The SATTB has also witnessed the emergence of more black administrators at provincial level. The South African Table Tennis Board is proud of its history and the progress made during the past years, the unification and transformation process has resulted in a non-racial, non-sexist organisation, which is treasured very dearly.
The challenge is now in the hands of the affiliates and future administrators to consolidate these accomplishments. Table Tennis is looked upon as one of the few sports to have been able to select its athletes totally on merit, which reflects the people of South Africa.
BOLAND UNION
One of the biggest affiliates (since 2003) that covers more than half of the whole province’s area is still the BOLAND Table Tennis Union (“BOLAND”).
Established as a Union for promoting Table Tennis in the Boland area in 2002, the year 2003 saw the first tournaments organised and Boland’s team at the SA Nationals was the largest representation from any affiliate of the SATTB - and it also got the highest number of medals won by any affiliate.
In the following years Boland teams took part in lots of tournaments, games and championships on all levels (provincial and national)
While the funding relationships with governmental institutions could be solidified in 2007-2008 some clubs within the area lost momentum. The admin structure of the union worked very well, and one of its members was even awarded “Best Administrator of the Year” by the Boland Sports Council. Since 2009 two of Boland’s executive committee members were also elected on National SATTB commissions.
So in 2009 after long discussions within the Boland Table Tennis Union (as is officially called since 1994) lead to the conclusion that the Union that acted also as a Club at this point will only form the uniting body of all the table tennis playing clubs within its area and that new structures have to be found.
In November 2009 at a very interesting Stakeholder Indaba in Paarl the new structure was discussed and decided so that a new constitution for the Union could be drafted that was formally adopted at the AGM on the 20th March 2010. At the same AGM a new Executive Committee was appointed consisting of Wayne Cupido (Chairperson, Paarl), Dr. Werner Priklopil (Vice-Chairperson, Stellenbosch), Roger Baxter (Treasurer, Wellington) and Mornay Pretorius (Secretary, Kuilsriver). In the first Executive Committee meeting Garth Miller (Kuilsriver) and Thomas Francke (Paarl) were co-opted to the Executive Committee.
BOLAND is now responsible for all Affiliated Clubs and Associations within the Cape Winelands District area, the West Coast and Overberg. It has its own leagues and at present there are 4 clubs from its area that are affiliated to BOLAND. Those clubs are from Kuilsriver, Paarl, Stellenbosch and Wellington and they were created as spin-offs from the former basic club, the Boland Table Tennis Union, with its one and only centre in Paarl.
The Road Ahead
The challenge that faces the South African Table Tennis Board in the 21st century is to ensure that table tennis is accessible to the majority of citizens especially the youth, girls and persons with disabilities both in the urban and rural communities and at the same time assist the elite athletes to achieve their life dreams of being among the best in the world.
For BOLAND it is
to establish more clubs within its area, such places as Bredasdorp, Ceres, Kraaifontein, Paternoster, Robertson, Veldrift or Vredenburg
to intensify relations with stakeholders
to create more public awareness and support
to secure its funding to build up a strong union
Long live the SATTB, long live Table Tennis, long live BOLAND UNION!
Boland Table Tennis Union - CONSTITUTION