New Caledonia Open 2012

New Zealand responded to invitations from OTTF President, Patrick Gillman to send a contingent to the 2012 New Caledonia Open in Noumea.  It provided ITTF ranking points, a separate event for athletes with disability and a training camp extension.

TTNZ was very pleased to find that Development Committee member John Tuki and National Representative Jessica Macaskill were keen to go, and would be accompanied by two of our leading AWD players, Victor Kamizona and Ayush Bhatnagar.

John initiated some fundraising through the newly formed Table Tennis Tauranga club to assist team-mate Victor.  There was elation when clubmates heard that Victor had taken out Gold in the AWD event!  We were rapt to hear that Jess also brought home a gold, after her special efforts.

TTNZ was stunned to receive not one, but three, letters of thanks for backing this trip.  Thanks Patrick, John and Jessica!

We were also blessed to receive two fine trip reports, and provide excerpts from these as an example of the opportunities available to keen table tennis people, and how to grasp them, and allow others to follow.

Excerpts of Trip Report from John Tuki:

"At the airport, I spoke to the boys regarding the reason why we are going and that we are representing TTNZ and only their best behaviour is required. I did say that the plan was that we will be training everyday and supporting the local clubs on their club nights.

The hospitality of the New Caledonia Table Tennis community was honestly unbelievable. The kindness they produced was amazing  and they went beyond what would be expected.

Cathy Gauthier was exceptional value. She made sure we had rides to and from the venue/ airport, and also took us around to see some of the gorgeous sites of NC. Cathy is not only a fantastic ambassador to New Caledonia Table Tennis but Table Tennis in general. I learnt so much from her and will definitely incorporate what I learnt there into my own training programs.

Patrick was very lovely and we had some great discussions regarding the promotion of TT in schools and of course wanting to support each other as much as possible. In saying this, next year they want to send not only their juniors but also a senior team over to play in our nationals.

Both boys did a great job representing NZ and so did Jess and her international experience showed while there. Things like making sure that everyone(had) their wallets, lunch's, water, towels, extra shirts, full uniform, where they were playing and when, when to warm up, keep them motivated, and just making sure everything was running smoothly, etc made their jobs as athletes easy and stress free

One thing that I feel that would be great was if TTNZ could send  juniors/ developing juniors team over for the experience of an international tournament and also participate in the Oceania training camps. I think if we can strengthen the relationships between the two countries and support each other by sending players to our tournaments then we all win, especially our athletes getting that experience.

Excerpts of Trip Report from Jessica Macaskill:

Firstly, I just want to say the hospitality and kindness of the organisers/New Caledonia TT, was outstanding/amazing and was greatly appreciated. They went above and beyond what would be expected, ensuring everything was organised, transport to and from the airport, the accommodation, ensuring we had transport to and from the stadium to play and for the training etc.

I've come back glad that I have had an opportunity to compete at their Open and hope that in the future I can play again, and I definitely hope that other NZ players also get an opportunity to compete in the future, whether it is senior or junior players.

The training afterwards was very enjoyable,and mainly aimed at juniors.  However the senior players did attend to help out and train with juniors also, which I thought was great.

Due to the way the tournament is structured and due to the fact New Caledonia has a large number of juniors involved in the training following the tournament, it is an event that developing NZ juniors/players could benefit from in future. 

I think that in future TTNZ should definitely look at sending a team/ or at least more players to the event, especially juniors as they have large number of juniors and I feel it is a good development/opportunity to expose juniors to international tournament.

I heard that next year not only will they be looking to send junior team, but a senior team to senior nationals- which will be good experience for their players and good for NZ players also.

The NZ team environment was very enjoyable, it was nice to have the company of John, Victor and Ayush for the tournament. It was great to be able to support them, as well as having their support as a player also. It was also very nice to see them have some great results as well.

As manager to the boys, I think John did great job keeping them organised and everything running smoothly.  I also want to point out that feedback from New Caledonian players and others was also very positive, saying how wonderful he is: happy to help out with players during training, very approachable and friendly guy.

Overall I had an amazing time and just want to say thank you.  I had an unforgettable trip that I just hope can be experienced by many more players in future.

Results summary is:

Para events Singles: Victor =1st, Ayush = 3rd(semifinalist)

Under 18 boys doubles: Ayush= 3rd

Womens Doubles: Jessica & Claire(Aus) = 1st

womens Singles: Jessica = 3rd(semifinalist, lost Claire)

TTNZ hopes that reporting on this developmental trip can inspire others to follow the same path.