AFTER a little over seven years in existence, the Titans Table Tennis Club has been quietly building its brand and putting quality systems into place with much success and is now the name on the lips of those in the table tennis fraternity and the sports community in Guyana.

However, according to founder and President, Dwain Dick, 2018 has been nothing but phenomenal as the fruits of his and his team’s hard work has finally begun to show.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport, Dick revealed that over the past year, one of the most outstanding accomplishments would have been “Titans partnering with the corporate businesses in Guyana to much success; companies such as Guyana Beverage Company through their Viva Water brand; Banks DIH through their Malta brand; Beacons Cafe, Raj Singh, Maggies and countless others who have really helped to revive junior table tennis in the country.

“Not only have we partnered with the corporate entities, but we have also forged valuable relationships in the education sector with schools such as Westfield Prep, Queen’s College and Marian Academy.
“The fruits of those partnerships have been the young players we attracted to table tennis, the young talents who are the next generation of national players.”

Dick noted; “We had discoveries such as the Melville sisters (Crystal and Nikki) and of course Jonathan Van Lange, who has been growing from strength to strength. We already have had Jasmine Billingy for a couple of years, but her growth in 2018 was astounding, especially through our junior tournaments”.

Club players’ dominance
In 2018, the Titans’ players dominated the Junior category at the National level. Dick pointed out that it was especially fulfilling to see the hard work of those players pay dividends. “We had winners such as Colin Wong who took the Boys U-11 title, Jonathan Van Lange the U-13, while Jasmine Billingy copped the Girls U-9 and U-11 titles respectively. In the U-13 girls’ category, we had Thuraia Thomas copping that title while she also impressed at the U-15 and U-18 levels; Neveah Clarkston won the U-15 and U-18 girls categories to round it off for the Titans players”.

Tournaments
Dick believes players can be really assessed and show their quality at tournaments and as such, Titans have had a hand in organising four Junior tournaments in 2018. He explained; “At our four tournaments, I must say they were resounding successes, all players came out, the competition was of the highest calibre, sponsors even came out and interacted. Looking ahead in 2019 in terms of tournaments, we already have some of the sponsors from the past year; they have already committed to having some of the tournaments as annual events”.

He also revealed; “Our general thrust for 2019 will be focused on attracting more players to the game, to create a bigger pool of talent and to raise the quality of the game throughout the different categories”.

“Not only the organisation of tournaments will help achieve this, but increased training camps and clinics. We’re looking to go to different schools, not only in Georgetown but throughout different regions of Guyana where we’ll do introductory courses and outreaches; we’re looking to decentralize the sport” he added.

Dick also explained that Titans is not only a club, but more like an academy; he underscored that one of the main objectives of Titans is to look at how they can expand on the academic side of the members and players.

Titans Facility
Although Titans is currently based at the Red Cross Building in Kingston, the club will be having a home of their own in the future. A long-time vision of Dick’s, the Titans Table Tennis Facility is starting to take shape and he believes that with the right partnerships and assistance, it will be a reality in the very near future.
Dick said it came about through the growth of the club, “We saw a phenomenal rise in members and players this past year; plans are in the pipelines, my mother is my greatest supporter, I was given a piece of land by her as a gift to support the sport as she’s an avid follower of table tennis”.

“We’ve already cleaned up the area in ‘A’ Field Sophia, we’ve done a landfill, the very first phase has been completed, there is already a concrete fence up around it, so the journey has started.”

He continued; “My vision for the facility is that it’ll be a professional environment where coaches can earn a living through sport, somewhere that students can access education and advance through the sport of tennis”.

“My whole aim and focus is to give the children an opportunity to get scholarships, take up the sport as a profession; however this will have a lot to do with us being complemented by the Guyana Table Tennis Association through collaboration. Hopefully, my vision, which is the development of the sport, is along the same lines with the GTTA.
Facilities along with coaching are two of the most important pillars in the development of any sport.

According to Dick, the facility will include a general playing area, bathrooms and changing rooms, a gym, a classroom and dormitories.

“I’m hoping to create employment for 20-25 persons, they will fill positions of coaches, teachers, a physiotherapist and maybe a psychiatrist on a part-time basis”.
Persons who are willing to assist in any way are welcome to reach out to Dick; he can be contacted on 642-3288, or interested persons can go to the Facebook page: Titans Table Tennis Club.

“I’m especially interested in partnering with corporate persons, there are opportunities for them to get marketing and branding rights especially, something which can be beneficial to both the sport of table tennis and the corporate backers” Dick concluded.

As 2019 beckons, within the first three weeks of January, Titans will be conducting a Players Psychology Workshop with the first tournament slated for early February.