By Tony Becca - From The Boundary 
JAMAICA'S PERFORMANCE at the recent Caribbean Table Tennis Championships in Puerto Rico was disappointing. The once mighty Jamaica finished last in the team events, they did not win a match in either event, they won only one game - thanks to Hector Bennett, and that was against Aruba.
For a country that once paraded the likes of Fuarnado Roberts, Leo Davis, Glen Mitchell, Dave Foster, Orville Haslam and Stephen Hylton, Joy Foster, Monica DeSouza, Anita Belnavis, Ingrid Mangatal and Sandra Riettie, Jamaica's performance was more than disappointing. It was shocking.
It was, however, not surprising - not when veterans, old veterans like Bennett, Peter Moo Young and Michael Hyatt are not only still numbered among the best players in the country but are also still among those carrying the flag.
Something is wrong, something must be wrong, not only why the women's team is so weak but also why although they are now not so young, younger players like Christopher Marsh and Nigel Webb, players who looked so good and promised so much as teenagers, are marking time and not performing, and something must be done about it.
The question is what is wrong and what can be done about it.
According to people on the inside, people like Hubert Lawrence and Robert Gabay, a lot is wrong.
One problem is coaching, another is image, and still another is money.
As far as the coaching is concerned, Riettie has recently taken over, and that is good. For her to succeed, however, she needs the support, the confidence of the Jamaica Table Tennis Association, and as the knowledgeable Lawrence has pointed out, she also needs more resources and a support group around her.
As far as image is concerned, that is nothing new. For years now, local tournaments have been so poorly organised that matches are always late - very late, the players, most of them, are always untidy, players are allowed to "knockup" on tables next to where matches are being played, and the result is that the atmosphere is such that it neither attracts spectators nor motivates the players.
As far as money is concerned, that has gone from bad to worse - to the extent that even after they are selected to represent Jamaica, players have to wait until the last minute to know if they will represent Jamaica and sometimes some of them do not.
In other words, when players should be concentrating on fine-tuning their skills, they are wondering if they are wasting their time.
As Michael Strachan has hinted, however, another problem could be that the players do not have the ability to perform under pressure and that could be true.
According to the former president, apart from obvious things like current form and physical fitness, if he were a selector he would base his selection on historical performance representing Jamaica and on mental agility and toughness - the ability to assess an opponent who the player has never seen before or who he has never played.
Whatever the reason for the poor showing in Puerto Rico, something is wrong with Jamaica's table tennis, something needs to be done about it, and hopefully something will be done about it following the in-depth review promised by president Justin Allen.
Table tennis needs to sell itself, it needs to attract more players, it needs to be properly organised, and it needs the support of all those who love the game.
As Gabay, former Council member, has said, if these things do not happen the next 10 years will see 50-year-olds dominating it.
