Mario AMIZIC loaded Russian reconstruction onto his back

09/08/2009 - Mario AMIZIC is one of the most famous world table tennis coaches. First steps in table tennis he made in his home town Zadar, Croatia as player under guidance of his father, a well known coach and organizer of table tennis in Zadar. Mario became a solid first division player in former Yugoslav league but very soon he started to help his father as coach and took over the training of cadets. He coached Zoran PRIMORAC who became one of the top world players and brothers Karloviæ, which both became Croatian national team players.

After he went to Düsseldorf, Germany and became with his club team (SAMSONOV, ROSSKOPF, FETZNER, MAZE and other players) the most successful club coach ever. Next career station was Japan, where he started with the project to regain the former top position of Japan table tennis in world table tennis. After several years Japan is back on his way to the top and Mario changed to Russia. It is obvious that Russia has big tradition and quite a big potential in table tennis but the results are at the moment far from expectations and possibilities. So Russian Table Tennis Federation engaged Mario as head coach, asking him to prepare and conduct a new program which shall enable Russia to regain former top positions in Europe and in the world.

- Mario, we congratulate you on the new position as Russian head coach. Could you please tell us something about your new job and your plans as head coach?
"First of all I was in a dilemma for quite some time, should I after Japan take another national team or not. It was not an easy decision for me. The Russian table tennis tradition is quite impressive, Russia has always had top men and women players but recently the results are rather disappointing. At the end the challenge of helping them to come back to the top, where Russian table tennis belongs, prevailed. I decided to take over once more a "construction site", like I did it years ago in Japan. I will do my best to improve the present level of Russian table tennis , I am sure that Russia has a much bigger potential and deserves a much better position in world table tennis as it is the case at the moment. I just took over my new position and I am trying to find solutions how to come back to the top. Obviously I will have to select some young promising players and organize for them the best possible training during the whole year. This is the first and the most important step - only high quality training can in a long run bring top results. As far as I was able to see the training of top players in Russia was not organized professionally and taking into consideration all achievements of modern table tennis practice. It is for me sure that the present young generation with appropriate training can in few years be back in the top of Europe, fight for the leading position with present leaders Germany and France. At the beginning Russian TTF expected from me to change the situation in Russia, but I can not do such a thing - it is their task to build a training system in Russia. I can select the players and organize for selected players the best possible training. Russia has enough talented players and as I was informed enough financial means to help them to develop their skills in best possible way. Now I have to form the team which shall take care of the players - we need coaches, fitness coaches, psychologists, masseurs, organizers, it is not possible for one man to take care of a selection with such high goals! Frankly, I like to accept such a challenge because I see a big but not exploited potential. It is a pity for table tennis that in Europe some countries with big table tennis traditions are loosing their positions and Russia is one of them. It is not enough for Europe that at the moment only Germany in all categories and France with its new generation are on the top."

- It is well known that many Russian players participated in last 2-3 years in many Pro Tour events, they played many international matches on all levels, they practice regularly in training camps in China - so what is the real problem?
"This is a question which can not be easily answered. First of all I just started to study the situation in Russia and I can imagine that there are different reasons for present situation, which is not satisfying. One of reasons is in my opinion that recently there is a lot of money in table tennis and young players are suddenly able to earn quite some money without big effort. On the other hand I do not see many new young faces among the coaches, mostly I see the old ones. Possibly the practice is still like in the old days not taking into account the needs of modern table tennis. What I will do is for sure reduce the number of tournaments which one of selected players will play in a year - if the selected players want to make real progress they first have to practice very hard, the participation on tournaments must be reduced for the sake of practice. I do not think that only practice in China can solve the problems - we have to organize our own practice if we want to make real progress. The level which the best Russian young players reached at the moment does not justify participation on so many top events like Pro Tour tournaments. We in Europe are too much occupied with goals like medals on cadet or junior championships - this are wrong goals, real goals are to prepare young players to be able to become top players in senior competitions! A top cadet and/or top junior are often lost after they start playing among seniors - they are simply not prepared for it, they were prepared for cadet or for junior competition, and it is not the same goal. It is nothing new in Europe that many young players have not the basis which can be developed after they leave the junior category. They play too much and do not practice enough when they are young! For Russia I really can not promise anything - it is a big country, table tennis is a popular sport, they have many talented players and we will see what can be done."

(by Radivoj HUDETZ, ETTU Mag)

Photo: Mario AMIZIC's brother Leo coaching Russian player (Photo Roscher)

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