Steffen Fetzner, former world champion and Olympic silver medalist at the Barcelona Games in 1992, arrived in Doha last month to become Head Coach of ASPIRE’s table tennis programme, charged with the task of taking his talented new students to the next level of their international development.
The German, who claimed the world title in 1989 when he partnered compatriot Jorg Rosskopf in the doubles tournament in front of his home crowd in Dortmund, admits to being ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the standard of play the Academy’s youngsters have already reached but nonetheless is still looking for improvements.
‘In local or regional tournaments they are already one of the best,’ he says. ‘But I want to show them that it is not enough. I want them to be motivated to be one of the best in Asia; to take a step further on. To do that they have to invest and give even more than they have before, in both training and competition.’
The potential of some of the youngsters was recently illustrated to their new coach when ASPIRE students Ahmad Al Muthanna and Mohammad Al Saadi took the bronze medal for the team competition in the UAE Junior Open when they beat Saudi Arabia 3-0 and Czech Republic 3-2 in one of the most competitive games in the tournament.
In addition, Fahd Al Mughanni, another ASPIRE athlete, was one half of the Qatar doubles pairing that won gold in the youngest category, as well as picking up an individual bronze.
The tournament included representatives from an international field including traditional table tennis heavyweights Sweden, Hong Kong and Singapore, making the achievement all the more impressive.
The Doha based Academy for Sports Excellence was created in 2004 with the dual aims of identifying and nurturing elite young talent, to propel them into careers at the top end of international sporting competition and at the same time acting as a lead in promoting sports participation and healthy lifestyles in the wider community.
Students are accepted on full scholarship based on sporting aptitude from a young age and are given a comprehensive sporting, academic and social education. In this, Fetzner sees parallels with his own development as a youth player, though he concedes the breathtaking facilities on offer at ASPIRE could not then have been imagined.
‘I left my home when I was 12-years-old to stay at a boarding school, similar to here,’ he recalls. ‘I lived away during the week and was only home for the weekend. It is tough because you give a lot from your life. Especially at this age; you want to stay out and see your friends but you decide you want to be a table tennis player and from then you have to practice like a professional player.
‘You always have to follow your targets and aims if you want to be a good player; you have to invest a lot of time and power in the sport,’ says a man whose lightening quickness around the table earned him the nickname ‘Speedy’.
Fetzner, 38-years-old and married with two daughters, follows in the footsteps of two other former world champions, the Swedish pair of Stellan Bengtsson and Jorgen Persson, and his appointment underlines the Academy’s commitment to hiring the best possible coaches in all fields.
‘I know some of our players are very talented,’ he says, ‘and if they are ready to invest hard work in their game, and if they want to practice hard and listen to the great coaches we have at APSIRE – across all areas that are taught here – they have the opportunity to go far. You can offer the players everything but the most important thing is that they want to take it.’
About ASPIRE
ASPIRE, the Academy for Sports Excellence, Doha, was created with the dual aims of identifying and transforming promising student athletes into world renowned champions across a wide range of sports and to act as a beacon to draw sporting culture into the centre of life in Qatar and the surrounding region.
The Academy is distinguished by a philosophy which aims to develop the whole student, providing them with full academic, social and sporting development.
Unrivalled facilities mark the Academy out as one of the world’s foremost sporting and educational institutions, and entice an ever increasing number of visitors from across the spectrum of world sports to use or simply view them.
With one indoor and seven outdoor football pitches, athletics tracks, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, diving pool, combat arenas, gymnastics arena, specially designed weight rooms, lecture halls, dormitories to accommodate what will eventually become 1,000 students, a medical centre and more besides, much beneath the world’s largest purpose built indoor sports dome, every aspect of the development of elite athletes is catered for. ASPIRE is a place for those who dare to dream.
ASPIRE TODAY, INSPIRE TOMORROW
www.aspire.qa
