Opinion – Edgard Alves: Ballet Bolshoi becomes a reference for table tennis in Brazil

Table tennis in Brazil has improved its performance in international events in the last decade and is committed to trying to reach the level of world highlights in the sport. To do so, it seeks paths that were unthinkable until recently, such as inspiration in ballet. That’s right, he also decided to use a dance school as a reference.

A step in this direction was taken a month ago with the sending by the CBTM (Brazilian Table Tennis Confederation) of some of its directors and technicians to the Bolshoi ballet in Santa Catarina, whose project aims at high performance.

The Bolshoi Theater School of Brazil is the only branch in the world of traditional and renowned ballet in Russia. Non-profit, it has been operating in Joinville since March 2000, with support from the municipal and state governments and the group called Amigos do Bolshoi. Its mission is to train citizen artists and be among the top ten specialty schools on the planet.

The institution selects 140 new applicants annually, from Brazil and abroad and offers students full scholarships, food, transport, uniforms, costumes, social assistance, pedagogical guidance, preventive dentistry, physical therapy, nutritional care and pre-emergency medical assistance. hospital.

Its values ​​are discipline and passion, excellence, tradition with the ability to reinvent itself, respect for differences and talents, humility, transparency and commitment to the sustainability of the business.

The governance and multidisciplinary structure of Santa Catarina’s Bolshoi impressed the visitors. The coordinator of Olympic selections at CBTM, Lincon Yasuda, is convinced that just placing tables and balls will not guarantee the full development of table tennis. For him, the best solution is a complete structure, which allows him to fully dedicate himself to both sports and studies. Finally, a methodology that accompanies the student from initiation to the level of excellence, in professionalism.

In this same direction, although at an early stage of discussion, the table tennis confederation is studying the feasibility of setting up a training center for the sport, which will allow for the concentration of activities and the evolution of national teams.

At the Olympics, Brazil never won a medal, but it showed in Tokyo, last year, that it can dream of the unprecedented podium. Hugo Calderano was fifth in the individual, while Gustavo Tsuboi finished ninth. In terms of teams, the men’s (Hugo Calderano, Gustavo Tsuboi and Vitor Ishiy, plus reserve Eric Jouti) came in fifth, and the women’s (Bruna Takahashi, Caroline Kumahara and Jessica Lie Yamada, plus reserve Giulia Takahashi) in ninth.

In the 2021 season, in November, Calderano broke an 83-year fast for athletes from the Americas by reaching fourth place in the world rankings. Three Chinese surpassed him: Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and Xu Xin. In the Americas, only one athlete had made it this far: Sol Schiff, from the United States, in 1938, recognized as the fourth best in the world that year by the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation).

Calderano, the national table tennis star, continues to live and train in Ochsenhausen, Germany, where he defended the city club, but recently transferred to Russian team Fakel Gazprom Orenburg, a five-time European champion. He travels to Russia during competition periods for the new team.

For the work it has been developing, CBTM won for the second consecutive time the Sou do Esporte Award for best governance among the sector’s national confederations. Sou do Esporte is a non-profit association that acts as a relationship network between athletes, sports entities, public authorities and the private sector. Its main values ​​are ethics, transparency, teamwork and responsibility towards itself and third parties.

The Brazilian confederation has other news. It will implement, for example, changes in the distribution of resources for national teams. The proposal is to promote benefits for new talents. UniTM (Table Tennis University) is also part of this process, including the support of the ITTF, through projects in the development area of ​​the world entity.

UniTM is an educational arm of CBTM, whose main objective is to host a complete training program for the development of coaches, referees and managers of the sport. It is directed by Taísa Telli, a professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Unicamp and a researcher in racket sports.

Alaor Azevedo, president of CBTM and vice president of the international federation, says that when athletes with potential results emerge, it is necessary to invest in these talents. In other words, support the new values ​​and leave the task to trained teams.

Governance is one of the challenges for the development of sports in Brazil. Therefore, table tennis idealizes a project for new times, a journey that deserves a vote of confidence and patience.