In his main job he is a specialist in tricky things. Which is difficult enough. Because as the editor in charge of the crossword puzzle that appears every day in the New York Times, you have a reputation to lose: It is considered to be one of the best in the world. As a master of challenging mind games, however, he has long since made a name for himself. Among other things, with the invention of the World Puzzle Championship, a world championship that has been held in a different country every year since 1992.
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Will Shortz found the balance to intense mental work and countless trips a long time ago in a sport that few people of his age in America do. The 69-year-old plays table tennis. And with a restless energy. “I’m the only one who has played in a table tennis club in all 50 states,” he said a few days ago. “And I’ve played in clubs in forty countries so far.” But that’s not all. Since October 4, 2012, he has had a bat in his hand on each of the more than 3000 days and frankly admits: “Yes, that’s obsessive.”
But a sport probably needs such positively crazy fans in the competition for attention. Especially in a country like the United States with its 330 million inhabitants. In any case, Shortz makes a significant contribution to this. In Pleasantville, a small town in the suburb north of New York, he has been running a training center for everyone with 30 tables for a little over ten years: the Westchester Table Tennis Center.
“In October 2012 we organized our first tournament. We had 161 players, which is a lot by American standards. The following year we started with monthly tournaments. We have been holding it every month since then – with a brief interruption during the pandemic. “The headliners are players from all over the world. “The last one was Benedek Oláh from Finland, number 78 in the world rankings.” On Wednesday, the Austrian Robert Gardos came by on his way back from Texas to train with interested amateurs, as 27th in the world rankings a train number. A few days later, the Egyptian El-Sayed Lashin, a former Africa master, offered his skills.
“A pathetic low number”
The constant offers have ensured that the Shortz training center in the American Northeast has an exposed position. And that the sport, which in the past mainly benefited from the enthusiasm of Chinese immigrants who cultivate their cultural identity in metropolises such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, is gradually experiencing a noticeable upswing.
Although table tennis has been Olympic since 1988 and thus has access to funding under the umbrella of the American NOK, the USA Table Tennis Association has just 8,000 members. Shortz says, “a pathetic low number”. With the usual effects like lack of media exposure. It was in the United States that the American Kanak Jha was eliminated in the singles against the Düsseldorf favorite Timo Boll in the quarter-finals at the World Cup in Houston, the first ever in North America, and was able to reach the second round in doubles with his Chinese partner Wang Manyu not even worth a report for any publication of rank. Of course, it doesn’t help that Jha earns his money at the Württemberg Bundesliga club TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.
The successes of the top American players, for example winning the gold medal in the men’s team competition at the Pan American Games 2019, are not significant either. Shortz has long been concerned with the question of the missing substructure. His answer: “If you tell people that you play table tennis, everyone knows what it is because you played it as a child, at school, as part of the recreational activities of church communities. But most don’t think it’s a sport. That’s why it has no prestige. ”Which is why the audience at the World Cup in Houston was also modest.
Other sports from the Olympic field benefit from being anchored in high schools and universities, which even attract the best young athletes with scholarships. In addition to the audience favorites such as football and basketball, disciplines such as wrestling and water polo, golf and gymnastics benefit from this. There is a National Collegiate Table Tennis Association which organizes the game of students and holds regional and national championships. However, there are no financial incentives. “In other countries like Germany you can live on it if you are really good. When you are sponsored and play for a team. You don’t have that option in the United States, ”says Shortz. “You have to go abroad. Or if you stay here then you have to work as a trainer. It’s just difficult. “
The fact that Kanak Jha played well at the World Cup was not worth reporting to any publication of any rank.
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Image: AFP
Difficult, but not unsolvable. “Fifteen years ago there were only half a dozen clubs in the United States that were fully dedicated to table tennis. There are now 75 or 80 like in Westchester. So that’s a good sign. Higher prizes are offered for tournaments. We have $ 6,000 in prize money every month, and the winner receives $ 2,000. And I hope that I can increase that. “
The facility itself, however, is in deficit and only survives because Shortz, as a successful publisher of crossword puzzle books, can afford such a project for enthusiasts. “Of course I do it because I love the sport.” The plan would only work if powerful sponsors make an economic contribution. How to do this is a mystery Shortz has yet to solve.
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