2006PortlandTrainingCamp

I was invited to help the US Paralympic Team train for their upcoming German Open next week and the World-Championship Paralympic
Tournament in Switzerland next month.

The coach was 5-time US National Champion Sean O'Neill. He was quite the slave-driver, making us do 2-3 sessions of drills per day, about 2.5
hours per session. Everyone was extremely exhausted but in the end we all appreciated his expertise and his ability to make us work so hard.

The players were Tahl Liebovitz (Class 9), Ed Levy (Class 7), Andre Scott (Wheel-chair), and Norman Bass (Class 7). All of these players work
extremely hard to achieve incredibly high levels of play despite their disabilities.

Tahl, for example, is capable of playing at the 2600 level. He has beaten nearly every top player in the USA top 25 list. He even took 2 games off
of USA#1 Fan Yiyong. He won a Bronze medal for USA in the 2004 Paralympic Games, making him the ONLY Table Tennis player (disabled or
otherwise) to bring home a medal for USA in decades.

Andre was a medalist in 1988 and again in 1996. At one point he was ranked #2 in the world in Wheel-chair Table Tennis. He can regularly beat
able-bodied players of the 2000-2100 level.

Norman was a professional athlete before most of us were even born. He was a Major League Baseball Pitcher for the Oakland "A's" AND he was
a Professional Football Player for the Denver Broncos! He is the first black man in the USA to play in 2 major league sports after the war. Now at
67 years old he is still passionate about competing in Table Tennis. He brings that same enthusiasm and perseverance to this sport as he brought
to his other sports. He told me that his major league pitching experience helps his ping pong game! He said he knows how to "throw a change-up"
to get his opponent off balance. He is a chopper and opportunistic pick-hitter who plays at nearly the 2000 level. In 2000, Norman won a medal in
the Paralympic games.

Ed is still a youngster, but his drive and work ethic are world class. Despite his disability he is playing near the 2000 level and is also a 4.0 student
at his university. Ed won Gold in the Team Event with Norm and then beat Norm at the 2004 Para Pan-Am's in the singles.

Working with these fine folks was very inspirational. In addition, they all have finely tuned senses of humor. I did more laughing during this week
than in any other week in recent memory.

Left to Right:
helpers James and Marco, Coach Sean, Tahl,
Ed, Andre, Norm

Throughout the camp, Tahl always called
Andre "Sweet Gorilla" and Andre always called
Tahl "Pee Wee."

For example, Tahl might say "5 bucks says you
can't return this serve, you sweet gorilla."
Then Andre would say "bring it on Pee Wee!"
or after Tahl would miss Andre would say "nice
shot you gay midget!"

Sometimes it was hard to concentrate because
we were always laughing so hard while listening
to these two go at it!

(Tahl is married btw)