Quando pensi alla Svizzera, pensi alla ricchezza estrema, agli orologi Rolex, alle infrastrutture high-tech e alla perfezione.
Poi vai ai Campionati nazionali giovanili di ping pong, e questo è il luogo che offrono.
Guarda questa immagine. Questa non è un’arena sportiva professionale; è letteralmente una glorificata palestra di educazione fisica del liceo.
Lo spazio: i tavoli sono molto vicini tra loro. Se un bambino ha bisogno di fare un passo indietro per restituire un pallonetto, si sta praticamente schiantando contro le barriere della partita successiva.
L’area spettatori: tifosi e genitori sono stipati su uno stretto balcone appoggiato su una ringhiera come sardine.
L’illuminazione: luci da palestra fluorescenti standard e intense. Buona fortuna nel seguire una palla bianca che si muove velocemente sotto quel bagliore.
So che il tennis da tavolo non è così importante come lo sci o il tennis qui (se questo fosse un evento Federer, probabilmente si giocherebbe in un palazzo), ma forza! Questi sono i migliori giocatori giovanili del paese che competono per un titolo nazionale. Meritano di meglio dell’atmosfera rumorosa e angusta di un centro comunitario.
Mi aspetto troppo oppure la mancanza di rispetto per il tennis da tavolo è così palese anche nei paesi ricchi?
https://i.redd.it/u5qiu139wwyg1.jpeg
di Remarkable-Silver888
26 commenti
Context for the image: > This photo was taken at the recent Swiss National Youth Table Tennis Championships. I posted this because I want to spark a discussion about sports infrastructure and funding in Switzerland. We are a very wealthy country, yet the facilities for non-mainstream sports like table tennis seem extremely underfunded compared to skiing or football.
What do you guys think? Is it normal for national-level youth tournaments to be held in such cramped conditions here?
It’s a Youth championship. Of table tennis. Which unlike tennis is not exactly widely popular. What the hell did you expect?
Are you American?
I think you’re overestimating the importance of table tennis in most European countries.
Especially in a country of 8 millions people and that has way more interest in other sports. Most of the sports in most countries will not have dedicated arena. There’s less than a dozen covered olympic pool in the country yet we have world class swimmers.
This isn’t professional sports. These are kids and teens doing club sport.
How would you change it?
What do you exactly expect? Neon yellow balls and UV lighths from the ceiling so it will literally jump into your eye?
I am not a table tennis fan in the sense that i go watch this. But in general, why does everything needs to be a huge spectacle? To me it looks sufficient for a National Youth Table Tennis Championship.
Jeez… dude you are to much on YouTube
You are far far away from any reality… sorry for you.
Because they don’t generate huge profits. If you want that to change take your kid to smash China’s youth team and people willing to sponsor the event will appear.
What do you mean by richest country?
Switzerland is 1.1% of total world private wealth and 0.85% of GDP.
Mmmh, what was to be expected? What is not acceptable?
Do.. do you want dedicated venues for a niche sporting event? Whats so bad about using mehrzweckhallen for different sports? They are built for exactly that
Your mistake was thinking the swiss government gives any kind of support for any sport that is not soccer or tennis. Most of the time several institutions will actively try to screw you over if you are planning some youth sport activity. I could give you a list of horrorstories about how pretty much every single sport club i know is fighting an eternal uphill battle against 50 pencil pushers trying to shut them down.
This looks pretty standard for an indoor youth sports event in Switzerland. From the looks of it, the right location was chosen as there’s still quite some space to move around but also not too empty. Why rent a larger more costly venture when this one works just fine? The sports clubs have to pay to rent these places.
You can be glad the hall wasn’t divided into two, with another tournament happening in the other half.
You answered your own question… A question for you, why do you have to blame the government for every problem you have? Sport clubs receive subsidies and money from private sponsors. They organize whatever they want with that. Blame the club for not changing the light bulbs, maybe?… How do you think this is a government problem?
> When you think of Switzerland, you think of extreme wealth, Rolex watches, high-tech infrastructure, and perfection.
Caught the expat.
I don’t see what’s wrong with it.
They have tables, separators, spectator area.
So, what’s wrong with it?
There are dozens of sports practiced in Switzerland, often with quite specific needs. Even for those with the most players, you hear frequent requests for more infrastructure.
I would be very happy to satisfy everybody, just find me the money.
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I mean, what do you expect for an event that attracts 100-200 people tops? A stadium that can hold 60 thousand? How much did the entry cost / how much would people be ready to pay for a better location?
Also, pretty sure international tournament rules say 2m behind each side of the table, and 1m on each side, and this looks like at least that much.
Someone got big mad their little angel wasn’t given a golden carriage to chauffeur them into what they assumed would be a “going to the olympics (probably)” ceremony.
Imagine their shock when they get to the olympics finally after all those years of gruelling table-tennis filled weekends… to find that it’s once again in a gymnasium with low attendance.
That’s disrespectful. They should at least be getting as much funding as the European Elderly Paraplegic Cornhole Championship
If you think this is bad, have you seen the car racing circuits?
When you think of switzerland, you think of cliches.
I have no idea where you come from and I don’t want to assume (openly), but to me, growing up in italy, and to anyone from normal-to-poor european country, this is LUXURY for a sport like table tennis. It shows how good the schools infrastructures are and how good they are kept to allow poor-people-sports events to be had at essentially zero budget.
Also, being both swiss and italian, I ll point out that your understanding of this country is fundamentally flawed, but I suppose the Swiss Quality brand is still something people outside (and sadly, inside) of switzerland believe in, so I can’t blame you
I attended that event 25 years ago and it takes me right back. Gotta hit that ping pong ball again sometime…