
	An Interview with Irish National Coach & NPC, Colum Slevin first published in ITTA Bumper Pack I started playing when I was eight years old. Glenalbyn table tennis club was only 200 yards from our house and I strolled in one day to watch my sister playing, who had started a couple of weeks earlier. The hall was full of kids and there was a great buzz about the place. I was instantly hooked. There was a guy running the show called Tommy Rowsone. He always passed our house on the way down to the club and all the kids knew his name, whether they played tt or not. He was without doubt the biggest influence on my table tennis career. There's not enough space on this page to do him justice but he certainly was the reason for me achieving anything that I did achieve. I think the most important thing was the confidence he gave all the kids. Everyone had a nickname. I was Stellan Bengston (a good friend of mine now) and I was going to win the worlds in Peking in 1981. It turned out that the worlds that year were in Novi Sad, where I got to the last 64, the farthest I ever got in the men's singles as it turned out. I got my first cup for Ireland in 1975 in Zagreb at the Junior Europeans (a fitting place to end my career next year) at the age of 10. I suppose the biggest highlights in my career?: as a junior was getting to the quarter’s 2 years in a row at the cadets’ Europeans. The first year I had a real chance of a medal when I was up 11-6 in the third against the Russian No.1 seed Vladimir Dvorak. Erik Lindh won the tournament that year. The following year I was seeded 3 and lost to the unknown cadet Jan Ove Waldner. My first Senior cup was at 13. I played with Kevin Keane against an up and coming team from Poland, Andrej Grubba and Leszek Kucharski. Kevin won against Kucharski that day. Since then I represented Ireland close to 300 times as a senior. The highlights of that was winning the European cup in 1990 and 1992 with VFB Lübeck and in singles, probably beating Erik Lindh (then no.2 in Europe) in the first round of the French Open in 1989. The biggest influence in my career?: apart from Tommy Rowsome, Stellan Bengston. He taught me all I know about modern table tennis. Unfortunately I was already at the end of my career when I met him so I couldn't make the most of it. This is one of my reasons for wanting to coach in Ireland - it would be a shame to let the knowledge go to waste. What would I like to achieve within my role as Irish coach/captain? I think the only chance Ireland has to compete against other countries, being such a small country, is for players and coaches to work together. Because there are so few clubs, the clubs and coaches to work together. I don't know whether it is feasible or not but I would love to see a squad-training take place at least once a week in all four provinces. My idea is also to spend more time coaching coaches so that they can pass on the knowledge to the players. I hope to include a coaching coaches evening on every Friday of every training camp. All club coaches and players present and past are invited if they would like to come. I'm looking forward to the job as National Coach but I also know how difficult it will be to make any major improvements with only 30 days work. I would love to come home and work part-time as a National Coach and I think that only then it will be possible to make any major changes. Advice to up and coming players?: If you want to be good then you have to make sacrifices and the quickest way to get to the top is to play every day. If you don't want to make any sacrifices then enjoy table tennis as a hobby but then don't expect too much out of the game. Advice to coaches?: There is so much I’d like to have the opportunity to say so I would like it if any coaches could make it to my Friday evening coaching sessions, when I’d have more time to discuss.