"Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island, what book would I bring," claimed comedian Steven Wright. His characteristically deadpan answer? "'How to Build a Boat.'" On the tiny Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, there is no such incentive to escape the tropical paradise. There is, however, a groundswell of ambition to unite the country's loose-knit table tennis culture into a cohesive national training program. The magnitude of such a task makes building a boat, or even an ark, seem enviably simple by comparison. This is the challenge now facing the Antigua and Barbuda Table Tennis Association (ABTTA), and its President, Charles Bellot. "As a result of numerous requests from persons, we are trying to formalize the table tennis training," explained Bellot. "We are trying to encourage a culture of club formation so that we could have club championships and so on... We are starting off, formalizing the training and so we want to launch it in June 12." The initial return on such investment in infrastructure is the Wadadli Table Tennis Academy, which will focus on developing talent from ages 5 to 13. The most talented will then rise to compete in regional and national tournaments, mirroring on a microscopic scale the Chinese national training system. "Last week, we travelled to Barbuda and I took a [table tennis] board over," recounted Bellot. "We got about 13 or 14 youngsters from Holy Trinity Primary and introduced them to the game; they absolutely love it and so... it looks like I have just created another monster and I am going to have to pencil in regular trips to Barbuda now." With Bellot busy ping-ponging between his nation's binary isles, he seeks assistance in building the infrastructure for a successful national table tennis program. "We need help administratively; we need more coaches to help [because] there is only so much that I can do on my own and yes, you have technology, ball cannons, this and that, but our biggest headaches right now are volunteers, more feet on the ground in terms of coaches and administrators." We wish Charles Bellot and the ABTTA the best of luck in their laudably ambitious plan, one which could serve as a model to any nation which is not currently a table tennis superpower. Given the success of your initial efforts and the nationwide enthusiasm for table tennis, however, we must caution you, in the words of Roy Scheider in "Jaws": You're gonna need a bigger boat.

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