The new realities the entire world has been facing because of the pandemic forced us to be creative and think of new and innovative ways to keep offering relevant content to our Member Associations and also, but not limited to, players coaches, officials, administrators and other stakeholders since many activities offered by the ITTF High Performance & Development Department cannot go ahead in this new situation.

“Following the positive response from the international Table Tennis community to the online training lessons and the series of webinars that we introduced back in May 2020 as a quick reaction to the pandemic, which immediately affected our regular programs and projects, and also considering the plans that were already in place in relation to the launch of different online services, including blended learning, it was music to our ears to learn about the PingProfy platform. It immediately sparked a lot of interest, for different reasons in fact, and after the initial meetings both sides felt that our objectives and ambitions are in perfect sync,” were the initial comments of Polona Cehovin, ITTF HPD Director.

The PingProfy platform

PingProfy is a table tennis platform created by the players for the players.

The idea started 3 years ago by identifying the needs and difficulties for a table tennis player to get professional coaching and proper advice to improve, based on personal experiences of the three founders, who are all well-known international table tennis players – Jose Miguel Ramirez of Guatemala, Thiago Monteiro of Brazil and Marcos Madrid of Mexico. The idea matured through time and once the concept was developed it was also shared with many players and specialists of the sport, the next step was to set up the platform with the ambition of offering something new, simple, user friendly in terms of technological solutions, but above all to establish a virtual central point that makes it possible for anyone to connect with the world’s best table tennis players and coaches.  Whether it be for technical aspects, physical, mental performance, experiences from the top players and coaches, today the PingProfy platform delivers a world-class online learning experience, videoconferences, chats, private video-calls are available anytime and anywhere, on a smartphone, personal computer, and always close to the player.

ITTF and PingProfy formalise the cooperation in Doha

During the ongoing WTT events in Doha, ITTF and PingProfy used the opportunity to finalise the cooperation terms and a Cooperation Agreement has been signed.

“We are very eager and keen to launch our new Participation Program, which is part of the new ITTF Development Plan. In spite of the fact that the pandemic is still not allowing us to roll it out as we would want to, we tried to find creative ways on how to address the needs across the international table tennis community and soon we will be unveiling a customised program for our Member Association. Stay tuned and connect with us through PingProfy.”, continued Polona Cehovin.

Jose-Miguel Ramirez, PingProfy CEO, shares the enthusiasm: “Did you imagine yourself having a private coaching session with a former world champion like Werner Schlager? Well, this is the kind of magic we create with PingProfy.

We feel honoured to cooperate with ITTF as a platform provider and service provider. The idea is to create a new and modern learning experience, delivering programs to all ITTF Member Associations and facilitating easy access to valuable content and knowledge to support the growth of table tennis worldwide. The goal is to continue implementing the technology into the sport and keep developing features and solutions that will facilitate all users to have the best experience in all fields related to table tennis education.

The connection was seamless, we could feel we were talking the same language at the very first moment. The ideas from ITTF HPD are also aligned with our goals, it will facilitate faster growth and expand the field of table tennis education, making it in a modern way and solutions adapted to actual usability.”.

In the first stage, the program will feature a menu addressing the basic Member Associations’ needs, for instance, remote training camps for national teams, development of national team programs or development plans, coach-the-coach tutoring and others, and the plan is to keep expanding the content, also based on the needs communicated by the membership.

Overall, the cooperation with PingProfy and especially this new concept of supporting the ITTF Member Associations represents a new milestone among ITTF services, which Raul Calin, the ITTF Secretary General, emphasized with the following words:

“The ITTF is very pleased to announce this new partnership. Over the last four months, discussions have been held between the ITTF and PingProfy, with the ITTF Executive Committee receiving a presentation on the potential areas of cooperation at its meeting on 4 February. This is not only a company developed “by athletes and in service to the athletes”, but furthermore, this platform will certainly be very useful for ITTF Member Associations’ structured education, coaching, umpires and referees officiating, and other areas in need of educational services. I want to thank our HPD Director, Mrs Cehovin, and PingProfy CEO, Mr Ramirez, for moving from ideas to the action plan and we do hope to start seeing benefits for our Member Associations, players and coaches in the coming months.”.

To learn more about the platform, please visit www.pingprofy.coach.