Jean Shi looks to develop youth

CNMI 6th Micronesian Games gold medalist Jean Shi is now focusing in developing table tennis among the youth.

In an interview yesterday, Shi, who won another singles title in Sunday’s Saipan vs. Tinian Friendship Goodwill Table Tennis Tournament, explained that while she enjoys playing the sport after almost a 30-year layoff, she is more interested in passing on her knowledge.

“I’m trying to work with Steve Lim (Marianas Amateur Table Association president) to get help to open training for kids,” she said. “That’s what I want to do. It’s very important to start training the kids. For me, I don’t want to play anymore, I want to train the kids and maybe when they grow up, they can play and represent [the CNMI].

Shi said she went to Shanghai, China in July, and approached a table tennis training school to begin negotiations for allowing two youth players to take part in summer trainings.

“I think the young generation is more important. I checked with a school there and tried to negotiate for us to have two players every summer go there and play, train, and learn for about a month and a half. At least they can get training from a professional coach and it’s very good for developing for the future for the Micro Games and other competitions,” she said.

Shi returned to the sport in preparation for the Micro Games, and explained that even during the Games, she felt she was not at the top of her game.

“For me, it’s been a long time. I played in the Micro Games, and I felt like I forgot some things, but because I played a lot in the Micro Games, I think my level is improving. I made some progress and I guess I have confidence because I don’t stress out for the competition.”

“When I was in China I got a lot of experience playing, and I’m just having fun and I hope everyone would just have fun and not worry too much about getting a medal,” she said.

She explained that she did not plan to compete in the goodwill competition with Tinian, but did so after learning the Saipan team needed players.

“I’m retired already, but this time, they asked me to play because we needed players against Tinian. The tournament was okay with me because everybody played very hard and that’s good. The level of play is picking up.

Shi also expressed appreciation to Lim and MATTA, as well as the Tinian delegation for promoting the sport.

Shi was crowned singles champion after edging teammate Su Yong Dong and Tinian’s Ma Zheng, who served as the national coach for the CNMI gold medal winning team in the Micro Games.

It was tough for officials to determine a winner as all three finished with identical 6-1 win-loss match records. With that, officials had to turn to win-loss sets records.

After the tabulation, it was determined that Shi was champion with a 20-7 record. Ma placed second with a 20-9 record, while Su took third with a 20-10 record.

The doubles title went to Tinian as Zheng and Luke Lu joined forces to win the title, while Su Yong Dong and Chen Lin Ying of Saipan placed a strong second.