Introducing the Director of Butterfly Leagues
March 21, 2007

Mitchell Seidenfeld Director of Butterfly League Table Tennis Age: 44 Hometown: Minneapolis, MN Education: B.A. English, University of Minnesota

Professional Background
Corporate Trainer and Technical Writer, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and US Bank
Director of Table Tennis, Northwest Athletic Clubs and Lifetime Fitness Clubs
Director of Table Tennis, Air Traffic Juggling Academy
President and Founder of Table Tennis Minnesota
Freelance Writer

Table Tennis Background
World Champion and Paralympic Gold Medalist, Class 8 Singles
Five-time Minnesota State Champion, Open Singles
Ten-time Minnesota State Champion, Open Doubles
Four-time USOC Athlete of the Year for Disabled Sports
2003 USOC/USATT Developmental Coach of the Year
Director of Table Tennis, Northwest Athletic Clubs and Lifetime Fitness Clubs
Director of Table Tennis, Air Traffic Juggling Academy
President and Founder of Table Tennis Minnesota
Manager of Disney’s TTC
Regional Director for the National Schools Program for Table Tennis
Head Coach, Minnesota Junior Program
USATT certified coach, umpire, and certified referee
Tournament Director for more than fifty USATT sanctioned events
Organizer of community-based league system with fourteen leagues in a single metropolitan area

In 1975 I was eleven years old. My father and I had been practicing in our basement for about six months. We spent hours trying to glean as much information as we could from our ninety-five page book, Table Tennis, by Dick Miles. Then, one evening, my father came home from work and told me that he had heard about a new ping-pong club forming at a near-by community center. I remember being so excited. It was organized by Dana Larson, a club regular from Magoo’s, the Minneapolis table tennis club where all the hotshots hung out. We became part of a group of twelve to sixteen players who would meet at the community center one night each week for a couple hours of fun and informal competition. Dana demonstrated some of the basics and, if we were lucky, threw some tricky serves at us. And even though we were still two years away from stepping foot in Magoo’s Table Tennis Club, we learned quite a bit about the official rules and etiquette of the game. It was that first little community league, organized by Dana Larson, that gave my father and me our first taste of just how fun organized table tennis could be.

Fast Forward to 1998:
I was visiting relatives down South and found some time to break away from family responsibilities to check out the local club; one of the biggest in the country at that time. I checked-in with the manager, paid my fees, and was advised that players were playing “winner stays” on most tables; all other open tables were “first come, first served.” This sounded easy enough to me. After all, I was an experienced player with international medals to my credit. You wouldn’t think it’d be all that hard to get a club player to hit with me on an open table. Well, forty-five minutes went by and I still couldn’t find a club regular to hit with me. Nobody knew that I could play so the players at each “winner stays” table told me that I would probably get to play sooner if I asked somebody “over there.” And all of the players waiting on the bleachers told me that they were “just too tired to play right now.” That experience gave me a taste of just how difficult it is for new players to come into organized clubs for the first time. And if their first experience is anything like this was for me, it will probably be their last.

Goals and Objectives
My main objective for Butterfly League Table Tennis is to help establish community-based table tennis leagues in, or near, every city in the United States. This year I have a goal to work with at least one registered League Director in each state and to help them organize one or more Community leagues (for recreational players, USATT rated below 900) in a city or metropolitan area of their choice.

What is different about Butterfly League Table Tennis?
While there have been many successful leagues in the United States there has never been a concerted effort to organize leagues that are intended specifically for recreational players. This league initiative provides a natural way for recreational players to get involved and start having fun in organized table tennis. It is the first league initiative to take into account that over ninety-five percent of all players in the United States are a recreational, novice level and, if they had a USATT rating, would be rated below 900. At the same time, Butterfly League Table Tennis includes leagues for intermediate, advanced, and elite level players.

There are many other exciting aspects of this league program. It has the full support of Butterfly North America and their long-term commitment to succeed in building an infrastructure for table tennis in the United States. Butterfly North America requires no fees or commitments from its League Directors. The entire focus is on building the sport, together, from the ground up and doing the hard work necessary to accomplish something great.

To register as a League Director, have access to our League Toolbox, and begin working with Mitchell Seidenfeld to bring Butterfly League Table Tennis to your area, Click Here.