On 11 January 2011, the Werner Schlager Academy (WSA) was officially opened in Schwechat. As early as the late autumn of 2010, the Werner Schlager team was hard at work with the center’s activities. A new world-class Table Tennis Training Center in the heart of Europe had arrived. After two years, we look back with great pride on a sensational development.

Highlights at a Glance:

 -   The ITTF, with a membership of 218 countries, forming the second largest sports federation in the world, recognizes the WSA as a world training center, ranking alongside WSA Guangzhou, Paris and Ochsenhausen as a one of 4 training centers in category A, the top level designation.

-   With the development of the national and international training group, the WSA is growing day by day and leads us on some days to up to 35 training tables, pushing to the center’s utilization limits.

-   Between 13 – 22 July, 2012, the WSA and the Austrian Table Tennis Association directed the largest European Youth Championships of all time and received euphoric feedback from all over the continent.  As a result of these Youth Championships, around 20,000 overnight stays were generated in Greater Schwechat. The calculated value alone for Schwechat from this event amounted to approximately 1.5 million Euro.

-   The WSA was awarded the privilege of hosting the ETTU-sanctioned European Championships (to be held 4 – 13 October 2013). This is by far the largest sporting event ever held in the region.

-   The WSA smoothly handled a number of events, including the January 2011 UNIQA Youth Top 10 and the ITTF World Hopes Week in June. In addition, several International Table Tennis major events were expertly managed, most notably the World Tour in September 2011, with an exceptional international response (Global TV coverage, 108 million TV viewers in China alone, 14 hours ORF).

-   China's national men’s and women's teams prepared at the WSA for the World Championships in Rotterdam in May 2011 and, after the experience, called the WSA the best table tennis training center in Europe

-   China's national team also prepared in April 2012 for the World Team Championships in Dortmund at the WSA and again left Schwechat thrilled.

-   Hosted the ETTU Europaen Coaching Conference (the end of 2010, even before the official opening)

-   Hosted an ITTF referee seminar 2011

-   Hosted an ITTF referee seminar 2012

-   Hosted an ETTU workshop including European Champions League draw for the ladies and the men in June 2011

-   Hosted an ETTU workshop including the European Champions League draw for the ladies in July 2012

-   Hosted an ITTF workshop in October 2012 for its Competition Managers and there laid the foundations for 2013

-   To date, representatives from 135 nations have attended events at the WSA

-   In October 2012 (Serbia Open) for the first time in the history of the sport a multi-national team representing the WSA was allowed to compete. Our international team with young players from Russia, USA, Romania, Czech Republic and Thailand has dominated the tournament at the students‘ level clearly and created ​​great publicity for our project

-   Europe's best nations (including Germany, France, Sweden, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Russia, ...) have come together in the Werner Schlager Academy to prepare for the 2012 Olympics in London

-   The WSA Partners Club SVS STRÖCK has in its first year of its establishment won the Austrian championship title and won the cross-border Superliga. In the second year the team was in the finals of the European Champions League and the championship was again brought to Niederösterreich. (With the play still active) in the 2012/2013 season, the club reached the semi-finals in the Champions League

-   The WSA has become an extremely strong economy. Alone for the city of Schwechat, the Graz Institute Fedas M 24 has calculated up to 2013 a value in the amount of approximately EUR 42.6 million. Using international rules of calculation, the Werner Schlager Academy has created around 500 jobs in the region

-   Due to the WSA activities, the advertising value for the city has already reached in the first two years astronomical proportions and is in the double-digit millions. Thus, for example, during the European Youth Championships in July 2012 on our live score section on the website scored around 70 million clicks (!) counted. The advertising and image transfer is thus a never to this extent expected for the city

-   The WSA is working closely with schools in the region

-   The WSA serves as the Schwechat city sports club as a training venue for the elite athletes and amateur players

-   The WSA serves the Vienna Association and the Niederösterreich Association as a training center

-   Since opening, the WSA players have largely improved exorbitantly in the ITTF world rankings

 

Looking ahead to 2013 and the years to follow:

 

The European Championship (4 to 13 October 2013) with 1400 accredited persons from 50 nations will break all inner-city event records.  Just for this event mentioned, the Graz Institute has calculated a value for the city of about 2.6 million euros. Around 300 journalists from all over Europe will report. Also in Chinese state television (CCTV 5) will be reporting in detail on the EM in Schwechat.

China's national team is (open date) again to hold a training camp in the WSA.

The ITTF will hold in June the so-called "World Hopes Week" again in the WSA, a top class junior course. We expect for this event over 100 guests from more than 20 nations.

The WSA seeks to expand its partnership with China and wants to generate subsequently designated as an official partner of Shanghai University more sporting, social and economic value for the region.

In Schwechat, in cooperation with the Austrian Table Tennis Association, the federal government and the province of Niederösterreich, a national training center is to be installed for the sports of table tennis, volleyball and Jiu Jitsu to the great benefit of the city and the region. Through this collaboration more added value from the Werner Schlager Academy is realized in the country.

The European Union has offered the WSA the 2014 Euro-Asia Challenge, a most prestigious event to be held in Schwechat. This event would attract worldwide media attention for the area and bring visitors from around the world.

The WSA will intensify in 2013 its work with schools and nurseries in the region.

For a successful future - in and with Schwechat, Niederösterreich and Austria.

 

Werner Schlager

Martin Sörös