GRAND RAPIDS – Some of the world’s top players have arrived to participate in this week’s USA Table Tennis 2012 U.S. Open at DeVos Place.
Estee Ackerman is among the promising young players competing this week at DeVos Place.Some of the game’s brightest stars of tomorrow are downtown, too.
Count Estee Ackerman, a 10-year old from Long Island, N.Y., among that group. In fact, this might someday be remembered as the week that Ackerman was ‘discovered.’
Ackerman’s play and charisma caught the attention of Serbian player Biba Golic, a multi-time Yugoslavian champion who is in Grand Rapids this week. While Golic is injured and unable to play, she is busy keeping an eye out for young talent. Golic is a representative for Killerspin, a table tennis manufacturing and promotion company based out of Chicago, and she is confident she has found a promising recruit in Ackerman.
Killerspin spokesperson Biba Golic, a multi-time Yugoslavian champion, has been so impressed with Ackerman's play this week that Killerspin is planning to have Ackerman play for them in Chicago in September.Killerspin is planning to invite Ackerman to play for them in a tournament in Chicago in September.
“I came out here this week to visit with old friends, see what is going on and how (the tournament) is progressing,” Golic said. “We stopped by and noticed this littler girl, we like her and we like the way she fights, the way she plays.
“We have a Killerspin crew, which is a team of players who play all over the world. We are planning to have her come to Chicago in September to play at a kids’ event.”
The U.S. Open opened this past Saturday and will continue through Wednesday with the championship matches in the men’s and women’s singles and doubles competition. Players will continue to compete into Tuesday evening, then return Wednesday beginning at 10:30 a.m.
The U.S. Open also was held in Grand Rapids two years ago, but unlike the previous tournament, this year’s event in hosting the UTTF Junior Circuit in conjunction with the Open.
That has brought in nearly 100 youths from across the United States and Canada, as well as a group of players from Taipa, which took top honors in the team competition.
Ackerman is playing in a number of singles and doubles events. She teamed up with her brother, Akiva Ackerman, to win the 3200 doubles championship this week.
“We will try to help her because she is very talented, and we will say how it goes,” Golic said. “We like her character and the way she expresses herself.
“And she wins. She is beating older guys who are bigger than her. She is having a lot of fun doing that.”