Svenn-Erik NORDBY retired as Secretary General of the NBTF

After lifetime long dedication to Norway sport NORDBAY handed over the duty one day before 70th birthday

Svenn-Erik NORDBY retired as Secretary General of the NBTF on Saturday 31th October day before he celebrated his 70th birthday. NORDBY has been General Secretary of NBTF for almost a lifetime. He has worked in Norwegian sports for just over 41 years and 38 of these years in NBTF. He was Administrative leader / General Secretary from 1985 and thus NBTF’s face outwards for 35 years.

“After my 41 years employment in Norwegian Sport the last 35 years in the Norwegian Table Tennis Association as Administrative leader/Sec.gen I have now retired. I had my last day in office last week and can look back on many fantastic years in national and international table tennis. I wish to thank all of you in ETTU for all help development of table tennis in Europe and friendly meetings at different arenas. I will still be active in the EVC 2023 project ” stated NORDBY.

Former President of NBTF and head of ETTU Committee Øivind ERIKSEN spoke about NORDBY:

“Svenn-Erik is characterized as creative solution-oriented knowledgeable always well prepared and always in advance and he is characterized as a leader with great calm and with strong ability. He has very few sick leave days through all these years and has always delivered as it lasts of the best quality. Svenn-Erik has always been friendly nice and helpful and he has been a good boss for all employees in NBTF over the years. He has built a strong and good network of contacts with clubs and regions and he has served NBTF’s underlying links in a fantastic way. He has done an incredibly good job for Norwegian table tennis and he has also been an active contributor to the NIF system along with other special federations through the special federation alliance as Secretary General of the North European Table Tennis Union for 14 years and in the ITTF Media Committee for many years.”

Svenn-Erik has been employed by NBTF under six presidents: Kjell SVANEVIK (1977 – 1983) Odd GUSTRAVSEN (1983 – 1989) Sigbjørn SKAAR (1989 – 1995) Øivind ERIKSEN (1995 – 2015) Erik LINDHOLM (2015 – 2019) and Christian IBENFELDT (2019 – 2020). ). During the closing speech at Ullevaal on Thursday 29 October 2020 Svenn-Erik emphasized the good cooperation he has had with these Presidents all the boards he has worked with and also with clubs and regions. This collaboration has been mutual in all years.

He was also several years at the head of the national team including strong women’s national team in the 1980s. The coaching job has always been important for NORDBY and he has also been the club coach including the B-72 and Fornebu BTK.

Svenn-Erik has also done an enormous job for several of our clubs in the establishment of gyms. In addition the outdoor table project which started in 2009 after collaboration with the Sparebankstiftelsen DnB has meant that NBTF is behind the deployment of 4-500 outdoor tables around Norway. Svenn-Erik was also the mastermind behind this project which is still ongoing.

Svenn-Erik played for the national team once and in 1970 he played a very historic international match. It happened during the Open in Sweden and the occasion was China’s return to international table tennis after the Cultural Revolution. There was extremely great media interest in China’s first international match after the Cultural Revolution and Svenn-Erik played the first singles match in the international match against China. The Norwegian team received gifts from the Chinese while the Norwegian players had nothing to give in return. Svenn-Erik met his Chinese superiors 30 years later on Chinese soil during a World Cup and he then used the opportunity to give the Chinese gifts in return.

NBTF has done a solid job in connection with Para-table tennis. Under Svenn-Erik’s leadership NBTF was one of the first special sports to take integration responsibility. This has resulted in a good recruitment system and also many international medals for Norwegian players both in the European Championships the World Cup and the Paralympics Games. Svenn-Erik got to experience the greatest table tennis feat of all time in 2012 during the Paralympics Games in London. Tommy URHAUG secured gold in class 5 in a final with Norwegian sports media and representatives from Kongehuset ringside and not least in prime time on NRK.

Such a long fruitful career is hard to sum-up in one interview but we asked NORDBY to make a highlights of his long being in table tennis.

What is the most precious moments you remember from your long time service in NTTA?

“I’m sure that must be in London 2012 when our player Tommy URHAUG won his gold medal in the Paralympics. We had guests from the Norwegian Government the Norwegian Princess was there together with members of the NOC watching the final matches which also was broadcasted directly on TV.  That was a fantastic moment to remember ” remembered NORDBY.” We have also been able to with external funding to give several hundred tables to primary schools and clubs which give the children the possibility to enjoy table tennis and the club to expand their activities. To know that children can have their happy moments give me also daily precious moments.”

What was the greatest challenges?

“There is a big challenge not only in Norway I think that we have very few members and small clubs in the Association compared to the number of people actually playing table tennis. Most of the financial support to NTTA is based on the number of members and it is a challenge to get more members from these leisure players. It is of course positive that table tennis is popular but the small member numbers also affect the sponsor possibilities and most of all it affect the number of halls and the daily playing facilities available for our sport.”

What was the greatest joy?

“The daily work because as a Sec.gen in a smaller Association you are able to work with a wide range of interesting areas with different tasks every day from small to big project both on the national and international arena. In 1996 we organized the World Veterans Championships in Lillehammer Norway with nearly 2000 players from all over the world which at the time was the largest so far. That was a lot of joy feeling the enthusiasm from the players and working together with several hundred volunteers invited international umpires and guests from ITTF and ETTU.”

What your experience taught you?

“To put it short: Be active and patient. I’m probably not the most patient type I want things to happen but at the same time it is important to learn from others be a good listener and diplomat. Be a good leader to the staff and have good relationship to your Executive board and committees. And when difficult cases come up because they do I try to create a win – win situation. We are a happy table tennis family and it is important to keep it that way.”

 What will you miss the most?

“Most of all I will miss my colleagues our players clubs leaders and friends in national and international table tennis. I’m still member of the Media Committee in ITTF so I hope it will be possible to visit and be part of another international championships in the near future.”

Are you planning to stay close to the “office” and help your successor?

“I will of course help if asked but it is also important that our partly new administration and successor put their own stamp on the daily work and the future of Norwegian table tennis. As retired I will keep a natural distance but I will still be active in some projects for NTTA like our application to host the EVC 2023 in Norway.”

“I wish to thank all of you in ETTU for all your help development of table tennis in Europe and friendly meetings with enthusiastic leaders from all over Europe at different arenas ” concluded Svenn Erik NORDBY