Poster boy Van Lange longs for regional success
Jonathan Van Lange is the undisputed poster boy of junior table tennis in Guyana. There’s no questioning that.
The 13-year old Titans Table Tennis club player earned his ‘stripes’ through sheer dominance over his peers during the last two seasons on the local table tennis front.
In successive years – 2019 to 2020 – the young man swept the under 15 and 18 titles in the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) organized Junior National Tournaments. In 2019, he also won the under – 13 crown.
But his success at the Caribbean level hasn’t been as glowing. After making his debut for Guyana during the junior 2017 Caribbean championships in Jamaica and three appearances thereafter, the Bishops’ High student has only been able to record success in the teams and doubles categories.
It is not a huge indictment on the 13year old but a singles medal at the Caribbean level, or preferable a singles title will surely do his career the world of good moving forward.
“I’m very keen. It is something that I am working towards and I am very confident that in the near future God will help me to make this a reality,” Van Lange said of his ambition to transfer his blistering form to the Caribbean level.
“I’m very confident about standing on the podium as I return to the drawing board, working on my weaknesses and exploiting my strengths. As I have learnt over the years the only thing to stop me is myself,” the young man added.
Although he is putting in the hard yards and has mustered tremendous success here, Van Lange believes that more exposure will lend to his overall success beyond these frontiers.
“I believe that more exposure to highlevel competitions and players can help tremendously in jumping those hurdles. The top players, after experiencing and thriving with intense competitions, have learnt how to cope under stress in a game.”
Van Lange who is also a national under – 15 cricketer, picked up the tennis racquet at the age of nine while attending Mae’s Primary.
He was captivated by the way the ball moved, the rhythm and the various sequences which he said made the sport interesting and challenging at the same time. A year later after his first interaction with tennis, he officially became a member of the Titans Table Tennis Club (TTTC).
“… with more and more practices I attended and the more experienced players I was exposed to, the more the sport called to me. I love playing tennis and have also developed a significant and growing interest in cricket. Every year I attend different competitions for the sports that I love equally and yearn to pursue… tennis and cricket,” he explained.
In 2018, he copped three cricket awards [Clive Lloyd U5 Trophy, Clive Lloyd Trophy U13 Player of the Year and the Roy Fredericks U13 trophy for the most runs in a match at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) Awards ceremony.
No doubt he’s a multi-talented young man and perhaps his involvement in both sports helps him on the productive end of each. Nonetheless and to the point of the article, Van Lange has the potential to become a Junior Caribbean champ. He has the pedigree. He is skilled and with some fine-tuning and emphasis on his fitness, he can certainly strike gold at one of the future junior Caribbean tournaments.
But for the time being, he gave kudos to his mother, other family members, coaches, and other teammates for his recent success.