No one more deserving than Riette – JTTA president

JAMAICA TABLE Tennis Association president Andrew Lue believes Sandra Riette fully deserved the national honour she received on Heroes Day last week.

After dedicated service as both player and coach, Riette was awarded the Order of Distinction (Officer Class). The presentation was made as part of the annual National Honours and Awards on the lawns of King’s House in Kingston.

Interviewed a day after the Heroes Day presentation, Lue praised Riette’s contribution.

“I can’t think of any other person who is more deserving.”

As a former national player himself, he saw Riette playing in the black, green and gold.

“My first trip for Jamaica as a senior player was with Sandra to Barbados where we won. I think it was the Tri-Nations, myself, her and Ludlow Bailey, Donald Salmon as manager. Sandra has contributed to every area of the sport not only as a player but also as a coach, umpire, referee, tournament director and she is one of the few Level 3 certified coaches that we have in Jamaica at this time,” he outlined.

In that 1991 tournament, Riette and Bailey won the individual singles with Lue in the semis, and Jamaica won overall.

Two years later, in Kingston, Riette was the runner-up in the Caribbean Championships.

Lue said her work since her playing days has been marked with a willingness to help.

“She brings another dimension to any delegation that is leading. As a female coach. She is very valuable, especially when you have female players that you’re travelled with, and she’s so easy to get along with,” he said of the coach who often is one of Jamaica’s team leaders to tournaments overseas.

The association president is looking forward to Riette’s involvement continuing.

“The JTTA has had a long-standing relationship with Sandra and we don’t see any end to it going forward until she decides to call it quits.

But you would never know because she just keeps going and going. She’s always there and always willing,” he said thankfully.

Since her playing days ended, the 11-time national champion has gained international certification both as a coach and as an umpire. She holds the distinction of being the first person in the world to hold four International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) coaching certificates.

Riettie passed the ITTF’s Para Level One course in Kingston in 2015 supplementing her ITTF Level One, the ITTF Level Two, and the ITTF Level Three certificates for regular coaching.