Induction Speech – 2014 – Courtesy of Sean O’Neill
Tonight we get to welcome a very special athlete and contributor into the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame – Sheila O’Dougherty.
Let me start off on the playing side of the ledger.
Sheila was:
- 3 x Intercollegiate Singles champion,
- a member of our national team from 1979 thru 1987,
- Represented the US in Novi Sad at the 1981 World Championships as the top qualifier
- She was a member of the 1983 Caracas Pan Am Games Team. Where the US Women won gold in every event. (Thanks Insook!)
- A great representative of the North Region at countless US Olympic Sports Festivals
- US Women’s Amateur Champ
- She also participated in international events such as the World University Games in Israel, Seoul Open, Taiwan Friendship Tour, and of course the US Open as part of Team USA.
That would be a stellar career for any US player, but it only tells half of the story of Sheila’s contributions to our sport as a pioneer.
Sports Governance and Management:
1984-1992: first table tennis athlete representative to the US Olympic Committee Athletes Advisory Council
1984-1992: Member of US Olympic Committee Board of Directors, Olympic Foundation Board of Trustees, Budget and Audit Committee, and Ethics Committee
1986-1992: Treasurer of the U.S Table Tennis Association
1987: Head of Delegation for the US National Junior Team friendship tour of China.
1991: Athlete representative for U.S. Team at Winter World University Games in Sapporo, Japan
1991: International Olympic Academy Contributor in Olympus, Greece
So in True Tim Boggan Fashion I decided to interview Sheila to find out more about this special inductee:
There’s some variation in Sheila’s family on the story of how she got started in table tennis. Sheila’s memory is that she played in the Minneapolis Park and Recreation City Table Tennis Championship (representing Lake Hiawatha Park and playing with a broken ankle). An exhibition was done at the Minneapolis Park Tournament by two players from Disney’s Table Tennis Club and the next day she went to Disney’s and rarely left for the next 15 years.
Sheila’s Mom’s memory is that she came home in the 8th grade and said “I found my sport”……having played many other sports to date.
Whichever version is true and maybe both are….one thing was clear and that is Sheila was immediately addicted to the inherent nature of table tennis, competition, the community and travel.
After winning many local and regional tournaments, Sheila’s entry to the national stage coincided with her winning the National College Championship (ACUIs) three times from 1976-1978.
Winning three years in a row in the college environment was a significant accomplishment and important to Sheila. The link to education and its community may not be the traditional path to develop elite table tennis players in the U.S……but it was an important aspect of Sheila’s development and she continues to believe its broad span, vibrancy and diversity should be on the road to both player development and table tennis growth.
Participating and achieving in numerous U.S. Olympic Festivals was also an early indicator of Sheila’s development into a top U.S. player. She also enjoyed the Olympic Festival environment and initiated what would become substantial involvement with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Slices of life flash by when Sheila remembers competition in elite international events including the World Championships in Novi Sad Yugoslavia in 1981 and the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela in 1983. These memories are both serious like the feeling of her first World Championship match…..and humorous as when carrying cement and water to finish housing construction at Pan Am Games.
From her first international competition at the World University Games in Israel to elite international competitions to a number of international trainings or tournaments such as Seoul Open or Taiwan Friendship Tour, these international events were the culmination of a journey and included three things she loves – competition, the camaraderie of the team and travel exploring the world.
There’s something of Sheila’s nature in both being a top table tennis player and contributing on the governance and management side. She carried that forward into her next career where her comparative advantage or career niche is straddling technical and management.
Her service as USATT Treasurer for about 6 years was pretty standard on the finance and accounting side but also involved Board dialogue on the nature of table tennis priorities and growth strategies…..debates that continue to this day. Sheila said she was surprised by how timing and the door of opportunity opened to allow her to contribute to USOC governance and management. It was a lot of work but she enjoyed it and felt drawn to it. To be the first table tennis athlete representative on the Athletes Advisory Council was an honor. From 1984-1992, she represented table tennis on the US Olympic Committee Board. She also served on the Olympic Foundation Board, and a number of U.S. Olympic committees including Budget and Audit, Ethics and Education committees.
After working at the Health Care Financing Administration to set hospital payment rates for Medicare and for Senator Moynahan at the Senate Finance Committee on the Clinton Health Reforms, Sheila made a career choice to commit to another interesting and quirky community…..the international development community. She is a project director and health policy, systems, financing and management expert with more than 25 years of experience in the health field and 19 years of international health experience.
Resident in Central Asia for 17 years (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), Sheila was Chief of Party of four USAID-funded health systems strengthening projects supporting the new countries in reform of the post-Soviet health system. Sheila is currently a Vice President of Abt Associates located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Washington D.C. and continues her work on health systems and financing in many developing nations of the world including Armenia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Living in Central Asia for 20 years did take her out of the table tennis community but having repatriated two years ago, she’s considering re-entering a community she feels she never really left.
Sheila you set the bar for all AAC table tennis representatives that followed in your footsteps. You guaranteed athletes had a voice at the decision making table, you helped protect our rights and ensured we met our responsibilities for the sport. In conclusion, I would like to thank you for your leadership, contributions and passion for the sport of table tennis in the United States.