2020 has been tough year for sport and for table tennis. With no tournaments or events for the majority of the year the Table Tennis Victoria staff and board have not had many opportunities to attend events and interact with our members.

We have taken this chance to ask our team five fast questions to get to know them a little better, what their goals for table tennis are and some interesting things you may not have known about them.

This week we get to know our Media and Marketing Officer Jason Bast.

1 - Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

“I often find it difficult to talk about myself, but I will do my best here. After a less than impressive high-school record and teenage years, I spent a couple of years working as a baker before starting university and finishing with a degree in Sports Media from Holmesglen at the end of 2019.

“During my time at uni I also worked as an intern and media assistant with Cycling Australia, where I was lucky enough to work with an amazing media team at a few National Road Championships, Track Nationals and even the UCI World Cup which was an unbelievable experience and really drove my interest to work in this industry.

“Getting to be a part of such a major event and watch and write about so many impressive Australian and International athletes was great! The fun we had as a team, sharing a house and spending our time together was great too.

“I never really saw myself wanting to work in a sports organisation like Table Tennis Victoria or Cycling Australia. I always wanted to go into print media and try and work in the AFL industry but my short time working at TTV and other sports organisations has really swayed my passion.

“I can’t wait until we can get back to normal in 2021 and really start to get involved in all of the events and tournaments with TTV next year.”

2 - What brought you to TTV?

“I was lucky that TTV was one of the partner organisations with Holmesglen’s internship program, so I was somewhat aware of the organisation and the work available. I was forwarded the job application by one of the lecturers in my course and got myself an interview with Ritchie.

“I was definitely nervous stepping into this role but the team at TTV have made it easy to adjust and give me the chance to make the job my own and try new things with our content.

“All of the players, club representatives and President’s I have met in my short time at TTV have also made it very easy to settle into the job.

“I think overall I cam to TTV for the experience of taking on a role like this and for the chance to really help develop strong content for all of our members.”

3 - What goals do you have for table tennis in Vic?

“My main goal for table tennis in Victoria is to try and produce more content for our members to enjoy, this will be a lot easier and better with events and tournaments running. I’m hoping we can have regular tournament recaps with interviews from players, parents, presidents and other relevant people.

“Player profiles and articles on some of our great volunteers like people may have seen recently, engaging video content with our clubs, plenty of content on some of our programs like Spinneroos, Pub League and the Corporate Cup and some fun stuff like TTV trivia online, photo competitions and things like Find the Ball Challenges are all things I hope to continue or start doing in 2021.

“I also want to try and support any of our clubs that may want some assistance with media and marketing such as filming and editing or helping put together posters to advertise pennant nights or events.”

“In the end to drive more people towards table tennis through online content would be great.”

4 - What are your outside interests?

“I’m a very passionate sports fan and will watch pretty much anything, I can’t go past AFL though and while it may cause a few people to dislike me a little bit, I am a mad Hawthorn supporter and have been my entire life.

“Going to the Preliminary Final against Geelong in 2013 and being right behind where Burgoyne kicked the winning goal and going to the 2015 Grand Final are definitely two of best things I’ve experienced.

“I’m definitely a bit of a dork when it comes to movies and T.V shows and absolutely love all of the behind the scenes stuff.

“I quite enjoy working on digital design and Photoshop projects in my spare time but I’m still working on getting a lot better.”

5 - Can you tell us a few things that might surprise us about you?

“I don’t have a lot that would surprise people I don’t think, I used to do tenpin bowling competitively which many people consider an odd sport to be involved in but I’m sure many of our members would have experienced the same puzzled looks talking about competitive table tennis.

“I was lucky enough to represent Victoria between 2012 and 2016 and have a chance to captain the team, we did manage to win three titles in a row during that time which was a great to be a part of.

“My first ever overseas trip did come to a strange and surprising end at the start of this year when COVID-19 started so that is definitely a interesting story I’ll have for the rest of my life.”