Have I got the shots, fitness, techniques and strategies to take on the big guns of table tennis?
That is generally the question most basement ping-pong players looking to get serious about the sport ask themselves. Unfortunately, it is not the right question. Being ready to compete with advanced table tennis players isn't about whether you have the correct techniques, tactics or fitness - all of these can be learnt and developed after you decide to get serious - you don't have to have them beforehand.
So if that is the wrong question, what is the right one? I sat down for a while thinking about all the reasons why a casual player might be ready to move up to serious table tennis, but in the end they all had one thing in common - commitment. (I had originally called this desire, but I think commitment sums it up better - many people may have the desire to become a good table tennis player, but not everybody is willing to commit the time, money, and effort needed to get there. Plus on your bad days, you may feel like you should be committed as well!)
It's been said that it takes 20 000 hours to produce a world-class table tennis player (i.e. 40 hours a week x 50 weeks a year x 10 years), but let's assume that it takes only 1/10th as long to produce an advanced table tennis player (e.g. above USATT 2000 rating) - say 2 000 hours. If you are going to play 5 hours a week, it's still going to take you 8 years to get there. 8 years, not 8 months. Sure, you could halve it to 4 years if you do 10 hours a week, but keep in mind that's the equivalent of a full day out of your week, every week, for 4 years. That's a significant amount of time that you have to be willing to invest in table tennis in order to become a good player, to mention nothing about the club fees, coaching costs, tournament entry fees, travel expenses, and equipment costs (rubbers, blades, shoes, clothing, balls, etc).
Not everybody considers all this before trying to get good at the sport - many players just dive right in without a second thought, then give up a few months later when they haven't become a world beater overnight. Others cut back on their commitment and settle for mediocrity. Some players keep on trying, but get stalled in their progress due to incorrect training methods, poor tactics, and the distractions of constantly trying new equipment. A few grit their teeth through the tough times, keep working on their techniques and tactics, and eventually break the magical USATT 2000 ratings barrier. And yes, there are a handful who smash through the 2000 rating barrier as if it wasn't there, and zoom up to the giddy heights of elite play. But even these players still had to put the hours of training in to get there.
Commitment - it's what makes the difference between dreams and reality.
OK - now that I've established what I think is the one attribute that will tell you whether you are ready to get serious about table tennis, what are some of the reasons you might want to move up to advanced play?
- More power (hmm, I'm having a Tim Allen moment here...). Seriously though, you might have seen advanced players powerlooping the ball for winners, and decided that you want some of that too. You might be using a non-grippy racket and be frustrated in your inability to hit low balls hard consistently, or you might be using an advanced grippy racket but be unable to use it properly. Being a basement player with an advanced racket can be a bit like the average person owning a F1 race car, there is all that extra power just going to waste.
- More competition. You might be the king of your workplace, or your family champion. You need fresh challengers to take on and conquer.
- Fed up loser. You might have had enough of getting beaten by your family and friends around the table at home, and decide that some hard work is worth the bragging rights.
- Bug bitten. You want to play table tennis all the time, any time. So why not learn to play the advanced strokes too? Or you might be using a grippy racket, and every now and again hit a shot that is so good you wish you could do it all the time. They say golfers get hooked when they hit that first sweet shot down the middle of the fairway, and table tennis players are no different.
- Social status. If you enjoy socializing with your table tennis friends, it's nice to be one of the better players around. While being good at table tennis may never make you one of the beautiful people amongst the general public, there is no doubt that inside table tennis circles, the better players do get to bask in the awe, envy and appreciation of lesser players (although perhaps not quite as much as they think!).
